Numbers 27:21

27:21 And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who ¹  will seek counsel ²  for him before the Lord by the decision of the Urim. ³  At his command ⁴  they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community.”

Psalms 73:28

73:28 But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. ⁵ 

I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter,

as ⁶  I declare all the things you have done.

Isaiah 48:1-2

The Lord Appeals to the Exiles

48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob, ⁷ 

you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’

and are descended from Judah, ⁸ 

who take oaths in the name of the Lord,

and invoke ⁹  the God of Israel –

but not in an honest and just manner. ¹⁰ 

48:2 Indeed, they live in the holy city; ¹¹ 

they trust in ¹²  the God of Israel,

whose name is the Lord who commands armies.

Isaiah 58:2

58:2 They seek me day after day;

they want to know my requirements, ¹³ 

like a nation that does what is right

and does not reject the law of their God.

They ask me for just decrees;

they want to be near God.

Malachi 2:7

2:7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him ¹⁴  because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all.

James 4:8

4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. ¹⁵ 

[27:21]  ¹ tn The passage simply has “and he will ask,” but Eleazar is clearly the subject now.

[27:21]  ² tn Heb “ask.”

[27:21]  ³ sn The new leader would not have the privilege that Moses had in speaking to God face to face. Rather, he would have to inquire of the Lord through the priest, and the priest would seek a decision by means of the Urim. The Urim and the Thummim were the sacred lots that the priest had in his pouch, the “breastplate” as it has traditionally been called. Since the Law had now been fully established, there would be fewer cases that the leader would need further rulings. Now it would simply be seeking the Lord’s word for matters such as whether to advance or not. The size, shape or substance of these objects is uncertain. See further C. Van Dam, The Urim and Thummim.

[27:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “mouth,” meaning what he will say.

[73:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “but as for me, the nearness of God for me [is] good.”

[73:28]  ⁶ tn The infinitive construct with -לְ (lÿ) is understood here as indicating an attendant circumstance. Another option is to take it as indicating purpose (“so that I might declare”) or result (“with the result that I declare”).

[48:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV, CEV “people of Israel.”

[48:1]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and from the waters of Judah came out.” מִמֵּי (mimme) could be a corruption of מִמְּעֵי (mimmÿ’e, “from the inner parts of”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT, NRSV) as suggested in the above translation. Some translations (ESV, NKJV) retain the MT reading because the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, which corrects a similar form to “from inner parts of” in 39:7, does not do it here.

[48:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “cause to remember”; KJV, ASV “make mention of.”

[48:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “not in truth and not in righteousness.”

[48:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they call themselves [or “are called”] from the holy city.” The precise meaning of the statement is uncertain. The Niphal of קָרָא (qara’) is combined with the preposition מִן (min) only here. When the Qal of קָרָא is used with מִן, the preposition often indicates the place from which one is summoned (see 46:11). So one could translate, “from the holy city they are summoned,” meaning that they reside there.

[48:2]  ¹² tn Heb “lean on” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB, NIV “rely on.”

[58:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “ways” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV); NLT “my laws.”

[2:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from his mouth” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[4:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).