Numbers 3:45

3:45 “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. And the Levites will be mine. I am the Lord.

Numbers 8:18

8:18 So I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn sons among the Israelites.

Numbers 5:29

5:29 “‘This is the law for cases of jealousy, ¹  when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself,

Numbers 3:41

3:41 And take ²  the Levites for me – I am the Lord – instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites.”

Numbers 3:12

3:12 “Look, ³  I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of ⁴  every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me,

Numbers 5:20

5:20 But if you ⁵  have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had sexual relations with you….” ⁶ 

Numbers 22:27

22:27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she crouched down under Balaam. Then Balaam was angry, and he beat his donkey with a staff.

Numbers 25:13

25:13 So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, ⁷  and has made atonement ⁸  for the Israelites.’”

Numbers 32:14

32:14 Now look, you are standing in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinners, to increase still further the fierce wrath of the Lord against the Israelites.

Numbers 5:19

5:19 Then the priest will put the woman under oath and say to the her, “If no other ⁹  man has had sexual relations with you, and if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁰ 

Numbers 6:18

6:18 “‘Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head ¹¹  at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire ¹²  where the peace offering is burning. ¹³ 

Numbers 8:16

8:16 For they are entirely given ¹⁴  to me from among the Israelites. I have taken them for myself instead of ¹⁵  all who open the womb, the firstborn sons of all the Israelites.

[5:29]  ¹ tn Heb “law of jealousies.”

[3:41]  ¹ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it carries forward the instructions from the preceding verse. The verb “take” now has the sense of appointing or designating the Levites.

[3:12]  ¹ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) here carries its deictic force, calling attention to the fact that is being declared. It is underscoring the fact that the Lord himself chose Levi.

[3:12]  ² tn Literally “in the place of.”

[5:20]  ¹ tn The pronoun is emphatic – “but you, if you have gone astray.”

[5:20]  ² tn This is an example of the rhetorical device known as aposiopesis, or “sudden silence.” The sentence is broken off due to the intensity or emphasis of the moment. The reader is left to conclude what the sentence would have said.

[25:13]  ¹ tn The motif is reiterated here. Phinehas was passionately determined to maintain the rights of his God by stopping the gross sinful perversions.

[25:13]  ² sn The atonement that he made in this passage refers to the killing of the two obviously blatant sinners. By doing this he dispensed with any animal sacrifice, for the sinners themselves died. In Leviticus it was the life of the substitutionary animal that was taken in place of the sinners that made atonement. The point is that sin was punished by death, and so God was free to end the plague and pardon the people. God’s holiness and righteousness have always been every bit as important as God’s mercy and compassion, for without righteousness and holiness mercy and compassion mean nothing.

[5:19]  ¹ tn The word “other” is implied, since the woman would not be guilty of having sexual relations with her own husband.

[5:19]  ² sn Although there would be stress involved, a woman who was innocent would have nothing to hide, and would be confident. The wording of the priest’s oath is actually designed to enable the potion to keep her from harm and not produce the physical effects it was designed to do.

[6:18]  ¹ tn Some versions simply interpret this to say that he shaves his hair, for it is the hair that is the sign of the consecration to God. But the text says he shaves his consecrated head. The whole person is obviously consecrated to God – not just the head. But the symbolic act of cutting the hair shows that the vow has been completed (see Acts 21:23-24). The understanding of the importance of the hair in the ancient world has been the subject of considerable study over the years (see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 436; and J. A. Thompson, “Numbers,” New Bible Commentary: Revised, 177).

[6:18]  ² sn Some commentators see this burning of the hair as an offering (McNeile, Numbers, 35; G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 68). But others probably with more foundation see it as destroying something that has served a purpose, something that if left alone might be venerated (see R. de Vaux, Israel, 436).

[6:18]  ³ tn Heb “which is under the peace offering.” The verse does not mean that the hair had to be put under that sacrifice and directly on the fire.

[8:16]  ¹ tn As before, the emphasis is obtained by repeating the passive participle: “given, given to me.”

[8:16]  ² tn Or “as substitutes” for all the firstborn of the Israelites.