Numbers 20:5

20:5 Why ¹  have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to ²  this dreadful place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!”

Numbers 11:3

11:3 So he called the name of that place Taberah ³  because there the fire of the Lord burned among them.

Numbers 24:11

24:11 So now, go back where you came from! ⁴  I said that I would greatly honor you; but now the Lord has stood in the way of your honor.”

Numbers 24:25

24:25 Balaam got up and departed and returned to his home, ⁵  and Balak also went his way.

Numbers 32:1

The Petition of the Reubenites and Gadites

32:1 ⁶ Now the Reubenites and the Gadites possessed a very large number of cattle. When they saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were ideal for cattle, ⁷ 

Numbers 11:34

11:34 So the name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, ⁸  because there they buried the people that craved different food. ⁹ 

Numbers 13:24

13:24 That place was called ¹⁰  the Eshcol Valley, ¹¹  because of the cluster ¹²  of grapes that the Israelites cut from there.

Numbers 14:40

14:40 And early ¹³  in the morning they went up to the crest of the hill country, ¹⁴  saying, “Here we are, and we will go up to the place that the Lord commanded, ¹⁵  for we have sinned.” ¹⁶ 

Numbers 18:31

18:31 And you may ¹⁷  eat it in any place, you and your household, because it is your wages for your service in the tent of meeting.

Numbers 21:3

21:3 The Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, ¹⁸  and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called ¹⁹  Hormah.

Numbers 22:26

22:26 Then the angel of the Lord went farther, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left.

Numbers 23:27

23:27 Balak said to Balaam, “Come, please; I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God ²⁰  to let you curse them for me from there.” ²¹ 

Numbers 9:17

9:17 Whenever the cloud was taken up ²²  from the tabernacle, then after that the Israelites would begin their journey; and in whatever place ²³  the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp.

Numbers 10:29

The Appeal to Hobab

10:29 ²⁴ Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel, the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, ²⁵  “We are journeying to the place about which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, ²⁶  for the Lord has promised good things ²⁷  for Israel.”

Numbers 19:9

19:9 “‘Then a man who is ceremonially clean must gather up the ashes of the red heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept ²⁸  for the community of the Israelites for use in the water of purification ²⁹  – it is a purification for sin. ³⁰ 

Numbers 23:13

23:13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you can observe them. You will see only a part of them, but you will not see all of them. Curse them for me from there.”

Numbers 32:17

32:17 but we will maintain ourselves in armed readiness ³¹  and go before the Israelites until whenever we have brought them to their place. Our descendants will be living in fortified towns as a protection against ³²  the inhabitants of the land.

[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.

[11:3]  ³ tn The name תַּבְעֵרָה (tav’erah) is given to the spot as a commemorative of the wilderness experience. It is explained by the formula using the same verbal root, “to burn.” Such naming narratives are found dozens of times in the OT, and most frequently in the Pentateuch. The explanation is seldom an exact etymology, and so in the literature is called a popular etymology. It is best to explain the connection as a figure of speech, a paronomasia, which is a phonetic wordplay that may or may not be etymologically connected. Usually the name is connected to the explanation by a play on the verbal root – here the preterite explaining the noun. The significance of commemorating the place by such a device is to “burn” it into the memory of Israel. The narrative itself would be remembered more easily by the name and its motif. The namings in the wilderness wanderings remind the faithful of unbelief, and warn us all not to murmur as they murmured. See further A. P. Ross, “Paronomasia and Popular Etymologies in the Naming Narrative of the Old Testament,” Ph.D. diss., University of Cambridge, 1982.

[24:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “flee to your place.”

[24:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “place.”

[32:1]  ⁹ sn While the tribes are on the other side of Jordan, the matter of which tribes would settle there has to be discussed. This chapter begins the settlement of Israel into the tribal territories, something to be continued in Joshua. The chapter has the petitions (vv. 1-5), the response by Moses (vv. 6-15), the proposal (vv. 16-27), and the conclusion of the matter (vv. 28-42). For literature on this subject, both critical and conservative, see S. E. Loewenstein, “The Relation of the Settlement of Gad and Reuben in Numbers 32:1-38, Its Background and Its Composition,” Tarbiz 42 (1972): 12-26; J. Mauchline, “Gilead and Gilgal, Some Reflections on the Israelite Occupation of Palestine,” VT 6 (1956): 19-33; and A. Bergmann, “The Israelite Tribe of Half-Manasseh,” JPOS 16 (1936): 224-54.

[32:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the place was a place of/for cattle.”

[11:34]  ¹¹ sn The name “the graves of the ones who craved” is again explained by a wordplay, a popular etymology. In Hebrew קִבְרוֹת הַתַּאֲוָה (qivrot hatta’avah) is the technical name. It is the place that the people craved the meat, longing for the meat of Egypt, and basically rebelled against God. The naming marks another station in the wilderness where the people failed to accept God’s good gifts with grace and to pray for their other needs to be met.

[11:34]  ¹² tn The words “different food” are implied, and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[13:24]  ¹³ tn The verb is rendered as a passive because there is no expressed subject.

[13:24]  ¹⁴ tn Or “Wadi Eshcol.” The translation “brook” is too generous; the Hebrew term refers to a river bed, a ravine or valley through which torrents of rain would rush in the rainy season; at other times it might be completely dry.

