Bilangan 10:31

10:31 Moses ¹  said, “Do not leave us, ²  because you know places for us to camp in the wilderness, and you could be our guide. ³ 

Bilangan 13:17

The Spies’ Instructions

13:17 When Moses sent ⁴  them to investigate the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up through the Negev, ⁵  and then go up into the hill country

Bilangan 13:21

The Spies’ Activities

13:21 So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, ⁶  at the entrance of Hamath. ⁷ 

Bilangan 14:25

14:25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys.) ⁸  Tomorrow, turn and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.”

Bilangan 20:17

20:17 Please let us pass through ⁹  your country. We will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well. We will go by the King’s Highway; ¹⁰  we will not turn to the right or the left until we have passed through your region.’” ¹¹ 

Bilangan 20:19

20:19 Then the Israelites said to him, “We will go along the highway, and if we ¹²  or our cattle drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We will only pass through on our feet, without doing anything else.”

Bilangan 20:21

20:21 So Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border; therefore Israel turned away from him.

Bilangan 21:1

Victory at Hormah

21:1 ¹³ When the Canaanite king of Arad ¹⁴  who lived in the Negev ¹⁵  heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner.

Bilangan 21:4

Fiery Serpents

21:4 Then they traveled from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea, ¹⁶  to go around the land of Edom, but the people ¹⁷  became impatient along the way.

Bilangan 21:22

21:22 “Let us ¹⁸  pass through your land; ¹⁹  we will not turn aside into the fields or into the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well, but we will go along the King’s Highway until we pass your borders.”

Bilangan 21:30

21:30 We have overpowered them; ²⁰ 

Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon.

We have shattered them as far as Nophah,

which ²¹  reaches to Medeba.”

Bilangan 21:32-33

21:32 Moses sent spies to reconnoiter ²²  Jaazer, and they captured its villages ²³  and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

21:33 Then they turned and went up by the road to Bashan. And King Og of Bashan and all his forces ²⁴  marched out against them to do battle at Edrei.

Bilangan 22:22-24

God Opposes Balaam

22:22 Then God’s anger was kindled ²⁵  because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose ²⁶  him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him. 22:23 And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with ²⁷  his sword drawn in his hand, so the donkey turned aside from the road and went into the field. But Balaam beat the donkey, to make her turn back to the road.

22:24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a path ²⁸  among the vineyards, where there was a wall on either side. ²⁹ 

Bilangan 22:26-27

22:26 Then the angel of the Lord went farther, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. 22:27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she crouched down under Balaam. Then Balaam was angry, and he beat his donkey with a staff.

Bilangan 22:31-32

22:31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his sword drawn in his hand; so he bowed his head and threw himself down with his face to the ground. ³⁰  22:32 The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Look, I came out to oppose you because what you are doing ³¹  is perverse before me. ³² 

Bilangan 22:34

22:34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me in the road. ³³  So now, if it is evil in your sight, ³⁴  I will go back home.” ³⁵ 

Bilangan 24:17

24:17 ‘I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not close at hand. ³⁶ 

A star ³⁷  will march forth ³⁸  out of Jacob,

and a scepter ³⁹  will rise out of Israel.

He will crush the skulls ⁴⁰  of Moab,

and the heads ⁴¹  of all the sons of Sheth. ⁴² 

Bilangan 33:54

33:54 You must divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families. To a larger group you must give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group you must give a smaller inheritance. Everyone’s inheritance must be in the place where his lot falls. You must inherit according to your ancestral ⁴³  tribes.

Bilangan 34:4

34:4 and then the border will turn from the south to the Scorpion Ascent, ⁴⁴  continue to Zin, and then its direction ⁴⁵  will be from the south to Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and pass over to Azmon.

Bilangan 34:7-8

The Northern Border of the Land

34:7 “‘And this will be your northern border: From the Great Sea you will draw a line to Mount Hor; 34:8 from Mount Hor you will draw a line to Lebo Hamath, ⁴⁶  and the direction of the border will be to Zedad.

