Numbers 5:27

5:27 When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness – her abdomen will swell, her thigh will fall away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

Numbers 13:19-20

13:19 and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities, 13:20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether or not there are forests in it. And be brave, ¹  and bring back some of the fruit of the land.” Now it was the time of year ²  for the first ripe grapes. ³ 

Numbers 13:32

13:32 Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging ⁴  report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through ⁵  to investigate is a land that devours ⁶  its inhabitants. ⁷  All the people we saw there ⁸  are of great stature.

Numbers 14:30

14:30 You will by no means enter into the land where ⁹  I swore ¹⁰  to settle ¹¹  you. The only exceptions are Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

Numbers 19:2

19:2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded: ‘Instruct ¹²  the Israelites to bring ¹³  you a red ¹⁴  heifer ¹⁵  without blemish, which has no defect ¹⁶  and has never carried a yoke.

Numbers 33:55

33:55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, then those whom you allow to remain will be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your side, and will cause you trouble in the land where you will be living.

Numbers 35:25

35:25 The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there ¹⁷  until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil.

Numbers 35:34

35:34 Therefore do not defile the land that you will inhabit, in which I live, for I the Lord live among the Israelites.”

¹ tn The verb is the Hitpael perfect with vav (ו) consecutive, from the root חָזַק (khazaq, “to be strong”). Here it could mean “strengthen yourselves” or “be courageous” or “determined.” See further uses in 2 Sam 10:12; 1 Kgs 20:22; 1 Chr 19:13.

² tn Heb “Now the days were the days of.”

³ sn The reference to the first ripe grapes would put the time somewhere at the end of July.

¹ tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.

² tn Heb “which we passed over in it”; the pronoun on the preposition serves as a resumptive pronoun for the relative, and need not be translated literally.

³ tn The verb is the feminine singular participle from אָכַל (’akhal); it modifies the land as a “devouring land,” a bold figure for the difficulty of living in the place.

⁴ sn The expression has been interpreted in a number of ways by commentators, such as that the land was infertile, that the Canaanites were cannibals, that it was a land filled with warlike dissensions, or that it denotes a land geared for battle. It may be that they intended the land to seem infertile and insecure.

⁵ tn Heb “in its midst.”

¹ tn The relative pronoun “which” is joined with the resumptive pronoun “in it” to form a smoother reading “where.”

² tn The Hebrew text uses the anthropomorphic expression “I raised my hand” in taking an oath.

³ tn Heb “to cause you to dwell; to cause you to settle.”

¹ tn Heb “speak to.”

² tn The line literally reads, “speak to the Israelites that [and] they bring [will bring].” The imperfect [or jussive] is subordinated to the imperative either as a purpose clause, or as the object of the instruction – speak to them that they bring, or tell them to bring.

³ tn The color is designated as red, although the actual color would be a tanned red-brown color for the animal (see the usage in Isa 1:18 and Song 5:10). The reddish color suggested the blood of ritual purification; see J. Milgrom, “The Paradox of the Red Cow (Num 19),” VT 31 (1981): 62-72.

⁴ sn Some modern commentators prefer “cow” to “heifer,” thinking that the latter came from the influence of the Greek. Young animals were usually prescribed for the ritual, especially here, and so “heifer” is the better translation. A bull could not be given for this purification ritual because that is what was given for the high priests or the community according to Lev 4.

⁵ tn Heb “wherein there is no defect.”

¹ tn Heb “in it.”