21:8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous snake and set it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks 9 at it, he will live.”
1 tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the temporal preposition; the “tabernacle” is then the following genitive. Literally it is “and in the moving of the tabernacle,” meaning, “when the tabernacle is supposed to be moved,” i.e., when people are supposed to move it. The verb נָסָע (nasa’) means “pull up the tent pegs and move,” or more simply, “journey.”
2 tn Here we have the parallel construction using the infinitive construct in a temporal adverbial clause.
3 tn Heb “raise it up.”
4 tn The word used here is זָר (zar), normally translated “stranger” or “outsider.” It is most often used for a foreigner, an outsider, who does not belong in Israel, or who, although allowed in the land, may be viewed with suspicion. But here it seems to include even Israelites other than the tribe of Levi.
5 tn The literal Hebrew expression is “between the evenings” (so also in vv. 5, 11). Sunset is certainly one evening; the other may refer to the change in the middle of the afternoon to the late afternoon, or the beginning of dusk. The idea is probably just at twilight, or dusk (see R. B. Allen, TWOT 2:694).
6 tn The two verbs in this verse are identical; they are imperfects of instruction. The English translation has been modified for stylistic variation.
7 tn The two words in this last section are standard “Torah” words. The word חֹק (khoq) is a binding statute, something engraved and monumental. The word מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) means “judgment, decision,” but with a more general idea of “custom” at its core. The verse is making it very clear that the Passover had to follow the custom and form that was legislated in Egypt.
9 tn Heb “stoned him with stones, and he died.”
13 tn The word order is slightly different in Hebrew: “and it shall be anyone who is bitten when he looks at it he shall live.”