Numbers 4:31

4:31 This is what they are responsible to carry as their entire service in the tent of meeting: the frames ¹  of the tabernacle, its crossbars, its posts, its sockets,

Numbers 5:9

5:9 Every offering ²  of all the Israelites’ holy things that they bring to the priest will be his.

Numbers 27:16

27:16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all humankind, ³  appoint ⁴  a man over the community,

Numbers 31:4

31:4 You must send to the battle a thousand men from every tribe throughout all the tribes of Israel.” ⁵ 

Numbers 32:15

32:15 For if you turn away from following him, he will once again abandon ⁶  them in the wilderness, and you will be the reason for their destruction.” ⁷ 

¹ sn More recent studies have concluded that these “boards” were made of two long uprights joined by cross-bars (like a ladder). They were frames rather than boards, meaning that the structure under the tent was not a solid building. It also meant that the “boards” would have been lighter to carry.

² tn The Hebrew word תְּרוּמָה (tÿrumah) seems to be a general word for any offering that goes to the priests (see J. Milgrom, Studies in Cultic Theology and Terminology [SJLA 36], 159-72).

³ tn Heb “flesh”; cf. NAB, NIV “all mankind”; NCV “all people”; NLT “all living things.”

⁴ tn This is the same verb פָּקַד (paqad) that is used throughout the book for the aspect of “numbering” the people.

⁴ sn Some commentators argue that given the size of the nation (which they reject) the small number for the army is a sign of the unrealistic character of the story. The number is a round number, but it is also a holy war, and God would give them the victory. They are beginning to learn here, and at Jericho, and later against these Midianites under Gideon, that God does not want or need a large army in order to obtain victory.

⁵ tn The construction uses a verbal hendiadys with the verb “to add” serving to modify the main verb.

⁶ tn Heb “and you will destroy all this people.”