Numbers 12:9

12:9 The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he departed.

Numbers 25:3

25:3 When Israel joined themselves to Baal-peor, ¹  the anger of the Lord flared up against Israel.

Numbers 32:10

32:10 So the anger of the Lord was kindled that day, and he swore,

Numbers 11:1

The Israelites Complain

11:1 ² When the people complained, ³  it displeased ⁴  the Lord. When the Lord heard ⁵  it, his anger burned, ⁶  and so ⁷  the fire of the Lord ⁸  burned among them and consumed some of the outer parts of the camp.

Numbers 11:10

Moses’ Complaint to the Lord

11:10 ⁹ Moses heard the people weeping ¹⁰  throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and when the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, Moses was also displeased. ¹¹ 

Numbers 11:33

11:33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before they chewed it, ¹²  the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.

Numbers 22:27

22:27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she crouched down under Balaam. Then Balaam was angry, and he beat his donkey with a staff.

Numbers 22:31

22:31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his sword drawn in his hand; so he bowed his head and threw himself down with his face to the ground. ¹³ 

Numbers 32:13-14

32:13 So the Lord’s anger was kindled against the Israelites, and he made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all that generation that had done wickedly before ¹⁴  the Lord was finished. ¹⁵  32:14 Now look, you are standing in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinners, to increase still further the fierce wrath of the Lord against the Israelites.

Numbers 11:20

11:20 but a whole month, ¹⁶  until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick, ¹⁷  because you have despised ¹⁸  the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why ¹⁹  did we ever come out of Egypt?”’”

Numbers 14:18

14:18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, ²⁰  forgiving iniquity and transgression, ²¹  but by no means clearing ²²  the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.’ ²³ 

Numbers 22:22

God Opposes Balaam

22:22 Then God’s anger was kindled ²⁴  because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose ²⁵  him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him.

Numbers 24:10

24:10 Then Balak became very angry at Balaam, and he struck his hands together. ²⁶  Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have done nothing but bless ²⁷  them these three times!

Numbers 25:4

God’s Punishment

25:4 The Lord said to Moses, “Arrest all the leaders ²⁸  of the people, and hang them up ²⁹  before the Lord in broad daylight, ³⁰  so that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.”

[25:3]  ¹ tn The verb is “yoked” to Baal-peor. The word is unusual, and may suggest the physical, ritual participation described below. It certainly shows that they acknowledge the reality of the local god.

[11:1]  ¹ sn The chapter includes the initial general complaints (vv. 1-3), the complaints about food (vv. 4-9), Moses’ own complaint to the Lord (vv. 10-15), God’s response to Moses (vv. 16-25), Eldad and Medad (vv. 26-29), and the quail (vv. 30-35). The first part records the burning of the camp, named Taberah. Here is one of the several naming narratives in the wilderness experience. The occasion for divine judgment is the complaining of the people. The passages serve to warn believers of all ages not to murmur as the Israelites did, for such complaining reveals a lack of faith in the power and goodness of God. For additional literature, see W. Brueggemann, “From Hurt to Joy, from Death to Life,” Int 28 (1974): 3-19; B. S. Childs, “The Etiological Tale Re-examined,” VT 24 (1974): 387-97; G. W. Coats, Rebellion in the Wilderness; and A. C. Tunyogi, “The Rebellions of Israel,” JBL 81 (1962): 385-90.

[11:1]  ² tn The temporal clause uses the Hitpoel infinitive construct from אָנַן (’anan). It is a rare word, occurring in Lam 3:39. With this blunt introduction the constant emphasis of obedience to the word of the Lord found throughout the first ten chapters suddenly comes to an end. It is probable that the people were tired of moving for several days, the excitement of the new beginning died out quickly in the “great and terrible wilderness.” Resentment, frustration, discomfort – whatever it all involved – led to complaining and not gratitude.

[11:1]  ³ tn Heb “it was evil in the ears of the Lord.” The word רַע (ra’) is a much stronger word than “displeased” would suggest. The bold anthropomorphism shows that what the Lord heard was painful to him.

