2:3 “Now those who will be camping 1 on the east, toward the sunrise, 2 are the divisions 3 of the camp of Judah under their standard. The leader of the people of Judah is 4 Nahshon son of Amminadab. 2:4 Those numbered in his division 5 are 74,600.
24:9 They crouch and lie down like a lion,
and as a lioness, 9 who can stir him?
Blessed is the one who blesses you,
and cursed is the one who curses you!’”
17:1 11 The Lord spoke to Moses:
1 tn The sentence begins with a vav (ו) on a word that is not a finite verb, indicating a new section begins here. The verbal form is a participle with the article used substantivally, with the meaning “and/now those camping.” Many English versions employ a finite verb; cf. KJV “on the east side…shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch.”
2 tc The two synonyms might seem to be tautological, but this is fairly common and therefore acceptable in Hebrew prose (cf. Exod 26:18; 38:13; etc.).
3 tn The sentence actually has “[those camping…are] the standard of the camp of Judah according to their divisions.”
4 tn Or “will be.”
5 tc The expression “and his divisions and those numbered of them” is somewhat tautological. The words are synonyms used for statistical purposes, and so neither should be simply deleted.
6 sn The Judahites increased from 74,600 to 76,500.
7 tn Heb “house of their fathers.”
8 tn Heb “everyone who goes out in the army in Israel.”
9 tn On the usage of this word see HALOT 517 s.v. לָבִיא.
10 tn Heb “living according to their tribes.”
11 sn Num 17:1 in the English Bible is 17:16 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note on 16:36.