Numbers 4:37

Summary

The verse closes the census section of the Kohathite clan, stating that Moses and Aaron enrolled all those who serve at the Tent of Meeting, acting on Yehovah's command transmitted through Moses.

Key words

• fekudei ("[the] enrolled [men] of", H6485A) — qal passive participle, construct, masculine plural: designates "those who were counted/mustered," setting up the genitive chain "the enrolled of the clans of the Kohathite."
• ha-'oved ("[one who] serves", H5647H) — qal active participle with definite article, masculine singular used collectively ("everyone who serves"): describes an ongoing function, not a single completed act, marking service at the Tent as a defining role.
• pakad ("he enrolled", H6485A) — qal perfect, third masculine singular: same root as fekudei but here in finite perfect form, indicating the completed act of counting performed by Moses.
• 'al-pi ("on [the] mouth of", H5921A + H6310G) — preposition + construct noun: literally "upon the mouth of," an idiom meaning "according to the command of," attributing the order to Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G).
• be-yad ("by [the] hand of", H9003 + H3027J) — preposition + construct noun: literally "in/by the hand of," an idiom indicating agency, here naming Mosheh ("Moses", H4872) as the one through whom the command was carried out.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the demonstrative 'Elleh ("these", H0428), pointing back to the census just completed, followed immediately by fekudei, a construct participle that grammatically binds to mishpechot ha-Kehati ("the clans of the Kohathite", H4940 + H6956), forming the phrase "the enrolled of the clans of the Kohathite." The word kol ("every", H3605) introduces a second description of the same group: "every one who serves," using the participle ha-'oved, which frames the criterion for enrollment as an active, ongoing capacity to serve be-'ohel mo'ed ("in the tent of meeting", H0168G + H4150I).

The relative clause beginning with 'asher ("whom", H0834A) shifts to the perfect verb pakad, naming the agents of the counting: Mosheh and 'Aharon ("Moses" and "Aaron", H4872, H0175). The final two prepositional phrases, 'al-pi Yehovah and be-yad-Mosheh, both use body-part idioms ("mouth," "hand") to express, respectively, the source of the command (Yehovah) and the intermediary through whom it was executed (Moses). The repetition of Mosheh at the very end—first as one of the two counters, then again as the sole intermediary of the divine word—creates a chiastic emphasis on his double role in the verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders fekudei as episkepsis ("visitation/numbering"), a noun rather than a participle, and translates 'al-pi Yehovah ("on the mouth of Yehovah") as dia phōnēs kyriou ("through the voice of the Lord"), substituting "voice" for the Hebrew idiom "mouth." The Vulgate renders the same phrase as juxta sermonem Domini ("according to the word of the Lord"), using "word" rather than the bodily idiom found in the Hebrew.