Discovery BoxGenesis 3:6
Context3:6 When 1 the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, 2 was attractive 3 to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, 4 she took some of its fruit and ate it. 5 She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 6
Genesis 6:2
Context6:2 the sons of God 7 saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose.
Numbers 32:1-42
Context32:1 8 Now the Reubenites and the Gadites possessed a very large number of cattle. When they saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were ideal for cattle, 9 32:2 the Gadites and the Reubenites came and addressed Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the community. They said, 32:3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, 10 Nebo, and Beon, 11 32:4 the land that the Lord subdued 12 before the community of Israel, is ideal for cattle, and your servants have cattle.” 32:5 So they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, 13 let this land be given to your servants for our inheritance. Do not have us cross 14 the Jordan River.” 15
32:6 Moses said to the Gadites and the Reubenites, “Must your brothers go to war while you 16 remain here? 32:7 Why do you frustrate the intent 17 of the Israelites to cross over into the land which the Lord has given them? 32:8 Your fathers did the same thing when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. 32:9 When 18 they went up to the Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they frustrated the intent of the Israelites so that they did not enter 19 the land that the Lord had given 20 them. 32:10 So the anger of the Lord was kindled that day, and he swore, 32:11 ‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, 21 not 22 one of the men twenty years old and upward 23 who came from Egypt will see the land that I swore to give 24 to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 32:12 except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’ 32:13 So the Lord’s anger was kindled against the Israelites, and he made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all that generation that had done wickedly before 25 the Lord was finished. 26 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. 32:15 For if you turn away from following him, he will once again abandon 27 them in the wilderness, and you will be the reason for their destruction.” 28
32:16 Then they came very close to him and said, “We will build sheep folds here for our flocks and cities for our families, 29 32:17 but we will maintain ourselves in armed readiness 30 and go before the Israelites until whenever we have brought them to their place. Our descendants will be living in fortified towns as a protection against 31 the inhabitants of the land. 32:18 We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has his inheritance. 32:19 For we will not accept any inheritance on the other side of the Jordan River 32 and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this eastern side of the Jordan.”
32:20 Then Moses replied, 33 “If you will do this thing, and if you will arm yourselves for battle before the Lord, 32:21 and if all your armed men cross the Jordan before the Lord until he drives out his enemies from his presence 32:22 and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you may return and be free of your obligation to the Lord and to Israel. This land will then be your possession in the Lord’s sight.
32:23 “But if you do not do this, then look, you will have sinned 34 against the Lord. And know that your sin will find you out. 32:24 So build cities for your descendants and pens for your sheep, but do what you have said 35 you would do.”
32:25 So the Gadites and the Reubenites replied to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. 32:26 Our children, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock will be there in the cities of Gilead, 32:27 but your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, to do battle in the Lord’s presence, just as my lord says.”
32:28 So Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the families of the Israelite tribes. 32:29 Moses said to them: “If the Gadites and the Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, each one equipped for battle in the Lord’s presence, and you conquer the land, 36 then you must allot them the territory of Gilead as their possession. 32:30 But if they do not cross over with you armed, they must receive possessions among you in Canaan.” 32:31 Then the Gadites and the Reubenites answered, “Your servants will do what the Lord has spoken. 37 32:32 We will cross armed in the Lord’s presence into the land of Canaan, and then the possession of our inheritance that we inherit will be ours on this side of the Jordan River.” 38
32:33 So Moses gave to the Gadites, the Reubenites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the realm of King Sihon of the Amorites, and the realm of King Og of Bashan, the entire land with its cities and the territory surrounding them. 39 32:34 The Gadites rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, 32:35 Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, 32:36 Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran as fortified cities, and constructed pens for their flocks. 32:37 The Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, 32:38 Nebo, Baal Meon (with a change of name), and Sibmah. They renamed 40 the cities they built.
