Numbers 4:5
וּבָא אַהֲרֹן וּבָנָיו בִּנְסֹעַ הַֽמַּחֲנֶה וְהוֹרִדוּ אֵת פָּרֹכֶת הַמָּסָךְ וְכִסּוּ־בָהּ אֵת אֲרֹן הָעֵדֻֽת׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וּבָ֨א אַהֲרֹ֤ן וּבָנָיו֙ בִּנְסֹ֣עַ הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔ה וְהוֹרִ֕דוּ אֵ֖ת פָּרֹ֣כֶת הַמָּסָ֑ךְ וְכִ֨סּוּ־בָ֔הּ אֵ֖ת אֲרֹ֥ן הָעֵדֻֽת׃
καὶ εἰσελεύσεται Ἀαρὼν καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ ὅταν ἐξαίρῃ ἡ παρεμβολή, κα καθελοῦσιν τὸ καταπέτασμα τὸ συσκιάζον, καὶ κατακαλύψουσιν ἐν αὐτῶ τὴν κιβωτὸν τοῦ μμρτυρίου·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
ingredientur Aaron et filii ejus, quando movenda sunt castra, et deponent velum quod pendet ante fores, involventque eo arcam testimonii,
Cuando el campamento deba avanzar, Aarón entrará con sus hijos; bajarán el velo de la cortina, cubrirán con él el Arca del Testimonio,
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Cuando se hubiere de mudar el campo, vendrán Aarón y sus hijos, y desarmarán el velo de la tienda, y cubrirán con él el arca del testimonio:
Whenever the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons are to go in, take down the veil of the curtain, and cover the ark of the Testimony with it.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse describes the procedure Aaron and his sons follow when the camp is about to move: they enter the sanctuary, take down the curtain that serves as a screen, and use it to cover the ark of the testimony. The sentence links this action explicitly to the moment the camp sets out on the march.
Key words
- ba ("he will go", H0935) — qal sequential perfect, the first verb of the chain, marking Aaron's entrance as part of the ordered sequence of actions.
- nesoa ("sets out", H5265) — qal infinitive construct, governed by the preposition bi ("when", H9003); this infinitive construction expresses the temporal condition triggering the whole procedure ("when the camp sets out").
- parokhet ("curtain of", H6532) — feminine singular construct noun, linked to ha-masakh ("the screen", H4539) to form a construct chain, "curtain of the screen".
- hissu ("they will cover", H3680) — piel sequential perfect, an intensive verb form indicating the deliberate, complete act of covering.
- aron ha-'edut ("ark of the testimony") — construct chain formed by aron ("ark", H0727) and ha-'edut ("the testimony", H5715), naming the object being covered.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of sequential perfect verbs (ba, horidu, kissu), each continuing the narrative sequence begun by the initial vav. This verb form ties the actions together as steps in one procedure rather than isolated events. The temporal frame for the whole chain is set by the phrase bi-nesoa ha-machaneh ("when the camp sets out"), using an infinitive construct with the preposition bi, which expresses simultaneity or immediate occasion rather than a fixed clock-time.
The object to be handled is described through a construct chain, parokhet ha-masak ("curtain of the screen"), where the first noun is grammatically bound to the second, indicating that the curtain in question is specifically the one functioning as a screen. The direct object marker 'et (H0853) appears before both parokhet ha-masakh and aron ha-'edut, marking each as the object receiving the verb's action, though it carries no independent gloss. The final construct chain, aron ha-'edut ("ark of the testimony"), names the item ultimately covered.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders parokhet ha-masakh as "τὸ καταπέτασμα τὸ συσκιάζον" ("the curtain, the one overshadowing/screening"), using a participle rather than the Hebrew's noun-construct chain. The Vulgate expands the same phrase to "velum quod pendet ante fores" ("the veil that hangs before the doors"), adding descriptive detail about its location not present in the Hebrew construct phrase itself.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.