Bilangan 1:5

1:5 Now these are the names of the men who are to help ¹  you:

from ²  Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur;

Bilangan 1:16

The Census of the Tribes

1:16 These were the ones chosen ³  from the community, leaders ⁴  of their ancestral tribes. ⁵  They were the heads of the thousands ⁶  of Israel.

Bilangan 3:12

3:12 “Look, ⁷  I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of ⁸  every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me,

Bilangan 10:33

10:33 So they traveled from the mountain of the Lord three days’ journey; ⁹  and the ark of the covenant of the Lord was traveling before them during the three days’ journey, to find a resting place for them.

Bilangan 11:11

11:11 And Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you afflicted ¹⁰  your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that ¹¹  you lay the burden of this entire people on me?

Bilangan 11:28

11:28 Joshua son of Nun, the servant ¹²  of Moses, one of his choice young men, ¹³  said, ¹⁴  “My lord Moses, stop them!” ¹⁵ 

Bilangan 13:1

Spies Sent Out

13:1 ¹⁶ The Lord spoke ¹⁷  to Moses:

Bilangan 14:4

14:4 So they said to one another, ¹⁸  “Let’s appoint ¹⁹  a leader ²⁰  and return ²¹  to Egypt.”

Bilangan 16:1-3

The Rebellion of Korah

16:1 ²² Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites, ²³  took men ²⁴  16:2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders ²⁵  of the community, chosen from the assembly, ²⁶  famous men. ²⁷  16:3 And they assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, ²⁸  seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the Lord?”

Bilangan 16:5-9

16:5 Then he said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning the Lord will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that person ²⁹  to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him. 16:6 Do this, Korah, you and all your company: ³⁰  Take censers, 16:7 put fire in them, and set incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses will be holy. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!” 16:8 Moses said to Korah, “Listen now, you sons of Levi! 16:9 Does it seem too small a thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the community of Israel to bring you near to himself, to perform the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the community to minister to them?

Bilangan 17:5

17:5 And the staff of the man whom I choose will blossom; so I will rid myself of the complaints of the Israelites, which they murmur against you.”

Bilangan 18:6

18:6 I myself have chosen ³¹  your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties ³²  of the tent of meeting.

Bilangan 20:17

20:17 Please let us pass through ³³  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; ³⁴  we will not turn to the right or the left until we have passed through your region.’” ³⁵ 

Bilangan 26:9

26:9 Eliab’s descendants were Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. It was Dathan and Abiram who as leaders of the community rebelled against Moses and Aaron with the followers ³⁶  of Korah when they rebelled against the Lord.

Bilangan 31:3-5

31:3 So Moses spoke to the people: “Arm ³⁷  men from among you for the war, to attack the Midianites and to execute ³⁸  the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. 31:4 You must send to the battle a thousand men from every tribe throughout all the tribes of Israel.” ³⁹  31:5 So a thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand armed for battle in all, were provided out of the thousands of Israel.

Bilangan 32:20-21

32:20 Then Moses replied, ⁴⁰  “If you will do this thing, and if you will arm yourselves for battle before the Lord, 32:21 and if all your armed men cross the Jordan before the Lord until he drives out his enemies from his presence

Bilangan 32:27

32:27 but your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, to do battle in the Lord’s presence, just as my lord says.”

Bilangan 32:29-30

32:29 Moses said to them: “If the Gadites and the Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, each one equipped for battle in the Lord’s presence, and you conquer the land, ⁴¹  then you must allot them the territory of Gilead as their possession. 32:30 But if they do not cross over with you armed, they must receive possessions among you in Canaan.”

Bilangan 32:32

32:32 We will cross armed in the Lord’s presence into the land of Canaan, and then the possession of our inheritance that we inherit will be ours on this side of the Jordan River.” ⁴² 

Bilangan 35:11

35:11 you must then designate some towns as towns of refuge for you, to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee.

[1:5]  ¹ tn The verb is עָמַד (’amad, “to stand”). It literally then is, “who will stand with you.” They will help in the count, but they will also serve as leaders as the camp moves from place to place.

[1:5]  ² tn The preposition lamed (ל) prefixed to the name could be taken in the sense of “from,” but could also be “with regard to” (specification).

[1:16]  ³ tc The form has a Kethib-Qere problem, but the sentence calls for the Qere, the passive participle in the construct – “the called of….” These men were God’s choice, and not Moses’, or their own choice. He announced who they would be, and then named them. So they were truly “called” (קָרָא, qara’). The other reading is probably due to a copyist’s error.

[1:16]  ⁴ tn The word is נָשִׂיא (nasi’, “exalted one, prince, leader”). Cf. KJV, ASV, NAB “princes.” These were men apparently revered or respected in their tribes, and so the clear choice to assist Moses with the leadership. See further, E. A. Speiser, “Background and Function of the Biblical na„sÃþá,” CBQ 25 (1963): 111-17.

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “exalted ones of the tribes of their fathers.” The earlier group of elders was chosen by Moses at the advice of his father-in-law. This group represents the few leaders of the tribes that were chosen by God, a more literate group apparently, who were the forerunners of the שֹׁטְּרִים (shottÿrim).

[1:16]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text has אַלְפֵי (’alfey, “thousands of”). There is some question over this reading in the MT, however. The community groups that have these leaders were larger tribes, but there is little certainty about the size of the divisions.

[3:12]  ⁷ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) here carries its deictic force, calling attention to the fact that is being declared. It is underscoring the fact that the Lord himself chose Levi.

[3:12]  ⁸ tn Literally “in the place of.”

[10:33]  ⁹ tn The phrase “a journey of three days” is made up of the adverbial accusative qualified with the genitives.

[11:11]  ¹⁰ tn The verb is the Hiphil of רָעַע (ra’a’, “to be evil”). Moses laments (with the rhetorical question) that God seems to have caused him evil.

[11:11]  ¹¹ tn The infinitive construct with the preposition is expressing the result of not finding favor with God (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 12-13, §57). What Moses is claiming is that because he has been given this burden God did not show him favor.

[11:28]  ¹² tn The form is the Piel participle מְשָׁרֵת (mÿsharet), meaning “minister, servant, assistant.” The word has a loftier meaning than the ordinary word for slave.

[11:28]  ¹³ tn The verb is בָּחַר (bakhar, “to choose”); here the form is the masculine plural participle with a suffix, serving as the object of the preposition מִן (min). It would therefore mean “[one of] his chosen men,” or “[one of] his choice men.”

[11:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[11:28]  ¹⁵ sn The effort of Joshua is to protect Moses’ prerogative as leader by stopping these men in the camp from prophesying. Joshua did not understand the significance in the Lord’s plan to let other share the burden of leadership.

[13:1]  ¹⁶ sn Chapter 13 provides the names of the spies sent into the land (vv. 1-16), their instructions (vv. 17-20), their activities (vv. 21-25), and their reports (vv. 26-33). It is a chapter that serves as a good lesson on faith, for some of the spies walked by faith, and some by sight.

[13:1]  ¹⁷ tn The verse starts with the vav (ו) consecutive on the verb: “and….”

[14:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a man to his brother.”

[14:4]  ¹⁹ tn The verb is נָתַן (natan, “to give”), but this verb has quite a wide range of meanings in the Bible. Here it must mean “to make,” “to choose,” “to designate” or the like.

[14:4]  ²⁰ tn The word “head” (רֹאשׁ, ro’sh) probably refers to a tribal chief who was capable to judge and to lead to war (see J. R. Bartlett, “The Use of the Word רֹאשׁ as a Title in the Old Testament,” VT 19 [1969]: 1-10).

[14:4]  ²¹ tn The form is a cohortative with a vav (ו) prefixed. After the preceding cohortative this could also be interpreted as a purpose or result clause – in order that we may return.

[16:1]  ²² sn There are three main movements in the story of ch. 16. The first is the rebellion itself (vv. 1-19). The second is the judgment (vv. 20-35). Third is the atonement for the rebels (vv. 36-50). The whole chapter is a marvelous account of a massive rebellion against the leaders that concludes with reconciliation. For further study see G. Hort, “The Death of Qorah,” ABR 7 (1959): 2-26; and J. Liver, “Korah, Dathan and Abiram,” Studies in the Bible (ScrHier 8), 189-217.

[16:1]  ²³ tc The MT reading is plural (“the sons of Reuben”); the Smr and LXX have the singular (“the son of Reuben”).

[16:1]  ²⁴ tn In the Hebrew text there is no object for the verb “took.” The translation presented above supplies the word “men.” However, it is possible that the MT has suffered damage here. The LXX has “and he spoke.” The Syriac and Targum have “and he was divided.” The editor of BHS suggests that perhaps the MT should be emended to “and he arose.”

[16:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “princes” (so KJV, ASV).

[16:2]  ²⁶ tn These men must have been counselors or judges of some kind.

[16:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “men of name,” or “men of renown.”

[16:3]  ²⁸ tn The meaning of רַב־לָכֶם (rab-lakhem) is something like “you have assumed far too much authority.” It simply means “much to you,” perhaps “you have gone to far,” or “you are overreaching yourselves” (M. Noth, Numbers [OTL], 123). He is objecting to the exclusiveness of the system that Moses has been introducing.

[16:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “him.”

[16:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “his congregation” or “his community.” The expression is unusual, but what it signifies is that Korah had set up a rival “Israel” with himself as leader.

[18:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “taken.”

[18:6]  ³² tn The infinitive construct in this sentence is from עָבַד (’avad), and so is the noun that serves as its object: to serve the service.

[20:17]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ 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]  ³⁵ tn Heb “borders.”

[26:9]  ³⁶ tn Or “company” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); Heb “congregation.”

[31:3]  ³⁷ tn The Niphal imperative, literally “arm yourselves,” is the call to mobilize the nation for war. It is followed by the jussive, “and they will be,” which would then be subordinated to say “that they may be.” The versions changed the verb to a Hiphil, but that is unnecessary: “arm some of yourselves.”

[31:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “give.”

[31:4]  ³⁹ 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.

[32:20]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “said to them.”

[32:29]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and the land is subdued before you.”

[32:32]  ⁴² tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.