Numbers 11:20

11:20 but a whole month, ¹  until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick, ²  because you have despised ³  the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why ⁴  did we ever come out of Egypt?”’”

Numbers 18:17

18:17 But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow or a sheep or a goat; they are holy. You must splash ⁵  their blood on the altar and burn their fat for an offering made by fire for a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

Numbers 19:20

19:20 But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person must be cut off from among the community, because he has polluted the sanctuary of the Lord; the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, so he is unclean.

[11:20]  ¹ tn Heb “a month of days.” So also in v. 21.

[11:20]  ² tn The expression לְזָרָה (lÿzarah) has been translated “ill” or “loathsome.” It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. The Greek text interprets it as “sickness.” It could be nausea or vomiting (so G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 112) from overeating.

[11:20]  ³ sn The explanation is the interpretation of their behavior – it is in reality what they have done, even though they would not say they despised the Lord. They had complained and shown a lack of faith and a contempt for the program, which was in essence despising the Lord.

[11:20]  ⁴ tn The use of the demonstrative pronoun here (“why is this we went out …”) is enclitic, providing emphasis to the sentence: “Why in the world did we ever leave Egypt?”

[18:17]  ⁵ tn Or “throw, toss.”