48:10 A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord’s work!
A curse on anyone who keeps from carrying out his destruction! 2
31:14 But Moses was furious with the officers of the army, the commanders over thousands and commanders over hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 31:15 Moses said to them, “Have you allowed all the women to live? 3 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! 31:17 Now therefore kill every boy, 4 and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse with a man. 5 31:18 But all the young women 6 who have not had sexual intercourse with a man 7 will be yours. 8
31:1 9 The Lord spoke to Moses:
15:13 “‘Every native-born person must do these things in this way to present an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 15:14 If a resident foreigner is living 11 with you – or whoever is among you 12 in future generations 13 – and prepares an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he must do it the same way you are to do it. 14 15:15 One statute must apply 15 to you who belong to the congregation and to the resident foreigner who is living among you, as a permanent 16 statute for your future generations. You and the resident foreigner will be alike 17 before the Lord. 15:16 One law and one custom must apply to you and to the resident foreigner who lives alongside you.’”
15:17 The Lord spoke to Moses: 15:18 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land to which I am bringing you 18 15:19 and you eat 19 some of the food of the land, you must offer up a raised offering 20 to the Lord. 15:20 You must offer up a cake of the first of your finely ground flour 21 as a raised offering; as you offer the raised offering of the threshing floor, so you must offer it up. 15:21 You must give to the Lord some of the first of your finely ground flour as a raised offering in your future generations.
15:22 22 “‘If you 23 sin unintentionally and do not observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses – 15:23 all that the Lord has commanded you by the authority 24 of Moses, from the day that the Lord commanded Moses and continuing through your future generations – 15:24 then if anything is done unintentionally 25 without the knowledge of 26 the community, the whole community must prepare one young bull for a burnt offering – for a pleasing aroma to the Lord – along with its grain offering and its customary drink offering, and one male goat for a purification offering.
18:25 The Lord spoke to Moses:
18:2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join 33 with you and minister to you while 34 you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.
36:1 Then the heads of the family groups 35 of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Moses 36 and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families. 37
10:6 I sent him 38 against a godless 39 nation,
I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, 40
to take plunder and to carry away loot,
to trample them down 41 like dirt in the streets.
44:28 who commissions 42 Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd 43
to carry out all my wishes 44
and to decree concerning Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’
and concerning the temple, ‘It will be reconstructed.’” 45
48:14 All of you, gather together and listen!
Who among them 46 announced these things?
The Lord’s ally 47 will carry out his desire against Babylon;
he will exert his power against the Babylonians. 48
1 tn Heb “Oracle of the
2 tn Heb “who withholds his sword from bloodshed.” This verse is an editorial aside (or apostrophe) addressed to the Babylonian destroyers to be diligent in carrying out the work of the
3 tn The verb is the Piel perfect of the word חָיָה (khayah, “to live”). In the Piel stem it must here mean “preserve alive,” or “allow to live,” rather than make alive.
4 tn Heb “every male among the little ones.”
5 tn Heb “every woman who has known [a] man by lying with a man.”
6 tn Or “girls.” The Hebrew indicates they would be female children, making the selection easy.
7 tn Heb “who have not known [a] man by lying with a man.”
8 sn Many contemporary scholars see this story as fictitious, composed by the Jews during the captivity. According to this interpretation, the spoils of war here indicate the wealth of the Jews in captivity, which was to be given to the Levites and priests for the restoration of the sanctuary in Jerusalem. The conclusion drawn from this interpretation is that returning Jews had the same problem as the earlier ones: to gain a foothold in the land. Against this interpretation of the account is a lack of hard evidence, a lack which makes this interpretation appear contrived and subjective. If this was the intent of a later writer, he surely could have stated this more clearly than by making up such a story.
9 sn This lengthy chapter records the mobilization of the troops (vv. 1-5), the war itself (vv. 6-13), the death of the captive women (vv. 14-18), the purification of the nations (vv. 19-24), and the distribution of the spoils (vv. 25-54). For more detail, see G. W. Coats, “Moses in Midian,” JBL 92 (1973): 3-10; and W. J. Dumbrell, “Midian – a Land or a League?” VT 25 (1975): 323-37.
