Numbers 4:39

Summary

Numbers 4:39 defines the age range for Levites eligible to serve at the Tent of Meeting, stating that every man from thirty years old and up to fifty years old who "comes" into this service is included. The verse specifies both the age bracket and the nature of the service using two related terms for "service."

Key words

• ben ("a son of", H1121L) — construct noun used idiomatically to express age ("a son of thirty years" = thirty years old). It appears twice, framing both boundaries of the age range.
• sheloshim ("thirty", H7970) and chamishim ("fifty", H2572) — cardinal numbers, masculine plural, marking the lower and upper limits of the range.
• ba ("[one who] comes", H0935G) — qal participle, masculine singular, functioning substantively as "the one who comes/enters." The participle form indicates an ongoing or characteristic action rather than a single event, describing anyone who regularly enters this service.
• tzava ("service", H6635I) — masculine singular noun, elsewhere often meaning "army" or "host," here used for organized service duty.
• avodah ("service", H5656H) — feminine singular noun, a distinct term for labor or work, paired with tzava to describe the specific tasks performed.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure sets the age boundaries first, then defines who is included, then specifies the type of service. The phrase mi-ben sheloshim shanah va-ma'lah ("from a son of thirty years and upward") uses the construct form ben + number to express age, a common Biblical Hebrew idiom. The lower boundary is marked with mi ("from", H9006) and the directional suffix -ah on ma'lah ("up", H4605), while the upper boundary uses ad ("to", H5704) with the same ben + number construction for fifty.

The clause kol ha-ba la-tzava la-avodah ("every one who comes for the service, for the labor") stacks two nouns—tzava and avodah—both governed by the preposition la ("for the", H9005). This pairing distinguishes between the general category of service (tzava) and the specific labor performed (avodah), a nuance that a single English word like "service" does not fully preserve. The location is given by the construct chain ohel mo'ed ("tent of meeting"), where ohel ("tent of", H0168G) governs mo'ed ("meeting", H4150I).

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text specifies the lower age limit as sheloshim ("thirty", H7970), which the Vulgate follows with "triginta annos" (thirty years). The LXX (Swete), however, reads πέντε καὶ εἰκοσαετοῦς ("twenty-five years"), diverging from the Hebrew number at this point. Additionally, where the Hebrew uses two nouns (tzava and avodah) joined by repeated la, the LXX renders this with two verbs, λειτουργεῖν καὶ ποιεῖν τὰ ἔργα ("to minister and to do the works"), shifting the grammatical structure from nominal to verbal.