Numbers 16:46-48

16:46 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord – the plague has begun!” 16:47 So Aaron did ¹  as Moses commanded ²  and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague was just beginning among the people. So he placed incense on the coals and made atonement for the people. 16:48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.

Numbers 16:2

16:2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders ³  of the community, chosen from the assembly, ⁴  famous men. ⁵ 

Numbers 24:25

24:25 Balaam got up and departed and returned to his home, ⁶  and Balak also went his way.

Numbers 24:1

Balaam Prophesies Yet Again

24:1 ⁷ When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, ⁸  he did not go as at the other times ⁹  to seek for omens, ¹⁰  but he set his face ¹¹  toward the wilderness.

Numbers 21:22

21:22 “Let us ¹²  pass through your land; ¹³  we will not turn aside into the fields or into the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well, but we will go along the King’s Highway until we pass your borders.”

[16:47]  ¹ tn Heb “took.”

[16:47]  ² tn Or “had spoken” (NASB); NRSV “had ordered.”

[16:2]  ³ tn Heb “princes” (so KJV, ASV).

[16:2]  ⁴ tn These men must have been counselors or judges of some kind.

[16:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “men of name,” or “men of renown.”

[24:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “place.”

[24:1]  ⁷ sn For a thorough study of the arrangement of this passage, see E. B. Smick, “A Study of the Structure of the Third Balaam Oracle,” The Law and the Prophets, 242-52. He sees the oracle as having an introductory strophe (vv. 3, 4), followed by two stanzas (vv. 5, 6) that introduce the body (vv. 7b-9b) before the final benediction (v. 9b).

[24:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “it was good in the eyes of the Lord.”

[24:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “as time after time.”

[24:1]  ¹⁰ tn The word נְחָשִׁים (nÿkhashim) means “omens,” or possibly “auguries.” Balaam is not even making a pretense now of looking for such things, because they are not going to work. God has overruled them.

[24:1]  ¹¹ tn The idiom signifies that he had a determination and resolution to look out over where the Israelites were, so that he could appreciate more their presence and use that as the basis for his expressing of the oracle.

[21:22]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text uses the singular in these verses to match the reference to “Israel.”

[21:22]  ¹³ tc Smr has “by the King’s way I will go. I will not turn aside to the right or the left.”