Bilangan 9:22

9:22 Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, ¹  that the cloud prolonged its stay ²  over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling; ³  but when it was taken up, they traveled on.

Bilangan 11:20

11:20 but a whole month, ⁴  until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick, ⁵  because you have despised ⁶  the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why ⁷  did we ever come out of Egypt?”’”

Bilangan 20:19

20:19 Then the Israelites said to him, “We will go along the highway, and if we ⁸  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.”

[9:22]  ¹ tn The MT has אוֹ־יָמִים (’o-yamim). Most translators use “or a year” to interpret this expression in view of the sequence of words leading up to it, as well as in comparison with passages like Judg 17:10 and 1 Sam 1:3 and 27:7. See also the uses in Gen 40:4 and 1 Kgs 17:15. For the view that it means four months, see F. S. North, “Four Month Season of the Hebrew Bible,” VT 11 (1961): 446-48.

[9:22]  ² tn In the Hebrew text this sentence has a temporal clause using the preposition with the Hiphil infinitive construct of אָרַךְ (’arakh) followed by the subjective genitive, “the cloud.” But this infinitive is followed by the infinitive construct לִשְׁכֹּן (lishkon), the two of them forming a verbal hendiadys: “the cloud made long to stay” becomes “the cloud prolonged its stay.”

[9:22]  ³ tn Heb “and they would not journey”; the clause can be taken adverbially, explaining the preceding verbal clause.

[11:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “a month of days.” So also in v. 21.

[11:20]  ⁵ tn The expression לְזָרָה (lÿzarah) has been translated “ill” or “loathsome.” It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. The Greek text interprets it as “sickness.” It could be nausea or vomiting (so G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 112) from overeating.

[11:20]  ⁶ sn The explanation is the interpretation of their behavior – it is in reality what they have done, even though they would not say they despised the Lord. They had complained and shown a lack of faith and a contempt for the program, which was in essence despising the Lord.

[11:20]  ⁷ tn The use of the demonstrative pronoun here (“why is this we went out …”) is enclitic, providing emphasis to the sentence: “Why in the world did we ever leave Egypt?”

[20:19]  ⁸ 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.”