Discovery BoxNumbers 18:8 
Context18:8 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “See, I have given you the responsibility for my raised offerings; I have given all the holy things of the Israelites to you as your priestly portion 1 and to your sons as a perpetual ordinance.
Numbers 18:23
Context18:23 But the Levites must perform the service 2 of the tent of meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. 3 It will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations that among the Israelites the Levites 4 have no inheritance. 5
Numbers 19:2
Context19:2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded: ‘Instruct 6 the Israelites to bring 7 you a red 8 heifer 9 without blemish, which has no defect 10 and has never carried a yoke.
Numbers 19:10
Context19:10 The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be ceremonially unclean until evening. This will be a permanent ordinance both for the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them.
Numbers 19:21
Context19:21 “‘So this will be a perpetual ordinance for them: The one who sprinkles 11 the water of purification must wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. 12
1 tn 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]).
2 tn 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.”
3 sn The Levites have the care of the tent of meeting, and so they are responsible for any transgressions against it.
4 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Levites) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
5 tn 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.
6 tn Heb “speak to.”
7 tn The line literally reads, “speak to the Israelites that [and] they bring [will bring].” The imperfect [or jussive] is subordinated to the imperative either as a purpose clause, or as the object of the instruction – speak to them that they bring, or tell them to bring.
8 tn The color is designated as red, although the actual color would be a tanned red-brown color for the animal (see the usage in Isa 1:18 and Song 5:10). The reddish color suggested the blood of ritual purification; see J. Milgrom, “The Paradox of the Red Cow (Num 19),” VT 31 (1981): 62-72.
9 sn Some modern commentators prefer “cow” to “heifer,” thinking that the latter came from the influence of the Greek. Young animals were usually prescribed for the ritual, especially here, and so “heifer” is the better translation. A bull could not be given for this purification ritual because that is what was given for the high priests or the community according to Lev 4.
10 tn Heb “wherein there is no defect.”
11 tn The form has the conjunction with it: וּמַזֵּה (umazzeh). The conjunction subordinates the following as the special law. It could literally be translated “and this shall be…that the one who sprinkles.”
12 sn This gives the indication of the weight of the matter, for “until the evening” is the shortest period of ritual uncleanness in the Law. The problem of contamination had to be taken seriously, but this was a relatively simple matter to deal with – if one were willing to obey the Law.
