Numbers 8:15

8:15 “After this, the Levites will go in ¹  to do the work ²  of the tent of meeting. So you must cleanse them ³  and offer them like a wave offering. ⁴ 

Numbers 13:31

13:31 But the men ⁵  who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!”

[8:15]  ¹ tn The imperfect tense could also be given the nuance of the imperfect of permission: “the Levites may go in.”

[8:15]  ² tn Heb “to serve.”

[8:15]  ³ tn The two verbs in the rest of this verse are perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutive constructions, making them equal to the imperfect. Some commentators try to get around the difficulty of repetition by making these future perfects, “and you will have cleansed,” as opposed to a summary statement, “for thus you will cleanse….”

[8:15]  ⁴ tc The Greek text adds “before the Lord.”

[13:31]  ⁵ tn The vav (ו) disjunctive on the noun at the beginning of the clause forms a strong adversative clause here.