Numbers 10:36

10:36 And when it came to rest he would say, “Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel!” ¹ 

Numbers 14:12

14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence, ²  and I will disinherit them; I will make you into a nation that is greater and mightier than they!”

Numbers 14:37

14:37 those men who produced the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord.

Numbers 16:34

16:34 All the Israelites ³  who were around them fled at their cry, ⁴  for they said, “What if ⁵  the earth swallows us too?”

Numbers 21:35

21:35 So they defeated Og, ⁶  his sons, and all his people, until there were no survivors, ⁷  and they possessed his land.

Numbers 25:1

Israel’s Sin with the Moabite Women

25:1 ⁸ When ⁹  Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality ¹⁰  with the daughters of Moab.

Numbers 32:4

32:4 the land that the Lord subdued ¹¹  before the community of Israel, is ideal for cattle, and your servants have cattle.”

[10:36]  ¹ sn These two formulaic prayers were offered by Moses at the beginning and at the end of the journeys. They prayed for the Lord to fight ahead of the nation when it was on the move, and to protect them when they camped. The theme of the first is found in Ps 68:1. The prayers reflect the true mentality of holy war, that it was the Lord who fought for Israel and defended her. The prayers have been included in the prayer book for synagogue services.

[14:12]  ² tc The Greek version has “death.”

[16:34]  ³ tn Heb “all Israel.”

[16:34]  ⁴ tn Heb “voice.”

[16:34]  ⁵ tn Heb “lest.”

[21:35]  ⁴ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Og) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:35]  ⁵ tn Heb “no remnant.”

[25:1]  ⁵ sn Chapter 25 tells of Israel’s sins on the steppes of Moab, and God’s punishment. In the overall plan of the book, here we have another possible threat to God’s program, although here it comes from within the camp (Balaam was the threat from without). If the Moabites could not defeat them one way, they would try another. The chapter has three parts: fornication (vv. 1-3), God’s punishment (vv. 4-9), and aftermath (vv. 10-18). See further G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation, 105-21; and S. C. Reif, “What Enraged Phinehas? A Study of Numbers 25:8,” JBL 90 (1971): 200-206.

[25:1]  ⁶ tn This first preterite is subordinated to the next as a temporal clause; it is not giving a parallel action, but the setting for the event.

[25:1]  ⁷ sn The account apparently means that the men were having sex with the Moabite women. Why the men submitted to such a temptation at this point is hard to say. It may be that as military heroes the men took liberties with the women of occupied territories.

[32:4]  ⁶ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of נָכָה (nakhah), a term that can mean “smite, strike, attack, destroy.”