[10:31]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:31]  ² tn The form with אַל־נָא (’al-na’) is a jussive; negated it stresses a more immediate request, as if Hobab is starting to leave, or at least determined to leave.

[10:31]  ³ tn In the Hebrew text the expression is more graphic: “you will be for us for eyes.” Hobab was familiar with the entire Sinai region, and he could certainly direct the people where they were to go. The text does not record Hobab’s response. But the fact that Kenites were in Canaan as allies of Judah (Judg 1:16) would indicate that he gave in and came with Moses. The first refusal may simply be the polite Semitic practice of declining first so that the appeal might be made more urgently.

[13:17]  ⁴ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next verb of the same formation to express a temporal clause.

[13:17]  ⁵ tn The instructions had them first go up into the southern desert of the land, and after passing through that, into the hill country of the Canaanites. The text could be rendered “into the Negev” as well as “through the Negev.”

[13:21]  ⁶ sn Zin is on the southern edge of the land, but Rehob is far north, near Mount Hermon. The spies covered all the land.

[13:21]  ⁷ tn The idiom uses the infinitive construct: “to enter Hamath,” meaning, “on the way that people go to Hamath.”

[14:25]  ⁸ sn The judgment on Israel is that they turn back to the desert and not attack the tribes in the land. So a parenthetical clause is inserted to state who was living there. They would surely block the entrance to the land from the south – unless God removed them. And he is not going to do that for Israel.

[20:17]  ⁹ tn The request is expressed by the use of the cohortative, “let us pass through.” It is the proper way to seek permission.

[20:17]  ¹⁰ sn This a main highway running from Damascus in the north to the Gulf of Aqaba, along the ridge of the land. Some scholars suggest that the name may have been given by the later Assyrians (see B. Obed, “Observations on Methods of Assyrian Rule in Transjordan after the Palestinian Campaign of Tiglathpileser III,” JNES 29 [1970]: 177-86). Bronze Age fortresses have been discovered along this highway, attesting to its existence in the time of Moses. The original name came from the king who developed the highway, probably as a trading road (see S. Cohen, IDB 3:35-36).

[20:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “borders.”

[20:19]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text uses singular pronouns, “I” and “my,” but it is the people of Israel that are intended, and so it may be rendered in the plural. Similarly, Edom speaks in the first person, probably from the king. But it too could be rendered “we.”

[21:1]  ¹³ sn This chapter has several events in it: the victory over Arad (vv. 1-3), the plague of serpents (vv. 4-9), the approach to Moab (vv. 10-20), and the victory over Sihon and Og (vv. 21-35). For information, see D. M. Gunn, “The ‘Battle Report’: Oral or Scribal Convention.” JBL 93 (1974): 513-18; and of the extensive literature on the archaeological site, see EAEHL 1:74-89.

[21:1]  ¹⁴ sn The name Arad probably refers to a place a number of miles away from Tel Arad in southern Israel. The name could also refer to the whole region (like Edom).

[21:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “the south”; “Negev” has become a technical name for the southern desert region and is still in use in modern times.

[21:4]  ¹⁶ tn The “Red Sea” is the general designation for the bodies of water on either side of the Sinai peninsula, even though they are technically gulfs from the Red Sea.

[21:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the soul of the people,” expressing the innermost being of the people as they became frustrated.

[21:22]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text uses the singular in these verses to match the reference to “Israel.”

[21:22]  ¹⁹ tc Smr has “by the King’s way I will go. I will not turn aside to the right or the left.”

[21:30]  ²⁰ tc The first verb is difficult. MT has “we shot at them.” The Greek has “their posterity perished” (see GKC 218 §76.f).

[21:30]  ²¹ tc The relative pronoun “which” (אֲשֶׁר, ’asher) posed a problem for the ancient scribes here, as indicated by the so-called extraordinary point (punta extraordinaria) over the letter ר (resh) of אֲשֶׁר. Smr and the LXX have “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) here (cf. NAB, NJB, RSV, NRSV). Some modern scholars emend the word to שֹׁאָה (sho’ah, “devastation”).

