Bilangan 4:14

4:14 Then they must place on it all its implements with which they serve there – the trays, the meat forks, the shovels, the basins, and all the utensils of the altar – and they must spread on it a covering of fine leather, and then insert its poles. ¹ 

Bilangan 6:3

6:3 he must separate ²  himself from wine and strong drink, he must drink neither vinegar ³  made from wine nor vinegar made from strong drink, nor may he drink any juice ⁴  of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. ⁵ 

Bilangan 6:20

6:20 then the priest must wave them as a wave offering ⁶  before the Lord; it is a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the raised offering. ⁷  After this the Nazirite may drink ⁸  wine.’

Bilangan 8:19

8:19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the work for the Israelites in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, so there will be no plague among the Israelites when the Israelites come near the sanctuary.” ⁹ 

Bilangan 9:6

9:6 It happened that some men ¹⁰  who were ceremonially defiled ¹¹  by the dead body of a man ¹²  could not keep ¹³  the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.

Bilangan 9:21

9:21 And when ¹⁴  the cloud remained only ¹⁵  from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up ¹⁶  the following morning, then they traveled on. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they traveled.

Bilangan 10:10

10:10 “Also in the time when you rejoice, such as ¹⁷  on your appointed festivals or ¹⁸  at the beginnings of your months, you must blow with your trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, so that they may ¹⁹  become ²⁰  a memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God.”

Bilangan 10:29

The Appeal to Hobab

10:29 ²¹ Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel, the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, ²²  “We are journeying to the place about which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, ²³  for the Lord has promised good things ²⁴  for Israel.”

Bilangan 11:18

11:18 “And say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves ²⁵  for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing ²⁶  of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat, ²⁷  for life ²⁸  was good for us in Egypt?” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat.

Bilangan 15:39

15:39 You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and obey them and so that you do not follow ²⁹  after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness. ³⁰ 

Bilangan 16:13

16:13 Is it a small thing ³¹  that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, ³²  to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a prince ³³  over us?

Bilangan 18:9

18:9 Of all the most holy offerings reserved ³⁴  from the fire this will be yours: Every offering of theirs, whether from every grain offering or from every purification offering or from every reparation offering which they bring to me, will be most holy for you and for your sons.

Bilangan 18:11

18:11 “And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

Bilangan 18:24

18:24 But I have given ³⁵  to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the Israelites that are offered ³⁶  to the Lord as a raised offering. That is why I said to them that among the Israelites they are to have no inheritance.”

Bilangan 18:32

18:32 And you will bear no sin concerning it when you offer up the best of it. And you must not profane the holy things of the Israelites, or else you will die.’” ³⁷ 

Bilangan 24:13

24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond ³⁸  the commandment ³⁹  of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, ⁴⁰  but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’?

Bilangan 26:5

Reuben

26:5 Reuben was the firstborn of Israel. The Reubenites: from ⁴¹  Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites; from Pallu, the family of the Palluites;

Bilangan 35:25

35:25 The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there ⁴²  until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil.

Bilangan 35:33

35:33 “You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it.

[4:14]  ¹ tc For this passage the Greek and Smr have a substantial addition concerning the purple cloth for the laver and its base, and a further covering of skin (see D. W. Gooding, “On the Use of the LXX for Dating Midrashic Elements in the Targums,” JTS 25 [1974]: 1-11).

[6:3]  ² tn The operative verb now will be the Hiphil of נָזַר (nazar); the consecration to the Lord meant separation from certain things in the world. The first will be wine and strong drink – barley beer (from Akkadian sikaru, a fermented beer). But the second word may be somewhat wider in its application than beer. The Nazirite, then, was to avoid all intoxicants as a sign of his commitment to the Lord. The restriction may have proved a hardship in the daily diet of the one taking the vow, but it spoke a protest to the corrupt religious and social world that used alcohol to excess.

[6:3]  ³ tn The “vinegar” (חֹמֶץ, homets) is some kind of drink preparation that has been allowed to go sour.

