Numbers 21:17-18

21:17 Then Israel sang ¹  this song:

“Spring up, O well, sing to it!

21:18 The well which the princes ²  dug,

which the leaders of the people opened

with their scepters and their staffs.”

And from the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah;

Numbers 21:22

21:22 “Let us ³  pass through your land; ⁴  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.”

Numbers 20:17

20:17 Please let us pass through ⁵  your country. We will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well. We will go by the King’s Highway; ⁶  we will not turn to the right or the left until we have passed through your region.’” ⁷ 

[21:17]  ¹ tn After the adverb “then” the prefixed conjugation has the preterite force. For the archaic constructions, see D. N. Freedman, “Archaic Forms in Early Hebrew Poetry,” ZAW 72 (1960): 101-7. The poem shows all the marks of being ancient.

[21:18]  ² sn The brief song is supposed to be an old workers’ song, and so the mention of leaders and princes is unusual. Some think they are given credit because they directed where the workers were to dig. The scepter and staff might have served some symbolic or divining custom.

[21:22]  ³ tn The Hebrew text uses the singular in these verses to match the reference to “Israel.”

[21:22]  ⁴ tc Smr has “by the King’s way I will go. I will not turn aside to the right or the left.”

[20:17]  ⁴ tn The request is expressed by the use of the cohortative, “let us pass through.” It is the proper way to seek permission.

[20:17]  ⁵ sn This a main highway running from Damascus in the north to the Gulf of Aqaba, along the ridge of the land. Some scholars suggest that the name may have been given by the later Assyrians (see B. Obed, “Observations on Methods of Assyrian Rule in Transjordan after the Palestinian Campaign of Tiglathpileser III,” JNES 29 [1970]: 177-86). Bronze Age fortresses have been discovered along this highway, attesting to its existence in the time of Moses. The original name came from the king who developed the highway, probably as a trading road (see S. Cohen, IDB 3:35-36).

[20:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “borders.”