Numbers 15:32

15:32 When the Israelites were ¹  in the wilderness they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ² 

Numbers 28:9

Weekly Offerings

28:9 “‘On the Sabbath day, you must offer ³  two unblemished lambs a year old, and two-tenths of an ephah ⁴  of finely ground flour as a grain offering, mixed with olive oil, along with its drink offering.

[15:32]  ¹ tn The preterite of the verb “to be” is here subordinated to the next, parallel verb form, to form a temporal clause.

[15:32]  ² sn For this brief passage, see A. Phillips, “The Case of the Woodgatherer Reconsidered,” VT 19 (1969): 125-28; J. Weingreen, “The Case of the Woodgatherer (Numbers XV 32-36),” VT 16 (1966): 361-64; and B. J. Bamberger, “Revelations of Torah after Sinai,” HUCA 16 (1941): 97-113. Weingreen argues that there is something of the Rabbinic method of setting a fence around the Law here; in other words, if this sin were not punished, the Law would have been violated in greater ways. Gathering of wood, although seemingly harmless, is done with intent to kindle fire, and so reveals a culpable intent.

[28:9]  ³ tn The words “you must offer” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied. They have been supplied in the translation to make a complete English sentence.

[28:9]  ⁴ sn That is, about 4 quarts.