Numbers 3:8
וְשָׁמְרוּ אֶֽת־כָּל־כְּלֵי אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וְאֶת־מִשְׁמֶרֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לַעֲבֹד אֶת־עֲבֹדַת הַמִּשְׁכָּֽן׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְשָׁמְר֗וּ אֶֽת־כָּל־כְּלֵי֙ אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֔ד וְאֶת־מִשְׁמֶ֖רֶת בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל לַעֲבֹ֖ד אֶת־עֲבֹדַ֥ת הַמִּשְׁכָּֽן׃
καὶ φυλάξουσιν πάντα τὰ σκεύη τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου καὶ τὰς φυλακὰς τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ πάντα τὰ ἔργα τῆς σκηνῆς.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
et custodiant vasa tabernaculi, servientes in ministerio ejus.
Estarán a cargo de todo el mobiliario de la Tienda del Encuentro y de las obligaciones de los hijos de Israel, para realizar el servicio del tabernáculo.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y guarden todas las alhajas del tabernáculo del testimonio, y lo encargado á ellos de los hijos de Israel, y ministren en el servicio del tabernáculo.
They shall take care of all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting and fulfill obligations for the Israelites by attending to the service of the tabernacle.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Numbers 3:8 describes two areas of responsibility assigned to the group in question: guarding the articles of the tent of meeting, and guarding the charge/duty owed by the sons of Israel, with the purpose clause specifying that this is done through performing the service of the tabernacle.
Key words
- sha.me.Ru ("they will keep", H8104) — qal sequential perfect, continuing a chain of prior verbs; expresses an ongoing, obligatory action rather than a single event.
- ke.Lei ("[the] articles of", H3627) — masculine plural construct, linking to 'O.hel ("[the] tent of", H0168G) mo.'Ed ("meeting", H4150I); forms the first object of sha.me.Ru.
- mish.Me.ret ("[the] duty of", H4931) — feminine singular construct, joined to be.Nei ("[the] people of", H1121G) Yis.ra.'El ("Israel", H3478); forms the second object, introduced by the conjunction ve. (H9002).
- 'a.Vod ("serving", H5647H) — qal infinitive with prefixed preposition la. ("by", H9005), expressing purpose: "in/by doing."
- 'a.vo.Dat ("[the] service of", H5656H) — feminine singular construct governing ha. ("the", H9009) mish.Kan ("tabernacle", H4908); the object of the infinitive 'a.Vod.
What the text says
The verse is built on a single main verb, sha.me.Ru, "they will keep/guard," which takes two coordinated direct objects marked by 'et- (H0853): first kol-ke.Lei 'O.hel mo.'Ed, "all the articles of the tent of meeting," and second mish.Me.ret be.Nei Yis.ra.'El, "the duty of the sons of Israel." The construct chains (ke.Lei... 'O.hel, mish.Me.ret... be.Nei) show possession or association without a separate word for "of," a feature not directly visible in translation but structurally central to the Hebrew.
The final clause, introduced by the infinitive la.'a.Vod ("by serving/in serving"), expresses purpose or manner: the guarding described above is carried out through performing 'a.vo.Dat ha.mish.Kan, "the service of the tabernacle." This infinitive construction subordinates the final clause to the main verb sha.me.Ru, presenting the service of the tabernacle as the means by which the guarding duty is fulfilled.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders mish.Me.ret as φυλακὰς ("guardings/watches," plural), paralleling its verb φυλάξουσιν, and restructures the final clause as κατὰ πάντα τὰ ἔργα τῆς σκηνῆς ("according to all the works of the tabernacle"), differing from the Hebrew's single construct phrase 'a.vo.Dat ha.mish.Kan. The Vulgate condenses the verse, mentioning only vasa tabernaculi ("vessels of the tabernacle") and servientes in ministerio ejus ("serving in its ministry"), without an explicit equivalent to the second Hebrew object, mish.Me.ret be.Nei Yis.ra.'El ("the duty of the sons of Israel").
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.