Numbers 5:22

5:22 and this water that causes the curse will go ¹  into your stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh rot.” ²  Then the woman must say, “Amen, amen.” ³ 

Numbers 5:26

5:26 Then the priest will take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water.

Numbers 8:7

8:7 And do this ⁴  to them to purify them: Sprinkle water of purification ⁵  on them; then have them shave ⁶  all their body ⁷  and wash ⁸  their clothes, and so purify themselves. ⁹ 

Numbers 19:7

19:7 Then the priest must wash ¹⁰  his clothes and bathe himself ¹¹  in water, and afterward he may come ¹²  into the camp, but the priest will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

Numbers 19:19

19:19 And the clean person must sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he must purify him, ¹³  and then he must wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening.

Numbers 20:5

20:5 Why ¹⁴  have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to ¹⁵  this dreadful place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!”

Numbers 20:11

20:11 Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too.

Numbers 20:19

20:19 Then the Israelites said to him, “We will go along the highway, and if we ¹⁶  or our cattle drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We will only pass through on our feet, without doing anything else.”

Numbers 21:5

21:5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread or water, and we ¹⁷  detest this worthless ¹⁸  food.”

Numbers 21:16

21:16 And from there they traveled ¹⁹  to Beer; ²⁰  that is the well where the Lord spoke to Moses, “Gather the people and I will give them water.”

Numbers 21:22

21:22 “Let us ²¹  pass through your land; ²²  we will not turn aside into the fields or into the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well, but we will go along the King’s Highway until we pass your borders.”

Numbers 33:9

33:9 They traveled from Marah and came to Elim; in Elim there are twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees, so they camped there.

¹ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. It could be taken as a jussive following the words of the priest in the previous section, but it is more likely to be a simple future.

² tn Heb “fall away.”

³ tn The word “amen” carries the idea of “so be it,” or “truly.” The woman who submits to this test is willing to have the test demonstrate the examination of God.

⁴ tn Or, more literally, “and thus you shall do.” The verb is the imperfect tense of instruction or legislation. Here it introduces the procedures to be followed.

⁵ tn The genitive in this expression indicates the purpose of the water – it is for their purification. The expression is literally “the waters of sin.” The word “purification” is the same as for the “sin/purification offering” – חַטָּאת (khatta’at). This water seems to have been taken from the main laver and is contrasted with the complete washing of the priests in Lev 8:6.

⁶ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) of sequence. This verb, and those to follow, has the force of a jussive since it comes after the imperative. Here the instruction is for them to remove the hair from their bodies (“flesh”). There is no indication that this was repeated (as the Egyptian priests did every few days). It seems to have been for this special occasion only. A similar requirement was for the leper (Lev 14:7-9).

⁷ tn Heb “flesh.”

⁸ tn Or “let/have them wash”; the priests were given new clothes (Lev 8:13), but the Levites simply washed their own.

⁹ tn The verb is a reflexive (or possibly passive) in this verse, indicating the summary of the process. The ritual steps that have been prescribed will lead to this conclusion. The verb could be treated as a final imperfect (being a perfect with vav [ו] consecutive), and so translated “that they may….” The major difference here is that the ritual made the Levites “clean,” whereas the ritual for the priests made them “holy” or “sanctified” (Lev 8:12).

⁷ tn The sequence continues with the perfect tense and vav (ו) consecutive.

⁸ tn Heb “his flesh.”

⁹ tn This is the imperfect of permission.

¹⁰ tn The construction uses a simple Piel of חָטָא (khata’, “to purify”) with a pronominal suffix – “he shall purify him.” Some commentators take this to mean that after he sprinkles the unclean then he must purify himself. But that would not be the most natural way to read this form.

¹³ tn Heb “and why.”

¹⁴ tn Here also the infinitive construct (Hiphil) forms the subordinate clause of the preceding interrogative clause.

¹⁶ tn The Hebrew text uses singular pronouns, “I” and “my,” but it is the people of Israel that are intended, and so it may be rendered in the plural. Similarly, Edom speaks in the first person, probably from the king. But it too could be rendered “we.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “our souls.”

²⁰ tn The Israelites’ opinion about the manna was clear enough – “worthless.” The word used is קְלֹקֵל (qÿloqel, “good for nothing, worthless, miserable”).

²² tn The words “they traveled” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied here because of English style. The same phrase is supplied at the end of v. 18.

²³ sn Isa 15:8 mentions a Moabite Beerelim, which Simons suggests is Wadi Ettemed.

²⁵ tn The Hebrew text uses the singular in these verses to match the reference to “Israel.”

²⁶ tc Smr has “by the King’s way I will go. I will not turn aside to the right or the left.”