What Does Numbers 31:47 Mean?
Even from the half of the children of Israel, Moses took one in fifty, of man and of beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the watch of the dwelling of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Even of the children of Israel’s half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.THE KEY
The Levites’ share is tied to their watch: “kept” and “charge” are forms of שׁמר (shamar, to guard), naming both the keepers and their duty from one root.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a measured transfer before the reader: one of every fifty people and animals from Israel’s half goes to the Levites who guard the LORD’s dwelling. Human beings and livestock share one count, and the distribution is under the LORD’s command.
THE ROOT
שֹׁמְרֵי מִשְׁמֶרֶת
shomrei mishmeret
GROWS FROM
שׁמר
shamar
To keep watch, guard, or preserve.
“kept the watch” in this verse is shomrei mishmeret. The Hebrew pairs shomrei (“keepers”) with mishmeret (“watch” or “charge”): both come from שׁמר (shamar, to guard). The root makes the Levites’ role and their duty sound as one continuous act of keeping watch over the dwelling.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Keeper, guard, watcher.
שֹׁמֵר
This branch names the Levites through the active work of guarding.
mishmeret: Watch, guard duty, charge.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This is the word rendered “charge”; paired with shomrei, it repeats the same root in the keeper and the keeping.
THE PATTERN
Those assigned to sacred service receive a defined share from communal goods.
And behold, I have given to the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel as a holding, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tent of meeting.Do you not know that those who serve the set-apart things eat from the temple, and those who sit beside the altar share with the altar?THE THREAD
And they shall keep his watch, and the watch of the whole assembly before the tent of the assembly, to do the work of the dwelling.Here too, “keep” and “charge” translate forms of שׁמר (shamar, to guard). The repeated root makes the Levites’ portion in Numbers 31 part of the same continuing watch over the tabernacle.
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