Numbers 6:24

6:24 “The Lord bless you ¹  and protect ²  you;

Numbers 3:10

3:10 So you are to appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will be responsible for their priesthood; ³  but the unauthorized person ⁴  who comes near must be put to death.”

Numbers 3:32

3:32 Now the head of all the Levitical leaders ⁵  was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest. He was appointed over those who were responsible ⁶  for the sanctuary.

Numbers 23:12

23:12 Balaam replied, ⁷  “Must I not be careful ⁸  to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?” ⁹ 

Numbers 1:53

1:53 But the Levites must camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that the Lord’s anger ¹⁰  will not fall on the Israelite community. The Levites are responsible for the care ¹¹  of the tabernacle of the testimony.”

Numbers 3:7-8

3:7 They are responsible for his needs ¹²  and the needs of the whole community before the tent of meeting, by attending ¹³  to the service of the tabernacle. 3:8 And they are responsible for all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and for the needs of the Israelites, as they serve ¹⁴  in the tabernacle.

Numbers 3:28

3:28 Counting every male from a month old and upward, there were 8,600. They were responsible for the care ¹⁵  of the sanctuary.

Numbers 8:26

8:26 They may assist ¹⁶  their colleagues ¹⁷  in the tent of meeting, to attend to needs, but they must do no work. This is the way you must establish ¹⁸  the Levites regarding their duties.”

Numbers 9:19

9:19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions ¹⁹  of the Lord and did not journey.

Numbers 9:23

9:23 At the commandment of the Lord they camped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled on; they kept the instructions of the Lord according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority ²⁰  of Moses.

Numbers 18:4-5

18:4 They must join ²¹  with you, and they will be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent, but no unauthorized person ²²  may approach you. 18:5 You will be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the care of the altar, so that there will be ²³  no more wrath on the Israelites.

Numbers 28:2

28:2 “Command the Israelites: ²⁴  ‘With regard to my offering, ²⁵  be sure to offer ²⁶  my food for my offering made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to me at its appointed time.’ ²⁷ 

Numbers 3:38

3:38 But those who were to camp in front of the tabernacle on the east, in front of the tent of meeting, were Moses, Aaron, ²⁸  and his sons. They were responsible for the needs ²⁹  of the sanctuary and for the needs of the Israelites, but the unauthorized person who approached was to be put to death.

Numbers 18:3

18:3 They must be responsible to care for you and to care for the entire tabernacle. However, they must not come near the furnishings of the sanctuary and the altar, or both they and you will die.

Numbers 18:7

18:7 But you and your sons with you are responsible for your priestly duties, for everything at the altar and within the curtain. And you must serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift for service; but the unauthorized person who approaches must be put to death.”

Numbers 31:30

31:30 From the Israelites’ half-share you are to take one portion out of fifty of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep – from every kind of animal – and you are to give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.”

Numbers 31:47

31:47 From the Israelites’ share Moses took one of every fifty people and animals and gave them to the Levites who were responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

[6:24]  ¹ tn The short blessing uses the jussive throughout, here the Piel jussive with a pronominal suffix. While the jussive has quite a range of nuances, including wish, desire, prayer, or greeting, the jussives here are stronger. The formal subject of the verb is the Lord, and the speaker pronouncing the blessing is the priest, notably after emerging from the holy of holies where atonement has been made. The Lord says in this passage that when the priest says this, then the Lord will bless them. The jussive then is an oracle, not a wish or a prayer. It is a declaration of what the Lord imparts. It is as binding and sure as a patriarchal blessing which once said officially could not be taken back. The priest here is then pronouncing the word of the Lord, declaring to the congregation the outcome of the atonement.

[6:24]  ² tn The verb “to keep” concerns the divine protection of the people; its basic meaning is “to exercise great care over,” “to guard,” or “to give attention to” (see TWOT 2:939). No doubt the priestly blessing informed the prayer and promise that makes up Ps 121, for the verb occurs six times in the eight verses. So in addition to the divine provision (“bless” basically means “enrich” in a number of ways) there is the assurance of divine protection.

[3:10]  ³ tc The LXX includes the following words here: “and all things pertaining to the altar and within the veil.” Cf. Num 18:7.

[3:10]  ⁴ tn The word is זָר (zar), usually rendered “stranger, foreigner, pagan.” But in this context it simply refers to anyone who is not a Levite or a priest, an unauthorized person or intruder in the tabernacle. That person would be put to death.

[3:32]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew construction has “the leader of the leaders of” (וּנְשִׂיא נְשִׂיאֵי, unÿsi’ nÿsi’ey).

[3:32]  ⁶ tn Heb “the keepers of the responsibility” (שֹׁמְרֵי מִשְׁמֶרֶת, shomÿrey mishmeret). The participle is a genitive specifying the duty to which he was appointed (thing possessed); its cognate genitive emphasizes that their responsibility was over the holy place.

