Numbers 4:3

Summary

Numbers 4:3 sets the age range for Levite men eligible for service connected with the Tent of Meeting, specifying thirty to fifty years old. It further defines this service as "coming" into the tzava ("service/host") to perform melakhah ("work") in the tent.

Key words

• Ben ("a son of", H1121L) — construct form used idiomatically with a number to express age; "son of thirty years" means "thirty years old."
• Ba' ("[one who] comes", H0935G) — Qal participle, describing an ongoing or characteristic action: "the one who comes/enters," used substantively as "everyone who enters."
• Tzava ("service", H6635I) — preceded by preposition la ("for the"), naming the group or duty entered into; the same root elsewhere denotes "army" or "host."
• La'asot ("to do", H6213A) — Qal infinitive with preposition la, expressing purpose: "in order to do."
• Melakhah ("work", H4399) — feminine singular noun, the object of the infinitive, denoting the task or labor performed.

What the text says

The verse opens with a prepositional phrase built from min ("from") plus the construct ben + shloshim shanah ("thirty years"), an idiom placing a person's age inside a "son of X years" frame rather than using a separate word for "age." The phrase va-ma'lah ("and upward") extends the lower boundary indefinitely, while ve-'ad ben-chamishim shanah ("and to a son of fifty years") sets the upper limit, framing a closed numerical range from thirty to fifty.

The second half of the verse uses a participial construction, kol-ba' la-tzava ("everyone who comes/enters into the tzava"), where the participle ba' functions almost as a noun ("the one entering"), and la-tzava names the group or duty entered. This is followed by a purpose infinitive, la'asot melakhah ("to do work"), which explains why one enters — to perform the melakhah ("work") — and the phrase closes with the locative be-'ohel mo'ed ("in the tent of meeting"), where 'ohel is in construct with mo'ed, forming the fixed compound "tent of meeting."

Differences between versions

The LXX gives the lower age boundary as εἴκοσι καὶ πέντε ("twenty-five") rather than the Hebrew shloshim ("thirty," H7970), a numerical divergence between the two texts. The LXX also renders the entry-purpose with λειτουργεῖν ("to serve/minister") and πάντα τὰ ἔργα ("all the works"), broadening the Hebrew melakhah ("work," singular) into a plural, general expression. The Vulgate adds "ut stent et ministrent" ("that they may stand and minister"), supplying two verbs where the Hebrew has a single infinitive la'asot ("to do"), making explicit an action (standing) not directly stated in the Hebrew construction.