Numbers 11:7

11:7 (Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium.

Numbers 5:28

5:28 But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she will be free of ill effects ¹  and will be able to bear children.

Numbers 24:7

24:7 He will pour the water out of his buckets, ² 

and their descendants will be like abundant ³  water; ⁴ 

their king will be greater than Agag, ⁵ 

and their kingdom will be exalted.

Numbers 5:13

5:13 and a man has sexual relations ⁶  with her ⁷  without her husband knowing it, ⁸  and it is hidden that she has defiled herself, since ⁹  there was no witness against her, nor was she caught –

Numbers 14:24

14:24 Only my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit and has followed me fully – I will bring him into the land where he had gone, and his descendants ¹⁰  will possess it.

Numbers 20:5

20:5 Why ¹¹  have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to ¹²  this dreadful place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!”

Numbers 25:13

25:13 So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, ¹³  and has made atonement ¹⁴  for the Israelites.’”

Numbers 16:40

16:40 It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant of ¹⁵  Aaron should approach to burn incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company – just as the Lord had spoken by the authority ¹⁶  of Moses.

Numbers 18:19

18:19 All the raised offerings of the holy things that the Israelites offer to the Lord, I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt ¹⁷  forever before the Lord for you and for your descendants with you.”

[5:28]  ¹ tn Heb “will be free”; the words “of ill effects” have been supplied as a clarification.

[24:7]  ¹ tc For this colon the LXX has “a man shall come out of his seed.” Cf. the Syriac Peshitta and Targum.

[24:7]  ² tn Heb “many.”

[24:7]  ³ sn These two lines are difficult, but the general sense is that of irrigation buckets and a well-watered land. The point is that Israel will be prosperous and fruitful.

[24:7]  ⁴ sn Many commentators see this as a reference to Agag of 1 Sam 15:32-33, the Amalekite king slain by Samuel, for that is the one we know. But that is by no means clear, for this text does not identify this Agag. If it is that king, then this poem, or this line in this poem, would have to be later, unless one were to try to argue for a specific prophecy. Whoever this Agag is, he is a symbol of power.

[5:13]  ¹ tn Heb “and a man lies with her with the emission of semen.” This makes it clear that there was adultery involved, so that the going astray is going astray morally. The indication in the text is that if she had never behaved suspiciously the sin might not have been detected.

[5:13]  ² tc The sign of the accusative אֹתָהּ (’otah) is probably to be repointed to the preposition with the suffix, אִתָּהּ (’ittah).

[5:13]  ³ tn Heb “and it is concealed from the eyes of her husband.”

[5:13]  ⁴ tn The noun clause beginning with the simple conjunction is here a circumstantial clause, explaining that there was no witness to the sin.

[14:24]  ¹ tn Heb “seed.”

[20:5]  ¹ tn Heb “and why.”

[20:5]  ² tn Here also the infinitive construct (Hiphil) forms the subordinate clause of the preceding interrogative clause.

[25:13]  ¹ tn The motif is reiterated here. Phinehas was passionately determined to maintain the rights of his God by stopping the gross sinful perversions.

[25:13]  ² sn The atonement that he made in this passage refers to the killing of the two obviously blatant sinners. By doing this he dispensed with any animal sacrifice, for the sinners themselves died. In Leviticus it was the life of the substitutionary animal that was taken in place of the sinners that made atonement. The point is that sin was punished by death, and so God was free to end the plague and pardon the people. God’s holiness and righteousness have always been every bit as important as God’s mercy and compassion, for without righteousness and holiness mercy and compassion mean nothing.

[16:40]  ¹ tn Heb “from the seed of.”

[16:40]  ² tn Heb “hand.”

[18:19]  ¹ sn Salt was used in all the offerings; its importance as a preservative made it a natural symbol for the covenant which was established by sacrifice. Even general agreements were attested by sacrifice, and the phrase “covenant of salt” speaks of such agreements as binding and irrevocable. Note the expression in Ezra 4:14, “we have been salted with the salt of the palace.” See further J. F. Ross, IDB 4:167.