[11:1]  ⁴ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next verb as a temporal clause.

[11:1]  ⁵ tn The common Hebrew expression uses the verb חָרָה (harah, “to be hot, to burn, to be kindled”). The subject is אַפּוֹ (’appo), “his anger” or more literally, his nose, which in this anthropomorphic expression flares in rage. The emphasis is superlative – “his anger raged.”

[11:1]  ⁶ tn The vav (ו) consecutive does not simply show sequence in the verbs, but here expresses the result of the anger of the Lord for their complaining. With such a response to the complaining, one must conclude that it was unreasonable. There had been no long deprivation or endured suffering; the complaining was early and showed a rebellious spirit.

[11:1]  ⁷ sn The “fire of the Lord” is supernatural, for it is said to come from the Lord and not from a natural source. God gave them something to complain about – something to fear. The other significant place where this “fire of the Lord” destroyed was in the case of Nadab and Abihu who brought strange fire to the altar (Lev 10:2).

[11:10]  ¹ sn Moses begins to feel the burden of caring for this people, a stubborn and rebellious people. His complaint shows how contagious their complaining has been. It is one thing to cry out to God about the load of ministry, but it is quite another to do it in such a way as to reflect a lack of faith in God’s provision. God has to remind the leader Moses that he, the Lord, can do anything. This is a variation on the theme from Exodus – “who am I that I should lead….”

[11:10]  ² tn The participle “weeping” is functioning here as the noun in the accusative case, an adverbial accusative of state. It is explicative of the object.

[11:10]  ³ tn Heb “it was evil in the eyes of Moses.”

[11:33]  ¹ tn The verb is a prefixed conjugation, normally an imperfect tense. But coming after the adverb טֶּרֶם (terem) it is treated as a preterite.

[22:31]  ¹ tn The Hishtaphel verb חָוָה (khavah) – שָׁחָה (shakhah) with metathesis – has a basic idea of “bow oneself low to the ground,” and perhaps in some cases the idea of “coil up.” This is the normal posture of prayer and of deep humility in the ancient religious world.

[32:13]  ¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[32:13]  ² tn The verb is difficult to translate, since it has the idea of “complete, finish” (תָּמָם, tamam). It could be translated “consumed” in this passage (so KJV, ASV); NASB “was destroyed.”

[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?”

[14:18]  ¹ tn The expression is רַב־חֶסֶד (rav khesed) means “much of loyal love,” or “faithful love.” Some have it “totally faithful,” but that omits the aspect of his love.

[14:18]  ² tn Or “rebellion.”

[14:18]  ³ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the verbal activity of the imperfect tense, which here serves as a habitual imperfect. Negated it states what God does not do; and the infinitive makes that certain.

[14:18]  ⁴ sn The Decalogue adds “to those who hate me.” The point of the line is that the effects of sin, if not the sinful traits themselves, are passed on to the next generation.

[22:22]  ¹ sn God’s anger now seems to contradict the permission he gave Balaam just before this. Some commentators argue that God’s anger is a response to Balaam’s character in setting out – which the Bible does not explain. God saw in him greed and pleasure for the riches, which is why he was so willing to go.

[22:22]  ² tn The word is שָׂטָן (satan, “to be an adversary, to oppose”).

[24:10]  ¹ sn This is apparently a sign of contempt or derision (see Job 27:23; and Lam 2:15).

[24:10]  ² tn The construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the perfect tense for “bless.”

[25:4]  ¹ sn The meaning must be the leaders behind the apostasy, for they would now be arrested. They were responsible for the tribes’ conformity to the Law, but here they had not only failed in their duty, but had participated. The leaders were executed; the rest of the guilty died by the plague.

[25:4]  ² sn The leaders who were guilty were commanded by God to be publicly exposed by hanging, probably a reference to impaling, but possibly some other form of harsh punishment. The point was that the swaying of their executed bodies would be a startling warning for any who so blatantly set the Law aside and indulged in apostasy through pagan sexual orgies.

[25:4]  ³ tn Heb “in the sun.” This means in broad daylight.