32:39 The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. 32:40 So Moses gave Gilead to Machir, son of Manasseh, and he lived there. 41 32:41 Now Jair son of Manasseh went and captured their small towns and named them Havvoth Jair. 32:42 Then Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages and called it Nobah after his own name.
Numbers 32:1
Context32:1 42 Now the Reubenites and the Gadites possessed a very large number of cattle. When they saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were ideal for cattle, 43
Numbers 2:15-16
Context2:15 Those numbered in his division are 45,650. 2:16 All those numbered of the camp of Reuben, according to their divisions, are 151,450. They will travel second.
[3:6] 1 tn Heb “And the woman saw.” The clause can be rendered as a temporal clause subordinate to the following verb in the sequence.
[3:6] 2 tn Heb “that the tree was good for food.” The words “produced fruit that was” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
[3:6] 3 tn The Hebrew word תַּאֲוָה (ta’avah, translated “attractive” here) actually means “desirable.” This term and the later term נֶחְמָד (nekhmad, “desirable”) are synonyms.
[3:6] 4 tn Heb “that good was the tree for food, and that desirable it was to the eyes, and desirable was the tree to make one wise.” On the connection between moral wisdom and the “knowledge of good and evil,” see the note on the word “evil” in 2:9.
[3:6] 5 tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied (here and also after “ate” at the end of this verse) for stylistic reasons.
[3:6] 6 sn This pericope (3:1-7) is a fine example of Hebrew narrative structure. After an introductory disjunctive clause that introduces a new character and sets the stage (3:1), the narrative tension develops through dialogue, culminating in the action of the story. Once the dialogue is over, the action is told in a rapid sequence of verbs – she took, she ate, she gave, and he ate.
[6:2] 7 sn The Hebrew phrase translated “sons of God” (בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים, bÿne-ha’elohim) occurs only here (Gen 6:2, 4) and in Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7. There are three major interpretations of the phrase here. (1) In the Book of Job the phrase clearly refers to angelic beings. In Gen 6 the “sons of God” are distinct from “humankind,” suggesting they were not human. This is consistent with the use of the phrase in Job. Since the passage speaks of these beings cohabiting with women, they must have taken physical form or possessed the bodies of men. An early Jewish tradition preserved in 1 En. 6-7 elaborates on this angelic revolt and even names the ringleaders. (2) Not all scholars accept the angelic interpretation of the “sons of God,” however. Some argue that the “sons of God” were members of Seth’s line, traced back to God through Adam in Gen 5, while the “daughters of humankind” were descendants of Cain. But, as noted above, the text distinguishes the “sons of God” from humankind (which would include the Sethites as well as the Cainites) and suggests that the “daughters of humankind” are human women in general, not just Cainites. (3) Others identify the “sons of God” as powerful tyrants, perhaps demon-possessed, who viewed themselves as divine and, following the example of Lamech (see Gen 4:19), practiced polygamy. But usage of the phrase “sons of God” in Job militates against this view. For literature on the subject see G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:135.
[32:1] 8 sn While the tribes are on the other side of Jordan, the matter of which tribes would settle there has to be discussed. This chapter begins the settlement of Israel into the tribal territories, something to be continued in Joshua. The chapter has the petitions (vv. 1-5), the response by Moses (vv. 6-15), the proposal (vv. 16-27), and the conclusion of the matter (vv. 28-42). For literature on this subject, both critical and conservative, see S. E. Loewenstein, “The Relation of the Settlement of Gad and Reuben in Numbers 32:1-38, Its Background and Its Composition,” Tarbiz 42 (1972): 12-26; J. Mauchline, “Gilead and Gilgal, Some Reflections on the Israelite Occupation of Palestine,” VT 6 (1956): 19-33; and A. Bergmann, “The Israelite Tribe of Half-Manasseh,” JPOS 16 (1936): 224-54.
[32:1] 9 tn Heb “the place was a place of/for cattle.”
[32:3] 10 tc Smr and the LXX have Sibmah. Cf. v. 38.
