Numbers 6:2

6:2 “Speak to the Israelites, and tell them, ‘When either a man or a woman ¹  takes a special vow, ²  to take a vow ³  as a Nazirite, ⁴  to separate ⁵  himself to the Lord,

Numbers 7:11

7:11 For the Lord said to Moses, “They must present their offering, one leader for each day, ⁶  for the dedication of the altar.”

Numbers 11:10

Moses’ Complaint to the Lord

11:10 ⁷ Moses heard the people weeping ⁸  throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and when the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, Moses was also displeased. ⁹ 

Numbers 15:35

15:35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; the whole community must stone ¹⁰  him with stones outside the camp.”

Numbers 17:9

17:9 So Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites. They looked at them, ¹¹  and each man took his staff.

Numbers 28:11

Monthly Offerings

28:11 “‘On the first day of each month ¹²  you must offer as a burnt offering to the Lord two young bulls, one ram, and seven unblemished lambs a year old,

Numbers 31:21

31:21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone into the battle, “This is the ordinance of the law that the Lord commanded Moses:

Numbers 32:14

32:14 Now look, you are standing in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinners, to increase still further the fierce wrath of the Lord against the Israelites.

¹ tn The formula is used here again: “a man or a woman – when he takes.” The vow is open to both men and women.

² 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.”

³ 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.

⁴ 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).

⁵ 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.”

⁶ tn The distributive sense is achieved by repetition: “one leader for the day, one leader for the day.”

¹¹ sn Moses begins to feel the burden of caring for this people, a stubborn and rebellious people. His complaint shows how contagious their complaining has been. It is one thing to cry out to God about the load of ministry, but it is quite another to do it in such a way as to reflect a lack of faith in God’s provision. God has to remind the leader Moses that he, the Lord, can do anything. This is a variation on the theme from Exodus – “who am I that I should lead….”

¹² tn The participle “weeping” is functioning here as the noun in the accusative case, an adverbial accusative of state. It is explicative of the object.

¹³ tn Heb “it was evil in the eyes of Moses.”

¹⁶ tn The sentence begins with the emphatic use of the infinitive absolute with the verb in the Hophal imperfect: “he shall surely be put to death.” Then, a second infinitive absolute רָגוֹם (ragom) provides the explanatory activity – all the community is to stone him with stones. The punishment is consistent with other decrees from God (see Exod 31:14,15; 35:2). Moses had either forgotten such, or they had simply neglected to (or were hesitant to) enact them.

²¹ tn The words “at them” are not in the Hebrew text, but they have been added in the translation for clarity.

²⁶ tn Heb “of your months.”