Numbers 11:13

11:13 From where shall I get ¹  meat to give to this entire people, for they cry to me, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat!’ ² 

Numbers 11:18

11:18 “And say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves ³  for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing ⁴  of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat, ⁵  for life ⁶  was good for us in Egypt?” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat.

Numbers 12:12

12:12 Do not let her be like a baby born dead, whose flesh is half-consumed when it comes out of its ⁷  mother’s womb!”

Numbers 18:18

18:18 And their meat will be yours, just as the breast and the right hip of the raised offering is yours.

Numbers 19:8

19:8 The one who burns it ⁸  must wash his clothes in water and bathe himself in water. He will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

Numbers 27:16

27:16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all humankind, ⁹  appoint ¹⁰  a man over the community,

Numbers 8:7

8:7 And do this ¹¹  to them to purify them: Sprinkle water of purification ¹²  on them; then have them shave ¹³  all their body ¹⁴  and wash ¹⁵  their clothes, and so purify themselves. ¹⁶ 

Numbers 11:4

Complaints about Food

11:4 ¹⁷ Now the mixed multitude ¹⁸  who were among them craved more desirable foods, ¹⁹  and so the Israelites wept again ²⁰  and said, “If only we had meat to eat! ²¹ 

Numbers 11:21

11:21 Moses said, “The people around me ²²  are 600,000 on foot; ²³  but you say, ‘I will give them meat, ²⁴  that they may eat ²⁵  for a whole month.’

Numbers 11:33

11:33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before they chewed it, ²⁶  the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.

Numbers 16:22

16:22 Then they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground ²⁷  and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all people, ²⁸  will you be angry with the whole community when only one man sins?” ²⁹ 

Numbers 19:5

19:5 Then the heifer must be burned ³⁰  in his sight – its skin, its flesh, its blood, and its offal is to be burned. ³¹ 

Numbers 19:7

19:7 Then the priest must wash ³²  his clothes and bathe himself ³³  in water, and afterward he may come ³⁴  into the camp, but the priest will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

Numbers 18:15

18:15 The firstborn of every womb which they present to the Lord, whether human or animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn sons you must redeem, ³⁵  and the firstborn males of unclean animals you must redeem.

[11:13]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text simply has “from where to me flesh?” which means “from where will I have meat?”

[11:13]  ² tn The cohortative coming after the imperative stresses purpose (it is an indirect volitive).

[11:18]  ³ tn The Hitpael is used to stress that they are to prepare for a holy appearance. The day was going to be special and so required their being set apart for it. But it is a holy day in the sense of the judgment that was to follow.

[11:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the ears.”

[11:18]  ⁵ tn Possibly this could be given an optative translation, to reflect the earlier one: “O that someone would give….” But the verb is not the same; here it is the Hiphil of the verb “to eat” – “who will make us eat” (i.e., provide meat for us to eat).

[11:18]  ⁶ tn The word “life” is not in the text. The expression is simply “it was for us,” or “we had good,” meaning “we had it good,” or “life was good.”

[12:12]  ⁵ tc The words “its mother” and “its flesh” are among the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” According to this tradition the text originally had here “our mother” and “our flesh,” but the ancient scribes changed these pronouns from the first person to the third person. Apparently they were concerned that the image of Moses’ mother giving birth to a baby with physical defects of the sort described here was somehow inappropriate, given the stature and importance of Moses.

[19:8]  ⁷ sn Here the text makes clear that he had at least one assistant.

[27:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “flesh”; cf. NAB, NIV “all mankind”; NCV “all people”; NLT “all living things.”

[27:16]  ¹⁰ tn This is the same verb פָּקַד (paqad) that is used throughout the book for the aspect of “numbering” the people.

[8:7]  ¹¹ tn Or, more literally, “and thus you shall do.” The verb is the imperfect tense of instruction or legislation. Here it introduces the procedures to be followed.

[8:7]  ¹² tn The genitive in this expression indicates the purpose of the water – it is for their purification. The expression is literally “the waters of sin.” The word “purification” is the same as for the “sin/purification offering” – חַטָּאת (khatta’at). This water seems to have been taken from the main laver and is contrasted with the complete washing of the priests in Lev 8:6.

[8:7]  ¹³ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) of sequence. This verb, and those to follow, has the force of a jussive since it comes after the imperative. Here the instruction is for them to remove the hair from their bodies (“flesh”). There is no indication that this was repeated (as the Egyptian priests did every few days). It seems to have been for this special occasion only. A similar requirement was for the leper (Lev 14:7-9).

[8:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “flesh.”

[8:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “let/have them wash”; the priests were given new clothes (Lev 8:13), but the Levites simply washed their own.

[8:7]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is a reflexive (or possibly passive) in this verse, indicating the summary of the process. The ritual steps that have been prescribed will lead to this conclusion. The verb could be treated as a final imperfect (being a perfect with vav [ו] consecutive), and so translated “that they may….” The major difference here is that the ritual made the Levites “clean,” whereas the ritual for the priests made them “holy” or “sanctified” (Lev 8:12).

[11:4]  ¹³ 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 Lord for salvation, but now they forget, as they remember things they used to have. God will give them what they crave, but it will not do for them what they desire. For more information on this story, see B. J. Malina, The Palestinian Manna Tradition. For the attempt to explain manna and the other foods by natural phenomena, see F. W. Bodenheimer, “The Manna of Sinai,” BA 10 (1947): 1-6.

[11:4]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.

[11:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the people who I am in their midst,” i.e., among whom I am.

[11:21]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew sentence stresses the number. The sentence begins “600,000….”

[11:21]  ¹⁷ tn The word order places the object first here: “Meat I will give them.” This adds to the contrast between the number and the statement of the Lord.

[11:21]  ¹⁸ tn The verb is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, carrying the sequence from the preceding imperfect tense. However, this verb may be subordinated to the preceding to express a purpose clause.

[11:33]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is a prefixed conjugation, normally an imperfect tense. But coming after the adverb טֶּרֶם (terem) it is treated as a preterite.

[16:22]  ¹⁹ sn It is Moses and Aaron who prostrate themselves; they have the good of the people at heart.

[16:22]  ²⁰ tn The expression “the God of the spirits of all humanity [flesh]” is somewhat difficult. The Hebrew text says אֱלֹהֵי הָרוּחֹת לְכָל־בָּשָׂר (’elohey harukhot lÿkhol-basar). This expression occurs in Num 27:16 again. It also occurs in some postbiblical texts, a fact which has prompted some scholars to conclude that it is a late addition. The words clearly show that Moses is interceding for the congregation. The appeal in the verse is that it is better for one man to die for the whole nation than the whole nation for one man (see also John 11:50).

[16:22]  ²¹ tn The verb is the Qal imperfect יֶחֱטָא (yekheta’); it refers to the sinful rebellion of Korah, but Moses is stating something of a principle: “One man sins, and will you be angry….” A past tense translation would assume that this is a preterite use of the imperfect (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[19:5]  ²¹ tn Again, the verb has no expressed subject, and so is given a passive translation.

[19:5]  ²² tn The imperfect tense is third masculine singular, and so again the verb is to be made passive.

[19:7]  ²³ tn The sequence continues with the perfect tense and vav (ו) consecutive.

[19:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his flesh.”

[19:7]  ²⁵ tn This is the imperfect of permission.

[18:15]  ²⁵ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of the verb “to redeem” in order to stress the point – they were to be redeemed. N. H. Snaith suggests that the verb means to get by payment what was not originally yours, whereas the other root גָאַל (ga’al) means to get back what was originally yours (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 268).