Numbers 14:44-45

14:44 But they dared ¹  to go up to the crest of the hill, although ²  neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp. 14:45 So the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country swooped ³  down and attacked them ⁴  as far as Hormah. ⁵ 

[14:44]  ¹ tn N. H. Snaith compares Arabic ’afala (“to swell”) and gafala (“reckless, headstrong”; Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 248). The wordעֹפֶל (’ofel) means a “rounded hill” or a “tumor.” The idea behind the verb may be that of “swelling,” and so “act presumptuously.”

[14:44]  ² tn The disjunctive vav (ו) here introduces a circumstantial clause; the most appropriate one here would be the concessive “although.”

[14:45]  ³ tn Heb “came down.”

[14:45]  ⁴ tn The verb used here means “crush by beating,” or “pounded” them. The Greek text used “cut them in pieces.”

[14:45]  ⁵ tn The name “Hormah” means “destruction”; it is from the word that means “ban, devote” for either destruction or temple use.