translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: NUM

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “your father’s house.”


text: The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav ( ו ) is on a nonverb to start the clause.


text: Now the sentence uses the Niphal perfect with a vav ( ו ) consecutive from the same root לָוָה ( lavah ).


text: The word is “stranger, alien,” but it can also mean Israelites here.


text: The clause is a purpose clause, and the imperfect tense a final imperfect.


text: Heb “taken.”


text: The infinitive construct in this sentence is from עָבַד (’ avad ), and so is the noun that serves as its object: to serve the service.


text: This is an uncommon root. It may be connected to the word “anoint” as here (see RSV). But it may also be seen as an intended parallel to “perpetual due” (see Gen 47:22 ; Exod 29:28 ; Lev 6:11 [HT]).


text: Heb “from the fire.” It probably refers to those parts that were not burned.


text: This form may be classified as a perfect of resolve – he has decided to give them to them, even though this is a listing of what they will receive.


text: The “ban” ( חֵרֶם , kherem ) in Hebrew describes that which is exclusively the Lord ’s, either for his sanctuary use, or for his destruction. It seems to refer to an individual’s devoting something freely to God.


text: The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of the verb “to redeem” in order to stress the point – they were to be redeemed. N. H. Snaith suggests that the verb means to get by payment what was not originally yours, whereas the other root גָאַל ( ga ’ al ) means to get back what was originally yours ( Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 268).


text: Or “throw, toss.”


text: The phrase “of property” is supplied as a clarification.


text: The Hebrew text uses the infinitive construct of the verb “to bear” with the lamed ( ל ) preposition to express the result of such an action. “To bear their sin” would mean that they would have to suffer the consequences of their sin.


text: The verse begins with the perfect tense of עָבַד (’ avad ) with vav ( ו ) consecutive, making the form equal to the instructions preceding it. As its object the verb has the cognate accusative “service.”


text: Heb “they”; the referent (the Levites) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.


text: The Hebrew text uses both the verb and the object from the same root to stress the point: They will not inherit an inheritance. The inheritance refers to land.


text: The classification of the perfect tense here too could be the perfect of resolve, since this law is declaring what will be their portion – “I have decided to give.”


text: In the Hebrew text the verb has no expressed subject (although the “Israelites” is certainly intended), and so it can be rendered as a passive.


text: The verb in this clause is the Hiphil perfect with a vav ( ו ) consecutive; it has the same force as an imperfect of instruction: “when…then you are to offer up.”


text: The verb is חָשַׁב ( khashav , “to reckon; to count; to think”); it is the same verb used for “crediting” Abram with righteousness. Here the tithe of the priests will be counted as if it were a regular tithe.


text: Heb “fullness,” meaning the fullness of the harvest, i.e., a full harvest.


text: The construction is “every raised offering of the Lord ”; the genitive here is probably to be taken as a genitive of worth – the offering that is due the Lord .


text: Or “its hallowed thing.”


text: The wording of this verse is confusing; it may be that it is addressed to the priests, telling them how to deal with the offerings of the Levites.


text: The clause begins with the infinitive construct with its preposition and suffixed subject serving to indicate the temporal clause.


text: The verb is the perfect tense with vav ( ו ) consecutive; it functions as the equivalent of the imperfect of permission.


text: The final clause could also be rendered “in order that you do not die.” The larger section can also be interpreted differently; rather than take it as a warning, it could be taken as an assurance that when they do all of this they will not be profaning it and so will not die (R. K. Harrison, Numbers [WEC], 253).