[13:24]  ¹⁵ tn The word “Eshcol” is drawn from the Hebrew expression concerning the “cluster of grapes.” The word is probably retained in the name Burj Haskeh, two miles north of Damascus.

[14:40]  ¹⁵ tn The verb וַיַּשְׁכִּמוּ (vayyashkimu) is often found in a verbal hendiadys construction: “They rose early…and they went up” means “they went up early.”

[14:40]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew text says literally “the top of the hill,” but judging from the location and the terrain it probably means the heights of the hill country.

[14:40]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is simply “said,” but it means the place that the Lord said to go up to in order to fight.

[14:40]  ¹⁸ sn Their sin was unbelief. They could have gone and conquered the area if they had trusted the Lord for their victory. They did not, and so they were condemned to perish in the wilderness. Now, thinking that by going they can undo all that, they plan to go. But this is also disobedience, for the Lord said they would not now take the land, and yet they think they can. Here is their second sin, presumption.

[18:31]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it functions as the equivalent of the imperfect of permission.

[21:3]  ¹⁹ tc Smr, Greek, and Syriac add “into his hand.”

[21:3]  ²⁰ tn In the Hebrew text the verb has no expressed subject, and so here too is made passive. The name “Hormah” is etymologically connected to the verb “utterly destroy,” forming the popular etymology (or paronomasia, a phonetic wordplay capturing the significance of the event).

[23:27]  ²¹ tn Heb “be pleasing in the eyes of God.”

[23:27]  ²² sn Balak is stubborn, as indeed Balaam is persistent. But Balak still thinks that if another location were used it just might work. Balaam had actually told Balak in the prophecy that other attempts would fail. But Balak refuses to give up so easily. So he insists they perform the ritual and try again. This time, however, Balaam will change his approach, and this will result in a dramatic outpouring of power on him.

[9:17]  ²³ tn The verb in this initial temporal clause is the Niphal infinitive construct.

[9:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in the place where it settled there”; the relative clause modifies the noun “place,” and the resumptive adverb completes the related idea – “which it settled there” means “where it settled.”

[10:29]  ²⁵ sn For additional bibliography for this short section, see W. F. Albright, “Jethro, Hobab, and Reuel in Early Hebrew Tradition,” CBQ 25 (1963): 1-11; G. W. Coats, “Moses in Midian,” JBL 92 (1973): 3-10; B. Mazar, “The Sanctuary of Arad and the Family of Hobab the Kenite,” JNES 24 (1965): 297-303; and T. C. Mitchell, “The Meaning of the Noun h£tn in the Old Testament,” VT 19 (1969): 93-112.

[10:29]  ²⁶ sn There is a problem with the identity of Hobab. The MT says that he is the son of Reuel, making him the brother-in-law of Moses. But Judg 4:11 says he is the father-in-law. In Judg 1:16; 4:11 Hobab is traced to the Kenites, but in Exod 3:1 and 18:1 Jethro (Reuel) is priest of Midian. Jethro is identified with Reuel on the basis of Exod 2:18 and 3:1, and so Hobab becomes Moses’ חֹתֵן (khoten), a relative by marriage and perhaps brother-in-law. There is not enough information to decide on the identity and relationships involved here. Some suggest that there is one person with the three names (G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 93); others suggest Hobab is a family name (R. F. Johnson, IDB 2:615), and some suggest that the expression “the son of Reuel the Midianite” had dropped out of the genealogy of Judges, leading to the conflict (J. Crichton, ISBE 2:1055). If Hobab is the same as Jethro, then Exod 18:27 does not make much sense, for Jethro did go home. On this basis many conclude Hobab is a brother-in-law. This would mean that after Jethro returned home, Moses conversed with Hobab, his brother-in-law. For more discussion, see the articles and the commentaries.

[10:29]  ²⁷ tn The verb is the Hiphil of the root “to be good” (יָטַב, yatav); it may be translated “treat well, deal favorably, generously with.” Here it is a perfect tense with vav (ו) following the imperative, showing a sequence in the verbal ideas.

[10:29]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew text simply has “has spoken good” for Israel.

[19:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “it will be.”

[19:9]  ²⁸ tn The expression לְמֵי נִדָּה (lÿme niddah) is “for waters of impurity.” The genitive must designate the purpose of the waters – they are for cases of impurity, and so serve for cleansing or purifying, thus “water of purification.” The word “impurity” can also mean “abhorrent” because it refers to so many kinds of impurities. It is also called a purification offering; Milgrom notes that this is fitting because the sacrificial ritual involved transfers impurity from the purified to the purifier (pp. 62-72).

[19:9]  ²⁹ sn The ashes were to be stored somewhere outside the camp to be used in a water portion for cleansing someone who was defiled. This is a ritual that was enacted in the wilderness; it is something of a restoring rite for people alienated from community.

[32:17]  ²⁹ tn The MT has חֻשִׁים (khushim); the verbal root is חוּשׁ (khush, “to make haste” or “hurry”). But in light of the Greek and Latin Vulgate the Hebrew should probably be emended to חֲמֻשִׁים (hamushim), a qal passive participle meaning “in battle array.” See further BDB 301 s.v. I חוּשׁ, BDB 332 s.v. חֲמֻשִׁים; HALOT 300 s.v. I חושׁ, חישׁ; HALOT 331 s.v. I חמשׁ.

[32:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “from before.”