Bible Strands
Numbers 4:39
everyone from thirty to fifty years old who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God directs Moses to record the eligible Levites for sanctuary labor during the wilderness census. The directive isolates the exact age bracket for the Gershonite clan.
The words — The phrase מִבֶּן שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וָמַעְלָה וְעַד בֶּן חֲמִשִּׁים שָׁנָה (mi ben shloshim shanah va-ma'alah ve-ad ben chamishim shanah) literally renders "from a son of thirty years and upwards and to a son of fifty years." The term בֶּן (ben) functions as a genitive of age rather than a literal parent-child reference.
The thread — This age specification appears in Numbers 8:24-25 and is later adjusted in 1 Chronicles 23:24. The boundary recurs in priestly regulations that separate active duty from rotational service.
Why it lands — The text establishes a fixed age range for physical sanctuary labor, requiring exact compliance with the census count. It demands that readers recognize divine service as bounded by concrete, measurable criteria rather than voluntary preference.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation,