38
Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, before the Tent of Meeting. They were to perform the duties of the sanctuary as a service on behalf of the Israelites; but any outsider who approached the sanctuary was to be put to death.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
mō·šeh wə·’a·hă·rōn ū·ḇā·nāw wə·ha·ḥō·nîm qê·ḏə·māh lip̄·nê ham·miš·kān miz·rā·ḥāh lip̄·nê ’ō·hel- mō·w·‘êḏ šō·mə·rîm miš·me·reṯ ham·miq·dāš lə·miš·me·reṯ bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl wə·haz·zār haq·qā·rêḇ yū·māṯ
Word by word20 · parsed
√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular
Moses (H4872) named first, then Aaron — the civil and priestly heads encamp together on the place of honor.
√ ʼAhărôwn — Aharon, the brother of MosesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
√ chânâh — properly, to inclineConjunctive waw, ArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural
were to camp — Qal participle ha-ḥōnîm (H2583, chânâh, properly to incline / pitch tent). The same root that orders the whole camp now fixes Moses and Aaron at its most exposed and honored edge.
√ qedem — the front, of place (absolutely, the fore part, relatively the East) or time (antiquity)Adverbthird person feminine singular
to the east (qêdəmâh, H6924) — qedem means both the front / fore-part and antiquity / the East; the entrance side was the place of first access, hence the place reserved for the highest charge.
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-lNouncommon plural construct
√ mishkân — a residence (including a shepherd's hut, the lair of animals, figuratively, the graveArticleNounmasculine singular
of the tabernacle — ham-mishkān (H4908): the LORD's dwelling-place. That God should pitch a tent in the center of a marching camp is the scandal and the glory of the whole book.
√ mizrâch — sunrise, iNounmasculine singularthird person feminine singular
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-lNouncommon plural construct
√ ʼôhel — a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance)Nounmasculine singular construct
√ môwʻêd — properly, an appointment, iNounmasculine singular
√ shâmar — properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), iVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural
keeping — Qal participle shōmərîm (H8104), the verb of vigilant guarding, watch-keeping. Paired immediately with its cognate noun, it makes the priests sentinels, not merely functionaries.
√ mishmereth — watch, iNounfeminine singular construct
the duties — mishmereth (H4931), the thing-to-be-kept, the watch, a noun built from the same root as the preceding verb. The doubling is intentional Priestly idiom: the guard guards the guarding.
√ miqdâsh — a consecrated thing or place, especially, a palace, sanctuary (whether of Jehovah or of idols) or asylumArticleNounmasculine singular
of the sanctuary — ham-miqdāsh (H4720), the consecrated place, a maqtil-form noun from qādash, to be set apart as holy. The verse stacks three sanctuary-words within two lines — mishkān (i.6, the dwelling), ʼōhel mōʻēd (i.9–10, the tent of meeting), and now miqdāsh. Ellicott notes miqdash is the most comprehensive of the three, broad enough to embrace the surrounding court (cf. Leviticus 12:4; 21:12) — so the priests' charge is not the inner tent alone but the whole holy precinct and its boundary.
√ mishmereth — watch, iPreposition-lNounfeminine singular construct
as a service — lə-mishmereth (H4931): the same noun repeated with the preposition l-, "for the keeping of the sons of Israel." Cambridge calls this idiomatic for equivalent to and; Benson and Poole read it as in their stead or for their benefit.
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
√ zûwr — to turn aside (especially for lodging)Conjunctive waw, ArticleAdjectivemasculine singular
but any outsider — zār (H2114), from zûwr, to turn aside, be a stranger. The term is liturgical: the "stranger" is anyone not authorized to draw near, including a born Israelite or non-priestly Levite.
√ qârêb — nearArticleAdjectivemasculine singular
who approached — haq-qārêb (H7131), an articular adjective from the root qârab, to draw near. The adjectival form is rare — it stands in only eleven verses — and clusters precisely in the sanctuary-access laws of Numbers and Ezekiel. The same root qārab is the standard cultic term for presenting an offering; so the very motion that constitutes worship, performed by the unauthorized, becomes the act that incurs death. Approach itself is neutral; the question the verse poses is the right to it.
√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbHofalImperfectthird person masculine singular
was to be put to death — yûmāth (H4191), Hofal imperfect of mûth, he shall be caused to die. The passive leaves the agent open: Gill notes the death may come "either by the civil magistrate, or by the hand of heaven."