They shall perform duties for him and for the whole congregation means the Levites must complete tasks on behalf of Aaron and the rest of the Israelite community. Perform duties is literally “doing the duty” (shamar mishmeret in Hebrew; see 1.53). This verb plus cognate (object) noun construction in Hebrew implies that the Levites have to do these tasks regularly and carefully. The pronoun him refers to Aaron, which Bible en français courant and Bijbel in Gewone Taal make explicit. Good News Translation says “the priests,” which unnecessarily makes this reference much wider and more general. For the Hebrew word rendered congregation (ʿedah), see the comments on 1.2.

Before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle: For the tent of meeting, see 1.1; for the tabernacle, see 1.50. Since these expressions refer to the same place, Good News Translation combines them, saying “the Tent of my presence.” However, it is better to keep both expressions if possible. A model that does this is “the Tent of my presence … my dwelling-place” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). As they minister at the tabernacle is literally “by serving the service of the dwelling-place.” The Hebrew verb for “serving” (ʿabad) and the noun for “service” (ʿabodah) come from the same root. This verb plus cognate noun construction emphasizes the activity of service. Good News Translation omits this clause both here and in verse 8, but it is too significant to be left out altogether. It is the main theme of chapters 3–4 and repetition serves to underscore that fact in many languages.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .