Bilangan 5:12

5:12 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him,

Bilangan 6:18

6:18 “‘Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head ¹  at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire ²  where the peace offering is burning. ³ 

Bilangan 10:33

10:33 So they traveled from the mountain of the Lord three days’ journey; ⁴  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 14:3

14:3 Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”

Bilangan 15:19

15:19 and you eat ⁵  some of the food of the land, you must offer up a raised offering ⁶  to the Lord.

Bilangan 16:1

The Rebellion of Korah

16:1 ⁷ 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, ⁸  took men ⁹ 

Bilangan 16:37

16:37 “Tell ¹⁰  Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pick up ¹¹  the censers out of the flame, for they are holy, and then scatter the coals of fire ¹²  at a distance.

Bilangan 20:10

20:10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, ¹³  must we bring ¹⁴  water out of this rock for you?”

Bilangan 20:14

Rejection by the Edomites

20:14 ¹⁵ Moses ¹⁶  sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: ¹⁷  “Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardships we have experienced, ¹⁸ 

Bilangan 20:24

20:24 “Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors, ¹⁹  for he will not enter into the land I have given to the Israelites because both of you ²⁰  rebelled against my word ²¹  at the waters of Meribah.

Bilangan 21:23

21:23 But Sihon did not permit Israel to pass through his border; he ²²  gathered all his forces ²³  together and went out against Israel into the wilderness. When ²⁴  he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.

Bilangan 22:31

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. ²⁵ 

Bilangan 24:1

Balaam Prophesies Yet Again

24:1 ²⁶ When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, ²⁷  he did not go as at the other times ²⁸  to seek for omens, ²⁹  but he set his face ³⁰  toward the wilderness.

Bilangan 24:6

24:6 They are like ³¹  valleys ³²  stretched forth,

like gardens by the river’s side,

like aloes ³³  that the Lord has planted,

and like cedar trees beside the waters.

Bilangan 28:7

28:7 “‘And its drink offering must be one quarter of a hin for each lamb. ³⁴  You must pour out the strong drink ³⁵  as a drink offering to the Lord in the holy place.

Bilangan 29:7

The Day of Atonement

29:7 “‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you are to have a holy assembly. You must humble yourselves; ³⁶  you must not do any work on it.

Bilangan 31:16

31:16 Look, these people through the counsel of Balaam caused the Israelites to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor – which resulted in the plague among the community of the Lord!

Bilangan 32:14

32:14 Now look, you are standing in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinners, to increase still further the fierce wrath of the Lord against the Israelites.

Bilangan 32:19

32:19 For we will not accept any inheritance on the other side of the Jordan River ³⁷  and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this eastern side of the Jordan.”

Bilangan 33:8

33:8 They traveled from Pi-hahiroth, ³⁸  and passed through the middle of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and camped in Marah.

[6:18]  ¹ tn Some versions simply interpret this to say that he shaves his hair, for it is the hair that is the sign of the consecration to God. But the text says he shaves his consecrated head. The whole person is obviously consecrated to God – not just the head. But the symbolic act of cutting the hair shows that the vow has been completed (see Acts 21:23-24). The understanding of the importance of the hair in the ancient world has been the subject of considerable study over the years (see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 436; and J. A. Thompson, “Numbers,” New Bible Commentary: Revised, 177).

[6:18]  ² sn Some commentators see this burning of the hair as an offering (McNeile, Numbers, 35; G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 68). But others probably with more foundation see it as destroying something that has served a purpose, something that if left alone might be venerated (see R. de Vaux, Israel, 436).

[6:18]  ³ tn Heb “which is under the peace offering.” The verse does not mean that the hair had to be put under that sacrifice and directly on the fire.

[10:33]  ⁴ tn The phrase “a journey of three days” is made up of the adverbial accusative qualified with the genitives.

[15:19]  ⁵ tn The verse has a temporal clause that actually continues or supplements the temporal clause of the preceding verse. It is made up of the temporal indicator, the infinitive construct with the preposition, and the suffixed subjective genitive: “and it shall be when you eat.” Here it is translated simply “and eat” since the temporal element was introduced in the last verse.

[15:19]  ⁶ tn This is the תְּרוּמָה (tÿrumah), the “raised offering” or “heave offering” (cf. KJV, ASV). It may simply be called a “contribution” (so NAB). The verb of the sentence is from the same root: “you shall lift up/raise up.” It was to be an offering separated from the rest and raised up to the Lord in the sight of all. It was designed to remind the Israelites that the produce and the land belonged to God.

[16:1]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tc The MT reading is plural (“the sons of Reuben”); the Smr and LXX have the singular (“the son of Reuben”).

[16:1]  ⁹ 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.”

[16:37]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “say to.”

[16:37]  ¹¹ tn The verb is the jussive with a vav (ו) coming after the imperative; it may be subordinated to form a purpose clause (“that he may pick up”) or the object of the imperative.

[16:37]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text just has “fire,” but it would be hard to conceive of this action apart from the idea of coals of fire.

[20:10]  ¹³ tn The word is הַמֹּרִים (hammorim, “the rebels”), but here as a vocative: “you rebels.” It was a harsh address, although well-earned.

[20:10]  ¹⁴ tn The word order and the emphasis of the tense are important to this passage. The word order is “from this rock must we bring out to you water?” The emphasis is clearly on “from this rock!” The verb is the imperfect tense; it has one of the modal nuances here, probably obligatory – “must we do this?”

[20:14]  ¹⁵ sn For this particular section, see W. F. Albright, “From the Patriarchs to Moses: 2. Moses out of Egypt,” BA 36 (1973): 57-58; J. R. Bartlett, “The Land of Seir and the Brotherhood of Edom,” JTS 20 (1969): 1-20, and “The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Edom,” PEQ 104 (1972): 22-37, and “The Brotherhood of Edom,” JSOT 4 (1977): 2-7.

[20:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And Moses sent.”

[20:14]  ¹⁷ sn Some modern biblical scholars are convinced, largely through arguments from silence, that there were no unified kingdoms in Edom until the 9th century, and no settlements there before the 12th century, and so the story must be late and largely fabricated. The evidence is beginning to point to the contrary. But the cities and residents of the region would largely be Bedouin, and so leave no real remains.

[20:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “found.”

[20:24]  ¹⁹ sn This is the standard poetic expression for death. The bones would be buried, often with the bones of relatives in the same tomb, giving rise to the expression.

[20:24]  ²⁰ tn The verb is in the second person plural form, and so it is Moses and Aaron who rebelled, and so now because of that Aaron first and then Moses would die without going into the land.

[20:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “mouth.”

[21:23]  ²² tn Heb “Sihon.”

[21:23]  ²³ tn Heb “people.”

[21:23]  ²⁴ tn The clause begins with a preterite with vav (ו) consecutive, but may be subordinated to the next preterite as a temporal clause.

[22:31]  ²⁵ 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.

[24:1]  ²⁶ sn For a thorough study of the arrangement of this passage, see E. B. Smick, “A Study of the Structure of the Third Balaam Oracle,” The Law and the Prophets, 242-52. He sees the oracle as having an introductory strophe (vv. 3, 4), followed by two stanzas (vv. 5, 6) that introduce the body (vv. 7b-9b) before the final benediction (v. 9b).

[24:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “it was good in the eyes of the Lord.”

[24:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “as time after time.”

[24:1]  ²⁹ tn The word נְחָשִׁים (nÿkhashim) means “omens,” or possibly “auguries.” Balaam is not even making a pretense now of looking for such things, because they are not going to work. God has overruled them.

[24:1]  ³⁰ tn The idiom signifies that he had a determination and resolution to look out over where the Israelites were, so that he could appreciate more their presence and use that as the basis for his expressing of the oracle.

[24:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “as valleys they spread forth.”

[24:6]  ³² tn Or “rows of palms.”

[24:6]  ³³ sn The language seems to be more poetic than precise. N. H. Snaith notes that cedars do not grow beside water; he also connects “aloes” to the eaglewood that is more exotic, and capable of giving off an aroma (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 298).

[28:7]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the one lamb,” but it is meant to indicate for “each lamb.”

[28:7]  ³⁵ tn The word שֵׁכָר (shekhar) is often translated “strong drink.” It can mean “barley beer” in the Akkadian cognate, and also in the Hebrew Bible when joined with the word for wine. English versions here read “wine” (NAB, TEV, CEV); “strong wine” (KJV); “fermented drink” (NIV, NLT); “strong drink” (ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[29:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “afflict yourselves”; NAB “mortify yourselves”; NIV, NRSV “deny yourselves.”

[29:7]  sn The verb seems to mean “humble yourself.” There is no explanation given for it. In the days of the prophets fasting seems to be associated with it (see Isa 58:3-5), and possibly the symbolic wearing of ashes.

[32:19]  ³⁷ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[33:8]  ³⁸ tc So many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, Smr, Syriac, and Latin Vulgate. Other witnesses have “from before Hahiroth.”