Numbers 24:6

24:6 They are like ¹  valleys ²  stretched forth,

like gardens by the river’s side,

like aloes ³  that the Lord has planted,

and like cedar trees beside the waters.

Numbers 21:15

21:15 and the slope of the valleys ⁴ 

that extends to the dwelling of Ar, ⁵ 

and falls off at the border of Moab.”

Numbers 14:25

14:25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys.) ⁶  Tomorrow, turn and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.”

Numbers 21:14

21:14 This is why it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

“Waheb in Suphah ⁷  and the wadis,

the Arnon

[24:6]  ¹ tn Heb “as valleys they spread forth.”

[24:6]  ² tn Or “rows of palms.”

[24:6]  ³ sn The language seems to be more poetic than precise. N. H. Snaith notes that cedars do not grow beside water; he also connects “aloes” to the eaglewood that is more exotic, and capable of giving off an aroma (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 298).

[21:15]  ⁴ tc There are many variations in this text, but the MT reading of something like “the descent of the torrents/valleys” is preferable, since it is describing the topography.

[21:15]  ⁵ sn The place is unknown; it is apparently an important city in the region.

[14:25]  ⁷ sn The judgment on Israel is that they turn back to the desert and not attack the tribes in the land. So a parenthetical clause is inserted to state who was living there. They would surely block the entrance to the land from the south – unless God removed them. And he is not going to do that for Israel.

[21:14]  ¹⁰ tc The ancient versions show a wide variation here: Smr has “Waheb on the Sea of Reeds,” the Greek version has “he has set Zoob on fire and the torrents of Arnon.” Several modern versions treat the first line literally, taking the two main words as place names: Waheb and Suphah. This seems most likely, but then there would then be no subject or verb. One would need something like “the Israelites marched through.” The KJV, following the Vulgate, made the first word a verb and read the second as “Red Sea” – “what he did in the Red Sea.” But subject of the passage is the terrain. D. L. Christensen proposed emending the first part from אֶת וָהֵב (’et vahev) to אַתָּה יְהוָה (’attah yehvah, “the Lord came”). But this is subjective. See his article “Num 21:14-15 and the Book of the Wars of Yahweh,” CBQ 36 (1974): 359-60.