[21:32]  ²² tn Heb “Moses sent to spy out.”

[21:32]  ²³ tn Heb “daughters.”

[21:33]  ²⁴ tn Heb “people.”

[22:22]  ²⁵ sn God’s anger now seems to contradict the permission he gave Balaam just before this. Some commentators argue that God’s anger is a response to Balaam’s character in setting out – which the Bible does not explain. God saw in him greed and pleasure for the riches, which is why he was so willing to go.

[22:22]  ²⁶ tn The word is שָׂטָן (satan, “to be an adversary, to oppose”).

[22:23]  ²⁷ tn The word has the conjunction “and” on the noun, indicating this is a disjunctive vav (ו), here serving as a circumstantial clause.

[22:24]  ²⁸ tn The word means a “narrow place,” having the root meaning “to be deep.” The Greek thought it was in a field in a narrow furrow.

[22:24]  ²⁹ tn Heb “a wall on this side, and a wall on that side.”

[22:31]  ³⁰ tn The Hishtaphel verb חָוָה (khavah) – שָׁחָה (shakhah) with metathesis – has a basic idea of “bow oneself low to the ground,” and perhaps in some cases the idea of “coil up.” This is the normal posture of prayer and of deep humility in the ancient religious world.

[22:32]  ³¹ tn Heb “your way.”

[22:32]  ³² tn The verb יָרַט (yarat) occurs only here and in Job 16:11. Balaam is embarking on a foolish mission with base motives. The old rendering “perverse” is still acceptable.

[22:34]  ³³ sn Balaam is not here making a general confession of sin. What he is admitting to is a procedural mistake. The basic meaning of the word is “to miss the mark.” He now knows he took the wrong way, i.e., in coming to curse Israel.

[22:34]  ³⁴ sn The reference is to Balaam’s way. He is saying that if what he is doing is so perverse, so evil, he will turn around and go home. Of course, it did not appear that he had much of a chance of going forward.

[22:34]  ³⁵ tn The verb is the cohortative from “return”: I will return [me].

[24:17]  ³⁶ tn Heb “near.”

[24:17]  ³⁷ sn This is a figure for a king (see also Isa 14:12) not only in the Bible but in the ancient Near Eastern literature as a whole. The immediate reference of the prophecy seems to be to David, but the eschatological theme goes beyond him. There is to be a connection made between this passage and the sighting of a star in its ascendancy by the magi, who then traveled to Bethlehem to see the one born King of the Jews (Matt 2:2). The expression “son of a star” (Aram Bar Kochba) became a title for a later claimant to kingship, but he was doomed by the Romans in a.d. 135.

[24:17]  ³⁸ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is equal to the imperfect expressing the future. The verb דָּרַךְ (darakh), related to the noun “way, road,” seems to mean something like tread on, walk, march.”

[24:17]  ³⁹ sn The “scepter” is metonymical for a king who will rise to power. NEB strangely rendered this as “comet” to make a parallel with “star.”

[24:17]  ⁴⁰ tn The word is literally “corners,” but may refer to the corners of the head, and so “skull.”

[24:17]  ⁴¹ tc The MT reads “shatter, devastate.” Smr reads קֹדְקֹד (qodqod, “head; crown; pate”). Smr follows Jer 48:45 which appears to reflect Num 24:17.

[24:17]  ⁴² sn The prophecy begins to be fulfilled when David defeated Moab and Edom and established an empire including them. But the Messianic promise extends far beyond that to the end of the age and the inclusion of these defeated people in the program of the coming King.

[33:54]  ⁴³ tn Heb “of your fathers.”

[34:4]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “the Ascent of Scorpions” (עַקְרַבִּים [’aqrabbim] means “scorpions” in Hebrew).

[34:4]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “its going forth,” or the way it runs.

[34:8]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “to the entrance to Hamath.”