[6:3]  ⁴ tn This word occurs only here. It may come from the word “to water, to be moist,” and so refer to juice.

[6:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “dried” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[6:20]  ⁶ sn The ritual of lifting the hands filled with the offering and waving them in the presence of the Lord was designed to symbolize the transfer of the offering to God in the sight of all. This concludes the worshiper’s part; the offering now becomes the property of the priest – his priest’s due (or “raised/heave offering”).

[6:20]  ⁷ sn The “wave offering” may be interpreted as a “special gift” to be transferred to the Lord, and the “heave offering” as a “special contribution” to God – the priest’s due. These two offerings have also inspired a good deal of study.

[6:20]  ⁸ tn The imperfect tense here would then have the nuance of permission. It is not an instruction at this point; rather, the prohibition has been lifted and the person is free to drink wine.

[8:19]  ⁹ sn The firstborn were those that were essentially redeemed from death in Egypt when the blood was put on the doors. So in the very real sense they belonged to God (Exod 13:2,12). The firstborn was one who stood in special relationship to the father, being the successive offspring. Here, the Levites would stand in for the firstborn in that special role and special relationship. God also made it clear that the nation of Israel was his firstborn son (Exod 4:22-23), and so they stood in that relationship before all the nations. The tribe of Reuben was to have been the firstborn tribe, but in view of the presumptuous attempt to take over the leadership through pagan methods (Gen 35:22; 49:3-4), was passed over. The tribes of Levi and Simeon were also put down for their ancestors’ activities, but sanctuary service was still given to Levi.

[9:6]  ¹⁰ tn In the Hebrew text the noun has no definite article, and so it signifies “some” or “certain” men.

[9:6]  ¹¹ tn The meaning, of course, is to be ceremonially unclean, and therefore disqualified from entering the sanctuary.

[9:6]  ¹² tn Or “a human corpse” (so NAB, NKJV). So also in v.7; cf. v. 10.

[9:6]  ¹³ tn This clause begins with the vav (ו) conjunction and negative before the perfect tense. Here is the main verb of the sentence: They were not able to observe the Passover. The first part of the verse provides the explanation for their problem.

[9:21]  ¹⁴ tn The construction is the same in the preceding verse.

[9:21]  ¹⁵ tn “Only” is supplied to reflect the contrast between the two verses.

[9:21]  ¹⁶ tn The construction in this half of the verse uses two vav (ו) consecutive clauses. The first is subordinated to the second as a temporal clause: “when…then….”

[10:10]  ¹⁷ tn The conjunction may be taken as explicative or epexegetical, and so rendered “namely; even; that is,” or it may be taken as emphatic conjunction, and translated “especially.”

[10:10]  ¹⁸ tn The vav (ו) is taken here in its alternative use and translated “or.”

[10:10]  ¹⁹ tn The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. After the instruction imperfects, this form could be given the same nuance, or more likely, subordinated as a purpose or result clause.

[10:10]  ²⁰ tn The verb “to be” (הָיָה, hayah) has the meaning “to become” when followed by the preposition lamed (ל).

[10:29]  ²¹ sn For additional bibliography for this short section, see W. F. Albright, “Jethro, Hobab, and Reuel in Early Hebrew Tradition,” CBQ 25 (1963): 1-11; G. W. Coats, “Moses in Midian,” JBL 92 (1973): 3-10; B. Mazar, “The Sanctuary of Arad and the Family of Hobab the Kenite,” JNES 24 (1965): 297-303; and T. C. Mitchell, “The Meaning of the Noun h£tn in the Old Testament,” VT 19 (1969): 93-112.

