Numbers 33:11

33:11 They traveled from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Zin.

Numbers 19:17

19:17 “‘For a ceremonially unclean person you must take ¹  some of the ashes of the heifer ²  burnt for purification from sin and pour ³  fresh running ⁴  water over them in a vessel.

Numbers 20:2

20:2 And there was no water for the community, and so they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron.

Numbers 24:6-7

24:6 They are like ⁵  valleys ⁶  stretched forth,

like gardens by the river’s side,

like aloes ⁷  that the Lord has planted,

and like cedar trees beside the waters.

24:7 He will pour the water out of his buckets, ⁸ 

and their descendants will be like abundant ⁹  water; ¹⁰ 

their king will be greater than Agag, ¹¹ 

and their kingdom will be exalted.

Numbers 33:14

33:14 They traveled from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

Numbers 5:17

5:17 The priest will then take holy water ¹²  in a pottery jar, and take some ¹³  of the dust ¹⁴  that is on the floor of the tabernacle, and put it into the water.

Numbers 20:11

20:11 Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too.

Numbers 21:5

21:5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread or water, and we ¹⁵  detest this worthless ¹⁶  food.”

Numbers 21:16

21:16 And from there they traveled ¹⁷  to Beer; ¹⁸  that is the well where the Lord spoke to Moses, “Gather the people and I will give them water.”

Numbers 33:9

33:9 They traveled from Marah and came to Elim; in Elim there are twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees, so they camped there.

Numbers 20:8

20:8 “Take the staff and assemble the community, you and Aaron your brother, and then speak ¹⁹  to the rock before their eyes. It will pour forth ²⁰  its water, and you will bring water out of the rock for them, and so you will give the community and their beasts water to drink.”

Numbers 20:10

20:10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, ²¹  must we bring ²²  water out of this rock for you?”

[19:17]  ¹ tn The verb is the perfect tense, third masculine plural, with a vav (ו) consecutive. The verb may be worded as a passive, “ashes must be taken,” but that may be too awkward for this sentence. It may be best to render it with a generic “you” to fit the instruction of the text.

[19:17]  ² tn The word “heifer” is not in the Hebrew text, but it is implied.

[19:17]  ³ tn Here too the verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; rather than make this passive, it is here left as a direct instruction to follow the preceding one. For the use of the verb נָתַן (natan) in the sense of “pour,” see S. C. Reif, “A Note on a Neglected Connotation of ntn,” VT 20 (1970): 114-16.

[19:17]  ⁴ tn The expression is literally “living water.” Living water is the fresh, flowing spring water that is clear, life-giving, and not the collected pools of stagnant or dirty water.

[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).

[24:7]  ¹ tc For this colon the LXX has “a man shall come out of his seed.” Cf. the Syriac Peshitta and Targum.

[24:7]  ² tn Heb “many.”

[24:7]  ³ sn These two lines are difficult, but the general sense is that of irrigation buckets and a well-watered land. The point is that Israel will be prosperous and fruitful.

[24:7]  ⁴ sn Many commentators see this as a reference to Agag of 1 Sam 15:32-33, the Amalekite king slain by Samuel, for that is the one we know. But that is by no means clear, for this text does not identify this Agag. If it is that king, then this poem, or this line in this poem, would have to be later, unless one were to try to argue for a specific prophecy. Whoever this Agag is, he is a symbol of power.

[5:17]  ¹ tn This is probably water taken from the large bronze basin in the courtyard. It is water set apart for sacred service. “Clean water” (so NEB) does not capture the sense very well, but it does have the support of the Greek that has “pure running water.” That pure water would no doubt be from the bronze basin anyway.

[5:17]  ² tn Heb “from.” The preposition is used here with a partitive sense.

[5:17]  ³ sn The dust may have come from the sanctuary floor, but it is still dust, and therefore would have all the pollutants in it.

[21:5]  ¹ tn Heb “our souls.”

[21:5]  ² tn The Israelites’ opinion about the manna was clear enough – “worthless.” The word used is קְלֹקֵל (qÿloqel, “good for nothing, worthless, miserable”).

[21:16]  ¹ tn The words “they traveled” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied here because of English style. The same phrase is supplied at the end of v. 18.

[21:16]  ² sn Isa 15:8 mentions a Moabite Beerelim, which Simons suggests is Wadi Ettemed.

[20:8]  ¹ tn The verb is the Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive, following the two imperatives in the verse. Here is the focus of the instruction for Moses.

[20:8]  ² tn Heb “give.” The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive, as are the next two in the verse. These are not now equal to the imperatives, but imperfects, showing the results of speaking to the rock: “speak…and it will…and so you will….”

[20:10]  ¹ tn The word is הַמֹּרִים (hammorim, “the rebels”), but here as a vocative: “you rebels.” It was a harsh address, although well-earned.

[20:10]  ² tn The word order and the emphasis of the tense are important to this passage. The word order is “from this rock must we bring out to you water?” The emphasis is clearly on “from this rock!” The verb is the imperfect tense; it has one of the modal nuances here, probably obligatory – “must we do this?”