^4:15“When Aaron and his sons have finished¹² covering¹³ the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is ready to journey, then¹⁴ the Kohathites will come to carry them;¹⁵ but they must not touch¹⁶ any¹⁷ holy thing, or they will die.¹⁸ These are the responsibilities¹⁹ of the Kohathites with the tent of meeting.

^4:16“The appointed responsibility of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest is for the oil for the light, and the spiced incense, and the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil; he also has²⁰ the appointed responsibility over all the tabernacle with²¹ all that is in it, over the sanctuary and over all its furnishings.”²²

^4:17Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ^4:18“Do not allow the tribe of the families of the Kohathites to be cut off²³ from among the Levites; ^4:19but in order that they will live²⁴ and not die when they approach the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons will go in and appoint²⁵ each man²⁶ to his service and his responsibility.

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Footnotes

12 The verb form is the Piel perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the future sequence, but in this verse forms a subordinate clause to the parallel sequential verb to follow.
13 The Piel infinitive construct with the preposition serves as the direct object of the preceding verbal form, answering the question of what it was that they finished.
14 Heb “after this.”
15 The form is the Qal infinitive construct from נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to lift, carry”); here it indicates the purpose clause after the verb “come.”
16 The imperfect tense may be given the nuance of negated instruction (“they are not to”) or negated obligation (“they must not”).
17 Here the article expresses the generic idea of any holy thing (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §92).
18 The verb is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, following the imperfect tense warning against touching the holy thing. The form shows the consequence of touching the holy thing, and so could be translated “or they will die” or “lest they die.” The first is stronger.
19 The word מַשָּׂא (massa’) is normally rendered “burden,” especially in prophetic literature. It indicates the load that one must carry, whether an oracle, or here the physical responsibility.
20 This is supplied to the line to clarify “appointed.”
21 Heb “and.”
22 One would assume that he would prepare and wrap these items, but that the Kohathites would carry them to the next place.
23 The verb is simply the Qal, “do not cut off.” The context calls for a permissive nuance—“do not let them be cut off.” It was a difficult task to be handling the holy things correctly; Moses and Aaron were to see to it that they did it right and did not handle the objects, that is, Moses and Aaron were to safeguard their lives by making certain that proper procedures were followed.
24 The word order is different in the Hebrew text: Do this … and they will live. Consequently, the verb “and they will live” is a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive to express the future consequence of “doing this” for them.
25 The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive continues the instruction for Aaron.
26 The distributive sense is obtained by the repetition, “a man” and “a man.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry.

“And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering, and the anointing oil, with the oversight of the whole tabernacle and all that is in it, of the sanctuary and its vessels.”

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “Let not the tribe of the clans of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites, but deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to his burden,

NIVNew International Version (2011)

“After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move, only then are the Kohathites to come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the tent of meeting.

“Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, is to have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering and the anointing oil. He is to be in charge of the entire tabernacle and everything in it, including its holy furnishings and articles.”

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “See that the Kohathite tribal clans are not destroyed from among the Levites. So that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons are to go into the sanctuary and assign to each man his work and what he is to carry.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

“Aaron and his sons are to finish covering the holy objects and all their equipment whenever the camp is to move on. The Kohathites will come and carry them, but they are not to touch the holy objects or they will die. These are the transportation duties of the Kohathites regarding the tent of meeting.

“Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has oversight of the lamp oil, the fragrant incense, the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil. He has oversight of the entire tabernacle and everything in it, the holy objects and their utensils.”

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: “Do not allow the Kohathite tribal clans to be wiped out from the Levites. Do this for them so that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons are to go in and assign each man his task and transportation duty.

NLTNew Living Translation

The camp will be ready to move when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the sacred articles. The Kohathites will come and carry these things to the next destination. But they must not touch the sacred objects, or they will die. So these are the things from the Tabernacle that the Kohathites must carry.

“Eleazar son of Aaron the priest will be responsible for the oil of the lampstand, the fragrant incense, the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil. In fact, Eleazar will be responsible for the entire Tabernacle and everything in it, including the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Do not let the Kohathite clans be destroyed from among the Levites! This is what you must do so they will live and not die when they approach the most sacred objects. Aaron and his sons must always go in with them and assign a specific duty or load to each person.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the vessels of the sanctuary when the camp sets out, the descendants of Kohath will come after to carry these, but they must not touch the sanctuary, or they will die. These are the load of the descendants of Kohath in the tent of assembly.

“Eleazar son of Aaron the priest is to supervise the oil of the light source, the incense, the regular grain offering, the oil of anointment, the supervision of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, in the sanctuary and in its vessels.”

Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “You must not cut off the tribe of the clan of the Kohathites from the midst of the Levites. Do this to them and they will live and not die when they come near the most holy things. Aaron and his sons will go and appoint them, each one to his task and burden.

KJV 1900King James Version

And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation. And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites: But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden:

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