Discovery BoxNumbers 4:27 
Context4:27 “All the service of the Gershonites, whether 1 carrying loads 2 or for any of their work, will be at the direction of 3 Aaron and his sons. You will assign them all their tasks 4 as their responsibility.
Numbers 7:5
Context7:5 “Receive these gifts 5 from them, that they may be 6 used in doing the work 7 of the tent of meeting; and you must give them to the Levites, to every man 8 as his service requires.” 9
Numbers 8:22
Context8:22 After this, the Levites went in to do their work in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did.
Numbers 8:24
Context8:24 “This is what pertains to the Levites: 10 At the age of twenty-five years 11 and upward one may begin to join the company 12 in the work of the tent of meeting,
Numbers 8:26
Context8:26 They may assist 13 their colleagues 14 in the tent of meeting, to attend to needs, but they must do no work. This is the way you must establish 15 the Levites regarding their duties.”
Numbers 28:26
Context28:26 “‘Also, on the day of the first fruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the Lord during your Feast of Weeks, you are to have a holy assembly. You must do no ordinary work.
Numbers 29:1
Context29:1 “‘On the first day of the seventh month, you are to hold a holy assembly. You must not do your ordinary work, for it is a day of blowing trumpets for you.
Numbers 29:12
Context29:12 “‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you are to have a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work, and you must keep a festival to the Lord for seven days.
1 tn The term “whether” is supplied to introduce the enumerated parts of the explanatory phrase.
2 tn Here again is the use of the noun “burden” in the sense of the loads they were to carry (see the use of carts in Num 7:7).
3 tn The expression is literally “upon/at the mouth of” (עַל־פִּי, ’al-pi); it means that the work of these men would be under the direct orders of Aaron and his sons.
4 tn Or “burden.”
5 tn The object is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied.
6 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.
7 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”).
8 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.”
9 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.”
10 tn The Hebrew text has “this [is that] which [pertains] to the Levites.” “This is what concerns the Levites, meaning, the following rulings are for them.
11 tc The age of twenty-five indicated in v. 24 should be compared with the age of thirty indicated in Num 4:3,23,30. In order to harmonize the numbers given in chapter 4 with the number given in Num 8:24 the LXX (and perhaps its Hebrew Vorlage) has thirty in all of these references. See further G. J. Wenham, Numbers (TOTC 4), 97-98.
12 tn The infinitive is לִצְבֹא (litsvo’), related to the word for “host, army, company,” and so “to serve as a company.” The meaning is strengthened by the cognate accusative following it.
13 tn The verb is the Piel perfect of שָׁרַת (sharat, “to serve, minister”). Here the form has the vav (ו) consecutive, and so is equal to the imperfect tense stressing permission. After the Levites reached the age of retirement, they were permitted to assist the others, but were not permitted to do the work themselves.
14 tn Heb “brothers,” but the meaning in this context is “fellow Levites.”
15 tn Heb “you shall do, make.”
