Numbers 21:12

21:12 From there they moved on and camped in the valley of Zered.

Numbers 21:20

21:20 and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the country of Moab, near the top of Pisgah, which overlooks the wilderness. ¹ 

Numbers 13:24

13:24 That place was called ²  the Eshcol Valley, ³  because of the cluster ⁴  of grapes that the Israelites cut from there.

Numbers 14:25

14:25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys.) ⁵  Tomorrow, turn and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.”

Numbers 24:6

24:6 They are like ⁶  valleys ⁷  stretched forth,

like gardens by the river’s side,

like aloes ⁸  that the Lord has planted,

and like cedar trees beside the waters.

Numbers 13:23

13:23 When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff ⁹  between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs.

Numbers 32:9

32:9 When ¹⁰  they went up to the Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they frustrated the intent of the Israelites so that they did not enter ¹¹  the land that the Lord had given ¹²  them.

Numbers 21:15

21:15 and the slope of the valleys ¹³ 

that extends to the dwelling of Ar, ¹⁴ 

and falls off at the border of Moab.”

Numbers 21:14

21:14 This is why it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

“Waheb in Suphah ¹⁵  and the wadis,

the Arnon

Numbers 13:29

13:29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks ¹⁶  of the Jordan.” ¹⁷ 

¹ tn Or perhaps as a place name, “Jeshimon.”

¹ tn The verb is rendered as a passive because there is no expressed subject.

² tn Or “Wadi Eshcol.” The translation “brook” is too generous; the Hebrew term refers to a river bed, a ravine or valley through which torrents of rain would rush in the rainy season; at other times it might be completely dry.

³ tn The word “Eshcol” is drawn from the Hebrew expression concerning the “cluster of grapes.” The word is probably retained in the name Burj Haskeh, two miles north of Damascus.

¹ sn The judgment on Israel is that they turn back to the desert and not attack the tribes in the land. So a parenthetical clause is inserted to state who was living there. They would surely block the entrance to the land from the south – unless God removed them. And he is not going to do that for Israel.

¹ tn Heb “as valleys they spread forth.”

² tn Or “rows of palms.”

³ sn The language seems to be more poetic than precise. N. H. Snaith notes that cedars do not grow beside water; he also connects “aloes” to the eaglewood that is more exotic, and capable of giving off an aroma (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 298).

¹ tn The word is related etymologically to the verb for “slip, slide, bend, totter.” This would fit the use very well. A pole that would not bend would be hard to use to carry things, but a pole or stave that was flexible would serve well.

¹ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the parallel yet chronologically later verb in the next clause.

² tn The infinitive construct here with lamed (ל) is functioning as a result clause.

³ tn The Lord had not given it yet, but was going to give it. Hence, the perfect should be classified as a perfect of resolve.

¹ tc There are many variations in this text, but the MT reading of something like “the descent of the torrents/valleys” is preferable, since it is describing the topography.

² sn The place is unknown; it is apparently an important city in the region.

¹ tc The ancient versions show a wide variation here: Smr has “Waheb on the Sea of Reeds,” the Greek version has “he has set Zoob on fire and the torrents of Arnon.” Several modern versions treat the first line literally, taking the two main words as place names: Waheb and Suphah. This seems most likely, but then there would then be no subject or verb. One would need something like “the Israelites marched through.” The KJV, following the Vulgate, made the first word a verb and read the second as “Red Sea” – “what he did in the Red Sea.” But subject of the passage is the terrain. D. L. Christensen proposed emending the first part from אֶת וָהֵב (’et vahev) to אַתָּה יְהוָה (’attah yehvah, “the Lord came”). But this is subjective. See his article “Num 21:14-15 and the Book of the Wars of Yahweh,” CBQ 36 (1974): 359-60.

¹ tn Heb “by the side [hand] of.”

² sn For more discussion on these people groups, see D. J. Wiseman, ed., Peoples of Old Testament Times.