9:15 6 On 7 the day that the tabernacle was set up, 8 the cloud 9 covered the tabernacle – the tent of the testimony 10 – and from evening until morning there was 11 a fiery appearance 12 over the tabernacle.
9:20 When 13 the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, 14 they remained camped according to the Lord’s commandment, 15 and according to the Lord’s commandment they would journey. 9:21 And when 16 the cloud remained only 17 from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up 18 the following morning, then they traveled on. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they traveled.
12:6 The Lord 19 said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, 20 I the Lord 21 will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.
18:20 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion of property 28 among them – I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.
28:26 “‘Also, on the day of the first fruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the Lord during your Feast of Weeks, you are to have a holy assembly. You must do no ordinary work.
29:7 “‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you are to have a holy assembly. You must humble yourselves; 31 you must not do any work on it.
1 tc Instead of “wrath” the Greek text has “sin,” focusing the emphasis on the human error and not on the wrath of God. This may have been a conscious change to explain the divine wrath.
2 tn The main verb of the clause is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive, וְשָׁמְרוּ (vÿshamÿru) meaning they “shall guard, protect, watch over, care for.” It may carry the same obligatory nuance as the preceding verbs because of the sequence. The object used with this is the cognate noun מִשְׁמֶרֶת (mishmeret): “The Levites must care for the care of the tabernacle.” The cognate intensifies the construction to stress that they are responsible for this care.
3 tn This is probably water taken from the large bronze basin in the courtyard. It is water set apart for sacred service. “Clean water” (so NEB) does not capture the sense very well, but it does have the support of the Greek that has “pure running water.” That pure water would no doubt be from the bronze basin anyway.
4 tn Heb “from.” The preposition is used here with a partitive sense.
5 sn The dust may have come from the sanctuary floor, but it is still dust, and therefore would have all the pollutants in it.
5 sn This section (Num 9:15-23) recapitulates the account in Exod 40:34 but also contains some additional detail about the cloud that signaled Israel’s journeys. Here again material from the book of Exodus is used to explain more of the laws for the camp in motion.
6 tn Heb “and/now on the day.”
7 tn The construction uses the temporal expression with the Hiphil infinitive construct followed by the object, the tabernacle. “On the day of the setting up of the tabernacle” leaves the subject unstated, and so the entire clause may be expressed in the passive voice.
8 sn The explanation and identification of this cloud has been a subject of much debate. Some commentators have concluded that it was identical with the cloud that led the Israelites away from Egypt and through the sea, but others have made a more compelling case that this is a different phenomenon (see ZPEB 4:796). A number of modern scholars see the description as a retrojection from later, perhaps Solomonic times (see G. H. Davies, IDB 3:817). Others have tried to connect it with Ugaritic terminology, but unconvincingly (see T. W. Mann, “The Pillar of Cloud in the Reed Sea Narrative,” JBL 90 [1971]: 15-30; G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation, 32-66, 209-13; and R. Good, “Cloud Messengers?” UF 10 [1978]: 436-37).
9 sn The cloud apparently was centered over the tent, over the spot of the ark of the covenant in the most holy place. It thereafter spread over the whole tabernacle.
10 tn The imperfect tense in this and the next line should be classified as a customary imperfect, stressing incomplete action but in the past time – something that used to happen, or would happen.
11 tn Heb “like the appearance of fire.”
7 tn The sentence uses וְיֵשׁ (vÿyesh) followed by a noun clause introduced with אֲשֶׁר (’asher) to express an existing situation; it is best translated as an adverbial clause of time: “and it was when the cloud was….”
8 tn The word “number” is in apposition to the word “days” to indicate that their stay was prolonged for quite a few days.
9 tn Heb “mouth of the
9 tn The construction is the same in the preceding verse.
10 tn “Only” is supplied to reflect the contrast between the two verses.
11 tn The construction in this half of the verse uses two vav (ו) consecutive clauses. The first is subordinated to the second as a temporal clause: “when…then….”
11 tn Heb “he.”
12 tn The form of this construction is rare: נְבִיאֲכֶם (nÿvi’akhem) would normally be rendered “your prophet.” The singular noun is suffixed with a plural pronominal suffix. Some commentators think the MT has condensed “a prophet” with “to you.”
13 tn The Hebrew syntax is difficult here. “The Lord” is separated from the verb by two intervening prepositional phrases. Some scholars conclude that this word belongs with the verb at the beginning of v. 6 (“And the Lord spoke”).
13 tn Or “plunder.”
14 tn Heb “know.”
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.”
17 tn The clause is a purpose clause, and the imperfect tense a final imperfect.
19 tn The phrase “of property” is supplied as a clarification.
21 tn The word “include” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied. It is supplied in the translation to make a complete English sentence.
22 tn Heb “a month in its month.”
23 tn Heb “afflict yourselves”; NAB “mortify yourselves”; NIV, NRSV “deny yourselves.”
25 tn The verb הָיָה (hayah) is most often translated “to be,” but it can also mean “to happen, to take place, to come to pass,” etc.
26 tn Heb “the tribe of our fathers.”