עַל־פִּ֨י יְהֹוָ֜ה פָּקַ֤ד אוֹתָם֙ בְּיַד־מֹשֶׁ֔ה אִ֥ישׁ אִ֛ישׁ עַל־עֲבֹדָת֖וֹ וְעַל־מַשָּׂא֑וֹ וּפְקֻדָ֕יו אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה׃
Each one, in turn, was given responsibility for his service and porterage at GOD’s command through Moses, and each was recorded as GOD had commanded Moses.
(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term אִישׁ, by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in this introduction, pp. 11–16.)
The word אִישׁ is repeated in 20 biblical verses; many of them occur in Numbers, as here. Such repetition אִישׁ אִישׁ imparts a “no exceptions” meaning to the situation that is being depicted, as I explained in my comment to Exod 36:4.
Yes, it is true that, as Waltke and O’Connor wrote in IBHS, “in such a phrase the members composing the aggregate are singled out” (§7.2.3b, p. 115). Yet the noun’s repetition must indicate something other than simple distribution (“each/every”), because the syntactic construction here would be distributive with only one instance of אִישׁ (like in Exod 36:4). The point is that the distribution is not only true of the aggregate in general but also thorough in its application: nobody is left out.
Gender is not at issue in this passage. Women are excluded from view by the topic: the work assignments of the Levites—that is, of the non-priestly males of the tribe of Levi who fall within the specified age range.
As for rendering into English, there is no warrant for a gendered rendering of אִישׁ, because the gendered pronoun already indicates the gender of the denoted group, which anyway could go without saying. The NJPS “Each one…” is appropriately nonspecific about gender. However, it does not express the emphatic, across-the-board nature of the claim that is conveyed by the phrase אִישׁ אִישׁ.
There is one aspect of the NJPS rendering that is unclear to me: what is the basis for the second each that appears near the end of this verse (“and each was recorded…”)? Similarly Baruch Levine in his Anchor Bible commentary: “Each was listed,….” In the JPS Bible commentary, Jacob Milgrom remarks, “This rendering is difficult to explain.” How is it intended to follow from אִישׁ אִישׁ?
Unfortunately, I cannot recall what prompted me to insert the phrase in turn after “Each one” (in the first printing). I infer now that I was perceiving a “one at a time” meaning for אִישׁ אִישׁ (cf. לְאַחַד אֶחָד “one by one” in Isa 27:14). Perhaps I did so on the basis of A Handbook on Numbers, by Lénart J. de Regt and Ernst R. Wendland (United Bible Societies, 2016), which states, ad loc.: “The Hebrew word for each is actually repeated, which justifies translations such as ‘man by man’ (Buber) and ‘one by one’ (REB).” However, the proposed “no exceptions” meaning is more convincing, because it fits everywhere else that it appears. Better, “Every single one.…” I hope to change to this rendering in the late 2024 corrections cycle.
The word אִישׁ is repeated in 20 biblical verses; many of them occur in Numbers, as here. Such repetition אִישׁ אִישׁ imparts a “no exceptions” meaning to the situation that is being depicted, as I explained in my comment to Exod 36:4.
Yes, it is true that, as Waltke and O’Connor wrote in IBHS, “in such a phrase the members composing the aggregate are singled out” (§7.2.3b, p. 115). Yet the noun’s repetition must indicate something other than simple distribution (“each/every”), because the syntactic construction here would be distributive with only one instance of אִישׁ (like in Exod 36:4). The point is that the distribution is not only true of the aggregate in general but also thorough in its application: nobody is left out.
Gender is not at issue in this passage. Women are excluded from view by the topic: the work assignments of the Levites—that is, of the non-priestly males of the tribe of Levi who fall within the specified age range.
As for rendering into English, there is no warrant for a gendered rendering of אִישׁ, because the gendered pronoun already indicates the gender of the denoted group, which anyway could go without saying. The NJPS “Each one…” is appropriately nonspecific about gender. However, it does not express the emphatic, across-the-board nature of the claim that is conveyed by the phrase אִישׁ אִישׁ.
There is one aspect of the NJPS rendering that is unclear to me: what is the basis for the second each that appears near the end of this verse (“and each was recorded…”)? Similarly Baruch Levine in his Anchor Bible commentary: “Each was listed,….” In the JPS Bible commentary, Jacob Milgrom remarks, “This rendering is difficult to explain.” How is it intended to follow from אִישׁ אִישׁ?
Unfortunately, I cannot recall what prompted me to insert the phrase in turn after “Each one” (in the first printing). I infer now that I was perceiving a “one at a time” meaning for אִישׁ אִישׁ (cf. לְאַחַד אֶחָד “one by one” in Isa 27:14). Perhaps I did so on the basis of A Handbook on Numbers, by Lénart J. de Regt and Ernst R. Wendland (United Bible Societies, 2016), which states, ad loc.: “The Hebrew word for each is actually repeated, which justifies translations such as ‘man by man’ (Buber) and ‘one by one’ (REB).” However, the proposed “no exceptions” meaning is more convincing, because it fits everywhere else that it appears. Better, “Every single one.…” I hope to change to this rendering in the late 2024 corrections cycle.