10 tn Heb “according to thus shall it be done.”
11 tn The word גּוּר (gur) was traditionally translated “to sojourn,” i.e., to live temporarily in a land. Here the two words are from the root: “if a sojourner sojourns.”
12 tn Heb “in your midst.”
13 tn The Hebrew text just has “to your generations,” but it means in the future.
14 tn The imperfect tenses must reflect the responsibility to comply with the law, and so the classifications of instruction or obligation may be applied.
15 tn The word “apply” is supplied in the translation.
16 tn Or “a statute forever.”
17 tn Heb “as you, as [so] the alien.”
18 tn The relative clause is literally, “which I am causing you to enter there.” The final adverb is resumptive, and must be joined with the relative pronoun.
19 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.
20 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
21 tn Or “the first of your dough.” The phrase is not very clear. N. H. Snaith thinks it means a batch of loaves from the kneading trough – the first batch of the baking (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 251).
22 sn These regulations supplement what was already ruled on in the Levitical code for the purification and reparation offerings. See those rulings in Lev 4-7 for all the details. Some biblical scholars view the rules in Leviticus as more elaborate and therefore later. However, this probably represents a misunderstanding of the purpose of each collection.
23 tn The verb is the plural imperfect; the sin discussed here is a sin committed by the community, or the larger part of the community.
24 tn Heb “hand.”
25 tn The idea of לִשְׁגָגָה (lishgagah) seems to be that of “inadvertence” or “without intent.” The text gives no indication of how this offense might be committed, or what it might include. It probably describes any transgressions done in ignorance of the Law that involved a violation of tabernacle procedure or priestly protocol or social misdemeanor. Even though it was done unintentionally, it was still a violation and called for ritual purification.
26 tn Heb “[away] from the eyes of the community.”
27 tn Heb “the land of your habitations.”
28 tn The Hebrew participle here has the futur instans use of the participle, expressing that something is going to take place. It is not imminent, but it is certain that God would give the land to Israel.
29 sn The question indicates that they had been murmuring against Aaron, that is, expressing disloyalty and challenging his leadership. But it is actually against the
30 tn Heb “princes” (so KJV, ASV).
31 tn These men must have been counselors or judges of some kind.
32 tn Heb “men of name,” or “men of renown.”
33 sn The verb forms a wordplay on the name Levi, and makes an allusion to the naming of the tribe Levi by Leah in the book of Genesis. There Leah hoped that with the birth of Levi her husband would be attached to her. Here, with the selection of the tribe to serve in the sanctuary, there is the wordplay again showing that the Levites will be attached to Aaron and the priests. The verb is יִלָּווּ (yillavu), which forms a nice wordplay with Levi (לֵוִי). The tribe will now be attached to the sanctuary. The verb is the imperfect with a vav (ו) that shows volitive sequence after the imperative, here indicating a purpose clause.
34 tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause.
35 tn The expression is “the heads of the fathers by the family of the Gileadites.”
36 tn The Greek and the Syriac add “and before Eleazar the priest.”
37 tn Heb “heads of the fathers.”
38 sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).
39 tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”
40 tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”
41 tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”
42 tn Heb “says to.” It is possible that the sentence is not completed, as the description of Cyrus and his God-given role is developed in the rest of the verse. 45:1 picks up where 44:28a leaves off with the Lord’s actual words to Cyrus finally being quoted in 45:2.
43 tn Heb “my shepherd.” The shepherd motif is sometimes applied, as here, to a royal figure who is responsible for the well-being of the people whom he rules.
44 tn Heb “that he might bring to completion all my desire.”
45 tn Heb “and [concerning the] temple, you will be founded.” The preposition -לְ (lÿ) is understood by ellipsis at the beginning of the second line. The verb תִּוָּסֵד (tivvased, “you will be founded”) is second masculine singular and is probably addressed to the personified temple (הֵיכָל [hekhal, “temple”] is masculine).
46 sn This probably refers to the idol gods (see v. 5).
47 tn Or “friend,” or “covenant partner.”
48 tn Heb “and his arm [against] the Babylonians.”