Numbers 23:21

23:21 He ¹  has not looked on iniquity in Jacob, ² 

nor has he seen trouble ³  in Israel.

The Lord their God is with them;

his acclamation ⁴  as king is among them.

Amos 7:8

7:8 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “Tin.” The sovereign One then said,

“Look, I am about to place tin among my people Israel.

I will no longer overlook their sin. ⁵ 

Amos 8:2

8:2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end ⁶  has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins. ⁷ 

[23:21]  ¹ tn These could be understood as impersonal and so rendered “no one has discovered.”

[23:21]  ² sn The line could mean that God has regarded Israel as the ideal congregation without any blemish or flaw. But it could also mean that God has not looked on their iniquity, meaning, held it against them.

[23:21]  ³ tn The word means “wrong, misery, trouble.” It can mean the idea of “disaster” as well, for that too is trouble. Here it is parallel to “iniquity” and so has the connotation of something that would give God reason to curse them.

[23:21]  ⁴ tn The people are blessed because God is their king. In fact, the shout of acclamation is among them – they are proclaiming the Lord God as their king. The word is used normally for the sound of the trumpet, but also of battle shouts, and then here acclamation. This would represent their conviction that Yahweh is king. On the usage of this Hebrew word see further BDB 929-30 s.v. תְּרוּעָה; HALOT 1790-91 s.v.

[7:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “And I will no longer pass over him.”

[8:2]  ⁶ tn There is a wordplay here. The Hebrew word קֵץ (qets, “end”) sounds like קָיִץ (qayits, “summer fruit”). The summer fruit arrived toward the end of Israel’s agricultural year; Israel’s national existence was similarly at an end.

[8:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”