Discovery BoxNumbers 11:4-5
Context11:4 1 Now the mixed multitude 2 who were among them craved more desirable foods, 3 and so the Israelites wept again 4 and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 11:5 We remember 6 the fish we used to eat 7 freely 8 in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
Psalms 42:1-2
ContextBook 2
(Psalms 42-72)
For the music director; a well-written song 10 by the Korahites.
42:1 As a deer 11 longs 12 for streams of water,
so I long 13 for you, O God!
for the living God.
I say, 15 “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?” 16
Psalms 63:1
ContextA psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. 18
63:1 O God, you are my God! I long for you! 19
My soul thirsts 20 for you,
my flesh yearns for you,
in a dry and parched 21 land where there is no water.
Psalms 119:81
Contextכ (Kaf)
119:81 I desperately long for 22 your deliverance.
I find hope in your word.
Isaiah 41:17
Context41:17 The oppressed and the poor look for water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched from thirst.
I, the Lord, will respond to their prayers; 23
I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.
Isaiah 44:3
Context44:3 For I will pour water on the parched ground 24
and cause streams to flow 25 on the dry land.
I will pour my spirit on your offspring
and my blessing on your children.
John 4:10
Context4:10 Jesus answered 26 her, “If you had known 27 the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water 28 to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 29
John 4:14
Context4:14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, 30 but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain 31 of water springing up 32 to eternal life.”
John 7:37
Context7:37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, 33 Jesus stood up and shouted out, 34 “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and
[11:4] 1 sn The story of the sending of the quail is a good example of poetic justice, or talionic justice. God had provided for the people, but even in that provision they were not satisfied, for they remembered other foods they had in Egypt. No doubt there was not the variety of foods in the Sinai that might have been available in Egypt, but their life had been bitter bondage there as well. They had cried to the
[11:4] 2 tn The mixed multitude (or “rabble,” so NASB, NIV, NRSV; NLT “foreign rabble”) is the translation of an unusual word, הֲָאסַפְסֻף (ha’safsuf). It occurs in the Hebrew Bible only here. It may mean “a gathering of people” from the verb אָסַף (’asaf), yielding the idea of a mixed multitude (in line with Exod 12:38). But the root is different, and so no clear connection can be established. Many commentators therefore think the word is stronger, showing contempt through a word that would be equivalent to “riff-raff.”
[11:4] 3 tn The Hebrew simply uses the cognate accusative, saying “they craved a craving” (הִתְאַוּוּ תַּאֲוָה, hit’avvu ta’vah), but the context shows that they had this strong craving for food. The verb describes a strong desire, which is not always negative (Ps 132:13-14). But the word is a significant one in the Torah; it was used in the garden story for Eve’s desire for the tree, and it is used in the Decalogue in the warning against coveting (Deut 5:21).
[11:4] 4 tc The Greek and the Latin versions read “and they sat down” for “and they returned,” involving just a change in vocalization (which they did not have). This may reflect the same expression in Judg 20:26. But the change does not improve this verse.
[11:4] 5 tn The Hebrew expresses the strong wish or longing idiomatically: “Who will give us flesh to eat?” It is a rhetorical expression not intended to be taken literally, but merely to give expression to the longing they had. See GKC 476 §151.a.1.
[11:5] 6 tn The perfect tense here expresses the experience of a state of mind.
[11:5] 7 tn The imperfect tense would here be the customary imperfect, showing continual or incomplete action in past time.
[11:5] 8 tn The adverb “freely” is from the word חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious”), from which is derived the noun “grace.” The word underscores the idea of “free, without cost, for no reason, gratis.” Here the simple sense is “freely,” without any cost. But there may be more significance in the choice of the words in this passage, showing the ingratitude of the Israelites to God for His deliverance from bondage. To them now the bondage is preferable to the salvation – this is what angered the
[42:1] 9 sn Psalm 42. The psalmist recalls how he once worshiped in the Lord’s temple, but laments that he is now oppressed by enemies in a foreign land. Some medieval Hebrew
[42:1] 10 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.
[42:1] 11 tn Since the accompanying verb is feminine in form, the noun אָיִּל (’ayyil, “male deer”) should be emended to אַיֶּלֶת (’ayyelet, “female deer”). Haplography of the letter tav has occurred; note that the following verb begins with tav.
[42:1] 12 tn Or “pants [with thirst].”
[42:1] 13 tn Or “my soul pants [with thirst].” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
[42:2] 14 tn Or “my soul thirsts.”
[42:2] 15 tn The words “I say” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
[42:2] 16 tn Heb “When will I go and appear [to] the face of God?” Some emend the Niphal verbal form אֵרָאֶה (’era’eh, “I will appear”) to a Qal אֶרְאֶה (’er’eh, “I will see”; see Gen 33:10), but the Niphal can be retained if one understands ellipsis of אֶת (’et) before “face” (see Exod 34:24; Deut 31:11).
[63:1] 17 sn Psalm 63. The psalmist expresses his intense desire to be in God’s presence and confidently affirms that God will judge his enemies.
[63:1] 18 sn According to the psalm superscription David wrote the psalm while in the “wilderness of Judah.” Perhaps this refers to the period described in 1 Sam 23-24 or to the incident mentioned in 2 Sam 15:23.
[63:1] 19 tn Or “I will seek you.”
[63:1] 21 tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” This may picture the land as “faint” or “weary,” or it may allude to the effect this dry desert has on those who are forced to live in it.
[119:81] 22 tn Heb “my soul pines for.” See Ps 84:2.
[41:17] 23 tn Heb “will answer them” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[44:3] 24 tn Heb “the thirsty.” Parallelism suggests that dry ground is in view (see “dry land” in the next line.)
[44:3] 25 tn Heb “and streams”; KJV “floods.” The verb “cause…to flow” is supplied in the second line for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
[4:10] 26 tn Grk “answered and said to her.”
[4:10] 27 tn Or “if you knew.”
[4:10] 28 tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
[4:10] 29 tn This is a second class conditional sentence in Greek.
[4:14] 30 tn Grk “will never be thirsty forever.” The possibility of a later thirst is emphatically denied.
[4:14] 31 tn Or “well.” “Fountain” is used as the translation for πηγή (phgh) here since the idea is that of an artesian well that flows freely, but the term “artesian well” is not common in contemporary English.
[4:14] 32 tn The verb ἁλλομένου (Jallomenou) is used of quick movement (like jumping) on the part of living beings. This is the only instance of its being applied to the action of water. However, in the LXX it is used to describe the “Spirit of God” as it falls on Samson and Saul. See Judg 14:6, 19; 15:14; 1 Kgdms 10:2, 10 LXX (= 1 Sam 10:6, 10 ET); and Isa 35:6 (note context).
[7:37] 33 sn There is a problem with the identification of this reference to the last day of the feast, the greatest day: It appears from Deut 16:13 that the feast went for seven days. Lev 23:36, however, makes it plain that there was an eighth day, though it was mentioned separately from the seven. It is not completely clear whether the seventh or eighth day was the climax of the feast, called here by the author the “last great day of the feast.” Since according to the Mishnah (m. Sukkah 4.1) the ceremonies with water and lights did not continue after the seventh day, it seems more probable that this is the day the author mentions.
