Numbers 1:51

1:51 Whenever the tabernacle is to move, ¹  the Levites must take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be reassembled, ²  the Levites must set it up. ³  Any unauthorized person ⁴  who approaches it must be killed.

Numbers 3:10

3:10 So you are to appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will be responsible for their priesthood; ⁵  but the unauthorized person ⁶  who comes near must be put to death.”

Numbers 15:28-29

15:28 And the priest must make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally – when he sins unintentionally before the Lord – to make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven. 15:29 You must have one law for the person who sins unintentionally, both for the native-born among the Israelites and for the resident foreigner who lives among them.

Numbers 18:4

18:4 They must join ⁷  with you, and they will be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent, but no unauthorized person ⁸  may approach you.

Numbers 19:17

19:17 “‘For a ceremonially unclean person you must take ⁹  some of the ashes of the heifer ¹⁰  burnt for purification from sin and pour ¹¹  fresh running ¹²  water over them in a vessel.

Numbers 35:6

35:6 Now from these towns that you will give to the Levites you must select six towns of refuge to which a person who has killed someone may flee. ¹³  And you must give them forty-two other towns.

Numbers 35:15

35:15 These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.

Numbers 35:33

35:33 “You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it.

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¹ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the temporal preposition; the “tabernacle” is then the following genitive. Literally it is “and in the moving of the tabernacle,” meaning, “when the tabernacle is supposed to be moved,” i.e., when people are supposed to move it. The verb נָסָע (nasa’) means “pull up the tent pegs and move,” or more simply, “journey.”

² tn Here we have the parallel construction using the infinitive construct in a temporal adverbial clause.

³ tn Heb “raise it up.”

⁴ tn The word used here is זָר (zar), normally translated “stranger” or “outsider.” It is most often used for a foreigner, an outsider, who does not belong in Israel, or who, although allowed in the land, may be viewed with suspicion. But here it seems to include even Israelites other than the tribe of Levi.

⁵ tc The LXX includes the following words here: “and all things pertaining to the altar and within the veil.” Cf. Num 18:7.

⁶ tn The word is זָר (zar), usually rendered “stranger, foreigner, pagan.” But in this context it simply refers to anyone who is not a Levite or a priest, an unauthorized person or intruder in the tabernacle. That person would be put to death.

⁷ tn Now the sentence uses the Niphal perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive from the same root לָוָה (lavah).

⁸ tn The word is “stranger, alien,” but it can also mean Israelites here.

⁹ tn The verb is the perfect tense, third masculine plural, with a vav (ו) consecutive. The verb may be worded as a passive, “ashes must be taken,” but that may be too awkward for this sentence. It may be best to render it with a generic “you” to fit the instruction of the text.

¹⁰ tn The word “heifer” is not in the Hebrew text, but it is implied.

¹¹ tn Here too the verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; rather than make this passive, it is here left as a direct instruction to follow the preceding one. For the use of the verb נָתַן (natan) in the sense of “pour,” see S. C. Reif, “A Note on a Neglected Connotation of ntn,” VT 20 (1970): 114-16.

¹² tn The expression is literally “living water.” Living water is the fresh, flowing spring water that is clear, life-giving, and not the collected pools of stagnant or dirty water.

¹³ tn The “manslayer” is the verb “to kill” in a participial form, providing the subject of the clause. The verb means “to kill”; it can mean accidental killing, premeditated killing, or capital punishment. The clause uses the infinitive to express purpose or result: “to flee there the manslayer,” means “so that the manslayer may flee there.”