Numbers 9:6

9:6 It happened that some men who were ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man could not keep the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.

Numbers 36:1

Women and Land Inheritance

36:1 Then the heads of the family groups of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Moses and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families.


tn In the Hebrew text the noun has no definite article, and so it signifies “some” or “certain” men.

tn The meaning, of course, is to be ceremonially unclean, and therefore disqualified from entering the sanctuary.

tn Or “a human corpse” (so NAB, NKJV). So also in v.7; cf. v. 10.

tn This clause begins with the vav (ו) conjunction and negative before the perfect tense. Here is the main verb of the sentence: They were not able to observe the Passover. The first part of the verse provides the explanation for their problem.

tn The expression is “the heads of the fathers by the family of the Gileadites.”

tn The Greek and the Syriac add “and before Eleazar the priest.”

tn Heb “heads of the fathers.”