Numbers 7:5-6

7:5 “Receive these gifts ¹  from them, that they may be ²  used in doing the work ³  of the tent of meeting; and you must give them to the Levites, to every man ⁴  as his service requires.” ⁵ 

7:6 So Moses accepted the carts and the oxen and gave them to the Levites.

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¹ tn The object is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied.

² tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; following the imperative, this could be given an independent volitive translation (“they shall be”), but more fittingly a subordinated translation expressing the purpose of receiving the gifts.

³ tn The sentence uses the infinitive construct expressing purpose, followed by its cognate accusative: “[that they may be] for doing the work of” (literally, “serving the service of”).

⁴ tn The noun אִישׁ (’ish) is in apposition to the word “Levites,” and is to be taken in a distributive sense: “to the Levites, [to each] man according to his service.”

⁵ tn The expression כְּפִי (kÿfi) is “according to the mouth of.” Here, it would say “according to the mouth of his service,” which would mean “what his service calls for.”