Numbers 14:23

14:23 they will by no means ¹  see the land that I swore to their fathers, nor will any of them who despised me see it.

Numbers 14:2

14:2 And all the Israelites murmured ²  against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died ³  in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished ⁴  in this wilderness!

Numbers 7:2

7:2 Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of their clans, ⁵  made an offering. They were the leaders of the tribes; they were the ones who had been supervising ⁶  the numbering.

Jeremiah 17:6-8

17:6 They will be like a shrub ⁷  in the desert.

They will not experience good things even when they happen.

It will be as though they were growing in the desert,

in a salt land where no one can live.

17:7 My blessing is on those people who trust in me,

who put their confidence in me. ⁸ 

17:8 They will be like a tree planted near a stream

whose roots spread out toward the water.

It has nothing to fear when the heat comes.

Its leaves are always green.

It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought.

It does not stop bearing fruit.

Luke 16:24

16:24 So ⁹  he called out, ¹⁰  ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus ¹¹  to dip the tip of his finger ¹²  in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish ¹³  in this fire.’ ¹⁴ 

¹ tn The word אִם (’im) indicates a negative oath formula: “if” means “they will not.” It is elliptical. In a human oath one would be saying: “The Lord do to me if they see…,” meaning “they will by no means see.” Here God is swearing that they will not see the land.

² tn The Hebrew verb “to murmur” is לוּן (lun). It is a strong word, signifying far more than complaining or grumbling, as some of the modern translations have it. The word is most often connected to the wilderness experience. It is paralleled in the literature with the word “to rebel.” The murmuring is like a parliamentary vote of no confidence, for they no longer trusted their leaders and wished to choose a new leader and return. This “return to Egypt” becomes a symbol of their lack of faith in the Lord.

³ tn The optative is expressed by לוּ (lu) and then the verb, here the perfect tense מַתְנוּ (matnu) – “O that we had died….” Had they wanted to die in Egypt they should not have cried out to the Lord to deliver them from bondage. Here the people became consumed with the fear and worry of what lay ahead, and in their panic they revealed a lack of trust in God.

⁴ tn Heb “died.”

⁵ tn Heb “the house of their fathers.”

⁶ tn The form is the Qal active participle from the verb “to stand” (עָמַד, ’amad). The form describes these leaders as “the ones standing over [the ones numbered].” The expression, along with the clear indication of the first census in chapter 1, shows that this was a supervisory capacity.

⁷ tn This word occurs only here and in Jer 48:6. It has been identified as a kind of juniper, which is a short shrub with minute leaves that look like scales. For a picture and more discussion see Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 131.

⁸ tn Heb “Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord, and whose confidence is in the Lord.” However, because this is a statement of the Lord and the translation chooses to show that the blessing comes from him, the first person is substituted for the divine name.

⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous actions in the narrative.

¹⁰ tn Grk “calling out he said”; this is redundant in contemporary English style and has been simplified to “he called out.”

¹¹ sn The rich man had not helped Lazarus before, when he lay outside his gate (v. 2), but he knew him well enough to know his name. This is why the use of the name Lazarus in the parable is significant. (The rich man’s name, on the other hand, is not mentioned, because it is not significant for the point of the story.)

¹² sn The dipping of the tip of his finger in water is evocative of thirst. The thirsty are in need of God’s presence (Ps 42:1-2; Isa 5:13). The imagery suggests the rich man is now separated from the presence of God.

¹³ tn Or “in terrible pain” (L&N 24.92).

¹⁴ sn Fire in this context is OT imagery; see Isa 66:24.