Numbers 11:18

11:18 “And say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves ¹  for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing ²  of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat, ³  for life ⁴  was good for us in Egypt?” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat.

[11:18]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “in the ears.”

[11:18]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.”