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Numbers 3:31-33
New English Translation
Numbers 3:31-33
New English Translation
31 Their responsibilities included the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they ministered,[a] the curtain, and all their service.[b] 32 Now the head of all the Levitical leaders[c] was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest. He was appointed over those who were responsible for[d] the sanctuary.
The Numbering of Merari
33 From Merari came the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were[e] the families of Merari.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Numbers 3:31 tn The verb is יְשָׁרְתוּ (yesharetu, “they will serve/minister”). The imperfect tense in this place, however, probably describes what the priests would do, what they used to do. The verb is in a relative clause: “which they would serve with them,” which should be changed to read “with which they would serve.”
- Numbers 3:31 tn The word is literally “its [their] service.” It describes all the implements that were there for the maintenance of these things.
- Numbers 3:32 tn The Hebrew construction has “the leader of the leaders of” (וּנְשִׂיא נְשִׂיאֵי, unesiʾ nesiʾe).
- Numbers 3:32 tn Heb “the keepers of the responsibility” (שֹׁמְרֵי מִשְׁמֶרֶת, shomerey 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.
- Numbers 3:33 tn The Hebrew text has “these they the families of Merari.” The independent personal pronoun has an anaphoric use, somewhat equivalent to the copula “and” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 23, §115).
New English Translation (NET)
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