[10:29]  ²² sn There is a problem with the identity of Hobab. The MT says that he is the son of Reuel, making him the brother-in-law of Moses. But Judg 4:11 says he is the father-in-law. In Judg 1:16; 4:11 Hobab is traced to the Kenites, but in Exod 3:1 and 18:1 Jethro (Reuel) is priest of Midian. Jethro is identified with Reuel on the basis of Exod 2:18 and 3:1, and so Hobab becomes Moses’ חֹתֵן (khoten), a relative by marriage and perhaps brother-in-law. There is not enough information to decide on the identity and relationships involved here. Some suggest that there is one person with the three names (G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 93); others suggest Hobab is a family name (R. F. Johnson, IDB 2:615), and some suggest that the expression “the son of Reuel the Midianite” had dropped out of the genealogy of Judges, leading to the conflict (J. Crichton, ISBE 2:1055). If Hobab is the same as Jethro, then Exod 18:27 does not make much sense, for Jethro did go home. On this basis many conclude Hobab is a brother-in-law. This would mean that after Jethro returned home, Moses conversed with Hobab, his brother-in-law. For more discussion, see the articles and the commentaries.

[10:29]  ²³ tn The verb is the Hiphil of the root “to be good” (יָטַב, yatav); it may be translated “treat well, deal favorably, generously with.” Here it is a perfect tense with vav (ו) following the imperative, showing a sequence in the verbal ideas.

[10:29]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew text simply has “has spoken good” for Israel.

[11:18]  ²⁵ tn The Hitpael is used to stress that they are to prepare for a holy appearance. The day was going to be special and so required their being set apart for it. But it is a holy day in the sense of the judgment that was to follow.

[11:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in the ears.”

[11:18]  ²⁷ tn Possibly this could be given an optative translation, to reflect the earlier one: “O that someone would give….” But the verb is not the same; here it is the Hiphil of the verb “to eat” – “who will make us eat” (i.e., provide meat for us to eat).

[11:18]  ²⁸ tn The word “life” is not in the text. The expression is simply “it was for us,” or “we had good,” meaning “we had it good,” or “life was good.”

[15:39]  ²⁹ tn Heb “seek out, look into.”

[15:39]  ³⁰ tn This last clause is a relative clause explaining the influence of the human heart and physical sight. It literally says, “which you go whoring after them.” The verb for “whoring” may be interpreted to mean “act unfaithfully.” So, the idea is these influences lead to unfaithful activity: “after which you act unfaithfully.”

[16:13]  ³¹ tn The question is rhetorical. It was not a small thing to them – it was a big thing.

[16:13]  ³² tn The modern scholar who merely sees these words as belonging to an earlier tradition about going up to the land of Canaan that flows with milk and honey misses the irony here. What is happening is that the text is showing how twisted the thinking of the rebels is. They have turned things completely around. Egypt was the land flowing with milk and honey, not Canaan where they will die. The words of rebellion are seldom original, and always twisted.

[16:13]  ³³ tn The verb הִשְׂתָּרֵר (histarer) is the Hitpael infinitive absolute that emphasizes the preceding תִשְׂתָּרֵר (tistarer), the Hitpael imperfect tense (both forms having metathesis). The verb means “to rule; to act like a prince; to make oneself a prince.” This is the only occurrence of the reflexive for this verb. The exact nuance is difficult to translate into English. But they are accusing Moses of seizing princely power for himself, perhaps making a sarcastic reference to his former status in Egypt. The rebels here are telling Moses that they had discerned his scheme, and so he could not “hoodwink” them (cf. NEB).

[18:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “from the fire.” It probably refers to those parts that were not burned.

[18:24]  ³⁵ tn The classification of the perfect tense here too could be the perfect of resolve, since this law is declaring what will be their portion – “I have decided to give.”

[18:24]  ³⁶ tn In the Hebrew text the verb has no expressed subject (although the “Israelites” is certainly intended), and so it can be rendered as a passive.

[18:32]  ³⁷ tn The final clause could also be rendered “in order that you do not die.” The larger section can also be interpreted differently; rather than take it as a warning, it could be taken as an assurance that when they do all of this they will not be profaning it and so will not die (R. K. Harrison, Numbers [WEC], 253).

[24:13]  ³⁸ tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”

[24:13]  ³⁹ tn Heb “mouth.”

[24:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “from my heart.”

[26:5]  ⁴¹ tc The Hebrew text has no preposition here, but one has been supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. vv. 23, 30, 31, 32.

[35:25]  ⁴² tn Heb “in it.”