[32:3] 11 tn Cf. Baal-meon in v. 38.
[32:4] 12 tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of נָכָה (nakhah), a term that can mean “smite, strike, attack, destroy.”
[32:5] 14 tn The verb is the Hiphil jussive from עָבַר (’avar, “to cross over”). The idea of “cause to cross” or “make us cross” might be too harsh, but “take across” with the rest of the nation is what they are trying to avoid.
[32:5] 15 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[32:6] 16 tn The vav (ו) is a vav disjunctive prefixed to the pronoun; it fits best here as a circumstantial clause, “while you stay here.”
[32:7] 17 tn Heb “heart.” So also in v. 9.
[32:9] 18 tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the parallel yet chronologically later verb in the next clause.
[32:9] 19 tn The infinitive construct here with lamed (ל) is functioning as a result clause.
[32:9] 20 tn The
[32:11] 21 tn The clause is difficult; it means essentially that “they have not made full [their coming] after” the
[32:11] 22 tn The sentence begins with “if they see….” This is the normal way for Hebrew to express a negative oath – “they will by no means see….” The sentence is elliptical; it is saying something like “[May God do so to me] if they see,” meaning they won’t see. Of course here God is taking the oath, which is an anthropomorphic act. He does not need to take an oath, and certainly could not swear by anyone greater, but it communicates to people his resolve.
[32:11] 23 tc The LXX adds “those knowing bad and good.”
[32:11] 24 tn The words “to give” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[32:13] 25 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
[32:13] 26 tn The verb is difficult to translate, since it has the idea of “complete, finish” (תָּמָם, tamam). It could be translated “consumed” in this passage (so KJV, ASV); NASB “was destroyed.”
[32:15] 27 tn The construction uses a verbal hendiadys with the verb “to add” serving to modify the main verb.
[32:15] 28 tn Heb “and you will destroy all this people.”
[32:16] 29 tn Heb “our little ones.”
[32:17] 30 tn The MT has חֻשִׁים (khushim); the verbal root is חוּשׁ (khush, “to make haste” or “hurry”). But in light of the Greek and Latin Vulgate the Hebrew should probably be emended to חֲמֻשִׁים (hamushim), a qal passive participle meaning “in battle array.” See further BDB 301 s.v. I חוּשׁ, BDB 332 s.v. חֲמֻשִׁים; HALOT 300 s.v. I חושׁ, חישׁ; HALOT 331 s.v. I חמשׁ.
[32:17] 31 tn Heb “from before.”
[32:19] 32 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[32:20] 33 tn Heb “said to them.”
[32:23] 34 tn The nuance of the perfect tense here has to be the future perfect.
[32:24] 35 tn Heb “that which goes out/has gone out of your mouth.”
[32:29] 36 tn Heb “and the land is subdued before you.”
[32:31] 37 tn Heb “that which the Lord has spoken to your servants, thus we will do.”
[32:32] 38 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[32:33] 39 tn Heb “the land with its cities in the borders of the cities of the land all around.”
[32:38] 40 tn Heb “called names.”
[32:1] 42 sn While the tribes are on the other side of Jordan, the matter of which tribes would settle there has to be discussed. This chapter begins the settlement of Israel into the tribal territories, something to be continued in Joshua. The chapter has the petitions (vv. 1-5), the response by Moses (vv. 6-15), the proposal (vv. 16-27), and the conclusion of the matter (vv. 28-42). For literature on this subject, both critical and conservative, see S. E. Loewenstein, “The Relation of the Settlement of Gad and Reuben in Numbers 32:1-38, Its Background and Its Composition,” Tarbiz 42 (1972): 12-26; J. Mauchline, “Gilead and Gilgal, Some Reflections on the Israelite Occupation of Palestine,” VT 6 (1956): 19-33; and A. Bergmann, “The Israelite Tribe of Half-Manasseh,” JPOS 16 (1936): 224-54.
