Bilangan 1:47

The Exemption of the Levites

1:47 But ¹  the Levites, according to the tribe of their fathers, ²  were not numbered ³  among them.

Bilangan 5:28

5:28 But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she will be free of ill effects ⁴  and will be able to bear children.

Bilangan 35:31

35:31 Moreover, you must not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; he must surely be put to death.

[1:47]  ¹ tn The vav (ו) on this word indicates a disjunction with the previous sequence of reports. It may be taken as a contrastive clause, translated “but” or “however.”

[1:47]  ² tn The construction is unexpected, for Levites would be from the tribe of Levi. The note seems more likely to express that all these people were organized by tribal lineage, and so too the Levites, according to the tribe of their fathers – individual families of Levites.

[1:47]  ³ tc The form in the text is הָתְפָּקְדוּ (hotpaqÿdu); if this is correct, then it is an isolated instance of the reflexive of the Qal of פָּקַד (paqad). Some, however, explain the form as the Hitpael without the doubling of the middle letter and with a compensatory lengthening of the vowel before it (G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 10).

[5:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “will be free”; the words “of ill effects” have been supplied as a clarification.