Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageThey cast lots to determine their assigned duties—no distinction between the small and the great, the seasoned master and the student still learning. Before the lot, all stood equal.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GThey cast lots for their appointed watches, small and great alike, master alongside apprentice.
KJV
King James VersionAnd they cast lots, ward against ward, as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleThey cast lots for their duties, young and old alike, teacher as well as pupil.
Footnotes
The lot (*goral*, גּוֹרָל) was Israel's sacred mechanism for determining divine will, understood not as chance but as YHWH's own decision (Prov. 16:33). Here it functions as a leveller: *kaqaton kaggadol* (כַּקָּטֹן כַּגָּדוֹל), 'the small as the great,' and *mevin im talmid* (מֵבִין עִם-תַּלְמִיד), 'the understanding one alongside the learner.' *Talmid* (תַּלְמִיד) is the very word later used for disciples—those sitting under a teacher to learn. The lot ensured that neither seniority, skill level, nor family prestige governed one's rotation in sacred service. FOG renders the contrast with linguistic precision; FOG Message expands it slightly to make its egalitarian force felt by the modern reader.
