Numbers 3:7

Summary

The verse describes a duty assigned to be kept: both "his" personal charge and the charge of the whole congregation, carried out before the Tent of Meeting, in the service of the tabernacle. The structure moves from a general act of keeping to a specific infinitive of service.

Key words

• sha.me.Ru ("they will keep", H8104) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative sequence; the subject ("they") is grammatically implied by the verb form, referring back to a group established earlier in the context.
• mish.mar.T + o ("his duty", H4931 + H9023) — feminine singular construct noun with a possessive suffix, meaning "the duty belonging to him."
• mish.Me.ret ("the duty of", H4931) — the same noun repeated in construct form, now governing kol ha'edah ("all the congregation"), creating a parallel structure with the first occurrence.
• 'a.Vod ("serving", H5647) — qal infinitive, expressing purpose ("in order to serve" or "by serving"), linking the keeping of duties to a concrete action.
• 'a.vo.Dat ("service of", H5656) — feminine singular construct noun, paired with ha.mish.Kan ("the tabernacle", H4908) to specify what kind of service is meant.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence pairs two occurrences of the noun mishmeret / mishmarto ("duty," H4931), first with a third-person masculine singular suffix ("his duty") and then in construct with kol ha'edah ("all the congregation," H5712+H3605). This repetition creates a structural balance: an individual charge and a communal charge are named side by side, both governed by the single verb shameru ("they will keep," H8104). The location is marked by lifnei ohel mo'ed ("before the tent of meeting," H6440+H0168+H4150), using the construct chain typical of Biblical Hebrew to link "face/front" to "tent" to "meeting."

The final clause shifts from the finite verb of keeping to the infinitive la'avod ("to serve," H5647), introducing purpose. This infinitive takes its own direct object, et-avodat hamishkan ("the service of the tabernacle," H5656+H4908), so that the sentence moves from general custodial duty (mishmeret) to specific functional service (avodah) tied to "the tabernacle" (hamishkan, H4908) rather than repeating "tent of meeting."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mishmeret kol ha'edah ("the duty of all the congregation") as "τὰς φυλακὰς τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ" ("the guard-duties of the sons of Israel"), substituting "sons of Israel" for the Hebrew's "all the congregation." The Vulgate compresses both occurrences of mishmeret into a single phrase, "quidquid ad cultum pertinet multitudinis" ("whatever pertains to the service of the multitude"), omitting the separate mention of "his duty" found in the Hebrew. The Hebrew ohel mo'ed ("tent of meeting") appears in the LXX as "σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου" ("tent of testimony/witness"), a different descriptive term for the same structure.