Numbers
Chapter 4
Skip to reading
Choose chapter (4 selected)
Leningrad Codex, through the Open Scriptures Westminster Leningrad Codex. The written consonants are printed. A Masoretic reading is footnoted when it differs. No Dead Sea reading was substituted unless it was read from a fragment. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions are witnesses, not the default.
A dotted word is a harder one. Point at it, or tap it, for a short definition.
1God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
2Lift the head of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their clans, by their fathers’ house,
3from thirty years old and upward, up to fifty years old, everyone who enters the company to do the work in the tent of meeting.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Tzava here is the company of workers, not the army of chapter 1. The ages are thirty to fifty.
4This is the work of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Qodesh ha-qodashim is the most holy things, as in Leviticus.
5When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in, take down the screening curtain, and cover the chest of the The stone tablets of God’s agreement, kept in the chest. with it.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Parokhet ha-masakh is the screening curtain. Aron ha-edut is the chest of the Testimony.
6They shall put a covering of tachash skin on it, spread a cloth that is all violet-blue above, and set its poles in place.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Tachash is the unidentified hide kept by that name in Exodus. Tekhelet is violet-blue. Kelil is “all of,” a cloth wholly of that color.
7Over the table of the Presence they shall spread a violet-blue cloth and put on it the plates, the ladles, the bowls, and the jars for the drink offering. The regular bread shall be on it.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Shulchan ha-panim is the table of the Presence. Lechem ha-tamid is the regular bread.
8They shall spread over them a scarlet cloth, cover it with a covering of tachash skin, and set its poles in place.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Tolaat shani is scarlet, the dye of the crimson worm, as in Exodus.
9They shall take a violet-blue cloth and cover the lampstand of the light, its lamps, its tongs, its firepans, and all its oil vessels, with which they serve it.
10They shall put it and all its vessels into a covering of tachash skin and set it on the carrying frame.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Mot is the carrying frame, a bar for the load.
11Over the gold altar they shall spread a violet-blue cloth, cover it with a covering of tachash skin, and set its poles in place.
12They shall take all the service vessels with which they serve in the holy place, put them into a violet-blue cloth, cover them with a covering of tachash skin, and set them on the carrying frame.
13They shall clear the fat-ashes off the altar and spread a purple cloth over it.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Dishshenu is clearing away the fat-ashes, the greasy ash of the altar. Argaman is purple.
14They shall put on it all its vessels with which they serve upon it, the firepans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar, and they shall spread over it a covering of tachash skin and set its poles in place.
15When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy place and all the holy vessels, as the camp sets out, then the sons of Kohath shall come in to carry. They shall not touch the holy things, or they die. These are the loads of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting.
16The charge of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest is the oil for the light, the spiced incense, the regular grain gift, and the Pouring oil to set someone apart for God. oil, the charge of the whole dwelling and of all that is in it, of the holy place and of its vessels.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Minchat ha-tamid is the regular grain gift. Shemen ha-mishchah is the anointing oil. Pequddah is a charge, an assigned duty.
17God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
18Do not let the tribe of the clans of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites.
19Do this for them, so that they live and do not die when they approach the most holy things. Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each man to his work and to his load.
20They shall not go in to look as the holy things are swallowed up, even for a moment, or they die.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Kevala et ha-qodesh is “as the holy place is swallowed,” a covering that hides it. The moment of looking is what is forbidden.
21God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. spoke to Moses, saying,
22Lift the head of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers’ house, by their clans.
23From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall number them, everyone who comes to join the company to do work in the tent of meeting.
24This is the work of the clans of the Gershonites: serving and carrying.
25They shall carry the curtains of the dwelling, the tent of meeting with its covering, the covering of tachash skin that is over it on top, and the screen of the entrance of the tent of meeting,
26the hangings of the courtyard, the screen for the gate entrance of the courtyard that is by the dwelling and by the altar all around, their cords, all the vessels of their work, and everything that is made for them. So they shall work.
27All the work of the sons of the Gershonites shall be at the mouth of Aaron and his sons, for all their carrying and for all their work. You shall assign them their watch over every load.
28This is the work of the clans of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their watch is in the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
29The sons of Merari: by their clans, by their fathers’ house, you shall number them.
30From thirty years old and upward, up to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who comes to the company to do the work of the tent of meeting.
31This is the watch of their load, for all their work in the tent of meeting: the boards of the dwelling, its bars, its pillars, and its bases,
32the pillars of the courtyard all around, their bases, their pegs, and their cords, for all their vessels and for all their work. By names you shall number the vessels of the carrying watch.
33This is the work of the clans of the sons of Merari, for all their work in the tent of meeting, in the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
34Moses, Aaron, and the chiefs of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their clans and by their fathers’ house,
35from thirty years old and upward, up to fifty years old, everyone who comes to the company for the work in the tent of meeting.
36Those numbered of them, by their clans, were two thousand seven hundred fifty.
37These are the numbered men of the clans of the Kohathites, everyone who serves in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the mouth of God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., by the hand of Moses.
38The numbered men of the sons of Gershon, by their clans and by their fathers’ house,
39from thirty years old and upward, up to fifty years old, everyone who comes to the company for the work in the tent of meeting:
40those numbered of them, by their clans, by their fathers’ house, were two thousand six hundred thirty.
41These are the numbered men of the clans of the sons of Gershon, everyone who serves in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the mouth of God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary..
42The numbered men of the clans of the sons of Merari, by their clans, by their fathers’ house,
43from thirty years old and upward, up to fifty years old, everyone who comes to the company for the work in the tent of meeting:
44those numbered of them, by their clans, were three thousand two hundred.
45These are the numbered men of the clans of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the mouth of God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., by the hand of Moses.
46All the numbered men whom Moses, Aaron, and the chiefs of Israel numbered of the Levites, by their clans and by their fathers’ house,
47from thirty years old and upward, up to fifty years old, everyone who comes to do the work of service and the work of carrying in the tent of meeting:
48those numbered of them were eight thousand five hundred eighty.
49At the mouth of God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. he numbered them by the hand of Moses, each man to his work and to his load. And his numbered men were as God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. commanded Moses.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
The closing suffix is pequdayv, “his numbered men,” as in some lines of the camp list.