Numbers 3:38

וְהַחֹנִים לִפְנֵי הַמִּשְׁכָּן קֵדְמָה לִפְנֵי אֹֽהֶל־מוֹעֵד׀ מִזְרָחָה מֹשֶׁה׀ וְאַהֲרֹן וּבָנָיו שֹֽׁמְרִים מִשְׁמֶרֶת הַמִּקְדָּשׁ לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהַזָּר הַקָּרֵב יוּמָֽת׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְהַחֹנִ֣ים לִפְנֵ֣י הַמִּשְׁכָּ֡ן קֵ֣דְמָה לִפְנֵי֩ אֹֽהֶל־מוֹעֵ֨ד׀ מִזְרָ֜חָה מֹשֶׁ֣ה׀ וְאַהֲרֹ֣ן וּבָנָ֗יו שֹֽׁמְרִים֙ מִשְׁמֶ֣רֶת הַמִּקְדָּ֔שׁ לְמִשְׁמֶ֖רֶת בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְהַזָּ֥ר הַקָּרֵ֖ב יוּמָֽת׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Καὶ οἱ βάλλοντες κατὰ πρόσωπον τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου ἀπ’ ἀν’ Μωυσῆς καὶ Ἀαρὼν καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ, φυλάσσοντες τὰς φυλακὰς τοῦ ἁγίου εἰς τὰς φυλακὰς τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ· καὶ ὁ ἀλλουγενὴς ὁ ἁπτόμενος ἀποθανεῖται.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Castrametabuntur ante tabernaculum fœderis, id est, ad orientalem plagam, Moyses et Aaron cum filiis suis, habentes custodiam sanctuarii in medio filiorum Israël. Quisquis alienus accesserit, morietur.

Spanish

Los que acamparán delante del tabernáculo hacia el este, frente a la Tienda del Encuentro hacia la salida del sol, serán Moisés, junto con Aarón y sus hijos, quienes tendrán a su cargo el cuidado del santuario en representación de los hijos de Israel. El extranjero que se acerque será condenado a muerte.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y los que acamparán delante del tabernáculo al oriente, delante del tabernáculo del testimonio al levante, serán Moisés, y Aarón y sus hijos, teniendo la guarda del santuario en lugar de los hijos de Israel: y el extraño que se acercare, morirá.

English

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.

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse specifies that Moses, Aaron, and Aaron's sons camped on the east side of the tabernacle, in front of the Tent of Meeting, where they carried out the guard duty of the sanctuary on behalf of the Israelites. It closes with a warning that any unauthorized outsider who approaches would be put to death.

Key words

cho.Nim ("[who] encamp", H2583) — qal participle, masculine plural, describing an ongoing state of camping rather than a single completed action.
ke.de.mah ("east" + directional he, H6924B/H9011) — the directional he suffix indicates motion or orientation "toward" the east, reinforcing spatial placement rather than mere location.
sho.me.Rim ("keeping", H8104H) — qal participle, masculine plural, parallel in form to cho.Nim, framing both camping and guarding as continuous functions of this group.
mish.Me.ret ("duty of", H4931) — feminine singular construct, appearing twice (lines 23 and 27), linking "the duty of the sanctuary" to "the duty of the people of Israel," creating a chain of responsibility.
ha.Zar ("the stranger", H2114A) — definite adjective marking a specific class of person contrasted with those named in the verse (Moses, Aaron, his sons).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built around two participial constructions — cho.Nim ("encamping") and sho.me.Rim ("keeping/guarding") — both describing continuous roles rather than one-time events. The subject of these participles (Moses, Aaron, and Aaron's sons, introduced only after the spatial description) is placed grammatically at the center of the verse, following the description of location. This word order — location first, subject second — is typical of Hebrew narrative that establishes setting before agent.

The double use of the construct noun mish.Me.ret ("duty of") creates a two-part structure: "the duty of the sanctuary" (mish.Me.ret ha.mik.Dash) and "the duty of the people of Israel" (le.mish.Me.ret be.Nei Yis.ra.'El). The preposition le ("to/for") on the second occurrence signals purpose or benefit — the sanctuary duty is performed for the benefit of the Israelites, not simply alongside them.

The final clause uses ha.Zar ha.ka.Rev ("the stranger, the approaching one") — two definite adjectives in apposition, both marked with the article, intensifying the specificity of who is meant: not strangers in general, but one who is in the act of approaching (the participle-like adjective ka.Rev, "approaching"). The verb yu.Mat ("he will be put to death", H4191) is hophal imperfect, a passive causative form indicating that death is caused by an external agent, not self-inflicted or accidental.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders cho.Nim ("those who encamp", H2583) as οἱ βάλλοντες ("those who cast/pitch"), using a different verb than the participle of dwelling/encamping found in the Hebrew. The LXX also translates ha.Zar ("the stranger", H2114A) as ὁ ἀλλογενής ("the one of another race/kind"), while the Vulgate uses alienus ("foreign/outside person"), both broadening or shifting the semantic field from the Hebrew's more general term for "stranger" or "outsider." The Vulgate adds the phrase "in medio filiorum Israël" ("in the midst of the sons of Israel"), which is not present as a separate spatial phrase in the Hebrew's construct chain le.mish.Me.ret be.Nei Yis.ra.'El ("for the duty of the sons of Israel").

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.