[23:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “he answered and said.” The referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:12]  ⁸ tn The verb שָׁמַר (shamar) means “to guard, watch, observe” and so here with a sense of “be careful” or even “take heed” (so KJV, ASV). The nuance of the imperfect tense would be obligatory: “I must be careful” – to do what? to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth. The infinitive construct “to speak” is therefore serving as the direct object of שָׁמַר.

[23:12]  ⁹ tn The clause is a noun clause serving as the direct object of “to speak.” It begins with the sign of the accusative, and then the relative pronoun that indicates the whole clause is the accusative.

[1:53]  ⁹ tc Instead of “wrath” the Greek text has “sin,” focusing the emphasis on the human error and not on the wrath of God. This may have been a conscious change to explain the divine wrath.

[1:53]  ¹⁰ tn The main verb of the clause is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive, וְשָׁמְרוּ (vÿshamÿru) meaning they “shall guard, protect, watch over, care for.” It may carry the same obligatory nuance as the preceding verbs because of the sequence. The object used with this is the cognate noun מִשְׁמֶרֶת (mishmeret): “The Levites must care for the care of the tabernacle.” The cognate intensifies the construction to stress that they are responsible for this care.

[3:7]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the perfect tense of שָׁמַר(shamar) with a vav (ו) consecutive to continue the instruction of the preceding verse. It may be translated “and they shall keep” or “they must/are to keep,” but in this context it refers to their appointed duties. The verb is followed by its cognate accusative – “they are to keep his keeping,” or as it is often translated, “his charge.” This would mean whatever Aaron needed them to do. But the noun is also used for the people in the next phrase, and so “charge” cannot be the meaning here. The verse is explaining that the Levites will have duties to perform to meet the needs of Aaron and the congregation.

[3:7]  ¹² tn The form is the Qal infinitive construct from עָבַד (’avad, “to serve, to work”); it is taken here as a verbal noun and means “by (or in) serving” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 36, §195). This explains the verb “keep [his charge].” Here too the form is followed by a cognate accusative; they will be there to “serve the service” or “work the work.”

[3:8]  ¹³ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct (epexegetically) followed by its cognate accusative. It would convey “to serve the service of the tabernacle,” but more simply it may be rendered as “serving.” Their spiritual and practical service is to serve.

[3:28]  ¹⁵ tn The construction here is a little different. The Hebrew text uses the participle in construct plural: שֹׁמְרֵי (shomÿrey, literally “keepers of”). The form specifies the duties of the 8,600 Kohathites. The genitive that follows this participle is the cognate מִשְׁמֶרֶת (mishmeret) that has been used before. So the expression indicates that they were responsible for the care of this part of the cult center. There is no reason to delete one of the forms (as does J. A. Paterson, Numbers, 42), for the repetition stresses the central importance of their work.

[8:26]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is the Piel perfect of שָׁרַת (sharat, “to serve, minister”). Here the form has the vav (ו) consecutive, and so is equal to the imperfect tense stressing permission. After the Levites reached the age of retirement, they were permitted to assist the others, but were not permitted to do the work themselves.

[8:26]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “brothers,” but the meaning in this context is “fellow Levites.”

[8:26]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you shall do, make.”

[9:19]  ¹⁹ tn This is the same Hebrew expression that was used earlier for the Levites “keeping their charge” or more clearly, “fulfilling their obligations” to take care of the needs of the people and the sanctuary. It is a general expression using שָׁמַר (shamar) followed by its cognate noun מִשְׁמֶרֶת (mishmeret).

[9:23]  ²¹ tn Heb “hand.”

[18:4]  ²³ tn Now the sentence uses the Niphal perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive from the same root לָוָה (lavah).

[18:4]  ²⁴ tn The word is “stranger, alien,” but it can also mean Israelites here.

[18:5]  ²⁵ tn The clause is a purpose clause, and the imperfect tense a final imperfect.

[28:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and say to them.” These words have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[28:2]  ²⁸ tn Th sentence begins with the accusative “my offering.” It is suspended at the beginning as an independent accusative to itemize the subject matter. The second accusative is the formal object of the verb. It could also be taken in apposition to the first accusative.

[28:2]  ²⁹ tn The construction uses the imperfect tense expressing instruction, followed by the infinitive construct used to express the complement of direct object.

[28:2]  ³⁰ sn See L. R. Fisher, “New Ritual Calendar from Ugarit,” HTR 63 (1970): 485-501.

[3:38]  ²⁹ tc In some Hebrew mss and Smr “and Aaron” is not in the verse. The omission arose probably by scribal error with such repetitious material that could easily give rise to variant traditions.

[3:38]  ³⁰ tn Here again the verb and its cognate noun are used: keeping the keep, or keeping charge over, or taking responsibility for the care of, or the like.