Numbers 5:6

5:6 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When ¹  a man or a woman commits any sin that people commit, ²  thereby breaking faith ³  with the Lord, and that person is found guilty, ⁴ 

Numbers 6:2

6:2 “Speak to the Israelites, and tell them, ‘When either a man or a woman ⁵  takes a special vow, ⁶  to take a vow ⁷  as a Nazirite, ⁸  to separate ⁹  himself to the Lord,

Numbers 6:10

6:10 On the eighth day he is to bring ¹⁰  two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the entrance to the tent of meeting.

Numbers 9:21

9:21 And when ¹¹  the cloud remained only ¹²  from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up ¹³  the following morning, then they traveled on. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they traveled.

Numbers 11:8

11:8 And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it with mills or pounded it in mortars; they baked it in pans and made cakes of it. It tasted like fresh olive oil. ¹⁴ 

Numbers 15:14

15:14 If a resident foreigner is living ¹⁵  with you – or whoever is among you ¹⁶  in future generations ¹⁷  – and prepares an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he must do it the same way you are to do it. ¹⁸ 

Numbers 30:6

Vows Made by Married Women

30:6 “And if she marries a husband while under a vow, ¹⁹  or she uttered ²⁰  anything impulsively by which she has pledged herself,

Numbers 35:18

35:18 Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon so that he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death.

Numbers 35:21

35:21 or with enmity he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death, for he is a murderer. The avenger of blood must kill the murderer when he meets him.

Numbers 35:23

35:23 or with any stone large enough that a man could die, without seeing him, and throws it at him, and he dies, even though he was not his enemy nor sought his harm,

¹ sn This type of law is known as casuistic. The law is introduced with “when/if” and then the procedure to be adopted follows it. The type of law was common in the Law Code of Hammurabi.

² tn The verse simply says “any sin of a man,” but the genitive could mean that it is any sin that a man would commit (subjective genitive), or one committed against a man (objective genitive). Because of the similarity with Lev 5:22, the subjective is better. The sin is essentially “missing the mark” which is the standard of the Law of the Lord. The sin is not in this case accidental or inadvertent. It means here simply failing to live up to the standard of the Lord. Since both men and women are mentioned in the preceding clause, the translation uses “people” here.

³ tn The verb is מַעַל (ma’al), which means to “defraud, violate, trespass against,” or “to deal treacherously, do an act of treachery.” In doing any sin that people do, the guilty have been unfaithful to the Lord, and therefore must bring him a sacrifice.

⁴ tn The word used here for this violation is אָשָׁם (’asham). It can be translated “guilt, to be guilty”; it can also be used for the reparation offering. The basic assumption here is that the individual is in a state of sin – is guilty. In that state he or she feels remorse for the sin and seeks forgiveness through repentance. See further P. P. Saydon, “Sin Offering and Trespass Offering,” CBQ 8 (1946): 393-98; H. C. Thompson, “The Significance of the Term ’Asham in the Old Testament,” TGUOS 14 (1953): 20-26.

⁵ tn The formula is used here again: “a man or a woman – when he takes.” The vow is open to both men and women.

⁶ tn The vow is considered special in view of the use of the verb יַפְלִא (yafli’), the Hiphil imperfect of the verb “to be wonderful, extraordinary.”

⁷ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct followed by the cognate accusative: “to vow a vow.” This intensifies the idea that the vow is being taken carefully.

⁸ tn The name of the vow is taken from the verb that follows; נָזַר (nazar) means “to consecrate oneself,” and so the Nazirite is a consecrated one. These are folks who would make a decision to take an oath for a time or for a lifetime to be committed to the Lord and show signs of separation from the world. Samuel was to be a Nazirite, as the fragment of the text from Qumran confirms – “he will be a נָזִיר (nazir) forever” (1 Sam 1:22).

⁹ tn The form of the verb is an Hiphil infinitive construct, forming the wordplay and explanation for the name Nazirite. The Hiphil is here an internal causative, having the meaning of “consecrate oneself” or just “consecrate to the Lord.”

⁹ tn The imperfect tense in this verse is still instructional rather than a simple future. The translations can vary, but the point that it is directive must be caught.

¹³ tn The construction is the same in the preceding verse.

¹⁴ tn “Only” is supplied to reflect the contrast between the two verses.

¹⁵ 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….”

¹⁷ tn Heb “And its taste was like the taste of fresh olive oil.”

²¹ tn The word גּוּר (gur) was traditionally translated “to sojourn,” i.e., to live temporarily in a land. Here the two words are from the root: “if a sojourner sojourns.”

²² tn Heb “in your midst.”

²³ tn The Hebrew text just has “to your generations,” but it means in the future.

²⁴ tn The imperfect tenses must reflect the responsibility to comply with the law, and so the classifications of instruction or obligation may be applied.

²⁵ tn Heb “and her vows are upon her.” It may be that the woman gets married while her vows are still unfulfilled.

²⁶ tn The Hebrew text indicates that this would be some impetuous vow that she uttered with her lips, a vow that her husband, whether new or existing, would not approve of. Several translate it “a binding obligation rashly uttered.”