Numbers 5:14

5:14 and if jealous feelings ¹  come over him and he becomes suspicious ²  of his wife, when she is defiled; ³  or if jealous feelings come over him and he becomes suspicious of his wife, when she is not defiled –

Numbers 5:21

5:21 Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse ⁴  and will say ⁵  to the her, “The Lord make you an attested curse ⁶  among your people, ⁷  if the Lord makes ⁸  your thigh fall away ⁹  and your abdomen swell; ¹⁰ 

Numbers 5:30

5:30 or when jealous feelings come over a man and he becomes suspicious of his wife; then he must have the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest will carry out all this law upon her.

Numbers 8:22

8:22 After this, the Levites went in to do their work in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did.

Numbers 9:20

9:20 When ¹¹  the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, ¹²  they remained camped according to the Lord’s commandment, ¹³  and according to the Lord’s commandment they would journey.

Numbers 9:23

9:23 At the commandment of the Lord they camped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled on; they kept the instructions of the Lord according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority ¹⁴  of Moses.

Numbers 11:12

11:12 Did I conceive this entire people? ¹⁵  Did I give birth to ¹⁶  them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your arms, as a foster father ¹⁷  bears a nursing child,’ to the land which you swore to their fathers?

Numbers 13:20

13:20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether or not there are forests in it. And be brave, ¹⁸  and bring back some of the fruit of the land.” Now it was the time of year ¹⁹  for the first ripe grapes. ²⁰ 

Numbers 21:1

Victory at Hormah

21:1 ²¹ When the Canaanite king of Arad ²²  who lived in the Negev ²³  heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner.

Numbers 23:7

23:7 Then Balaam ²⁴  uttered ²⁵  his oracle, saying,

“Balak, the king of Moab, brought me ²⁶  from Aram,

out of the mountains of the east, saying,

‘Come, pronounce a curse on Jacob for me;

come, denounce Israel.’ ²⁷ 

Numbers 24:9

24:9 They crouch and lie down like a lion,

and as a lioness, ²⁸  who can stir him?

Blessed is the one who blesses you,

and cursed is the one who curses you!’”

Numbers 25:8

25:8 and went after the Israelite man into the tent ²⁹  and thrust through the Israelite man and into the woman’s abdomen. ³⁰  So the plague was stopped from the Israelites. ³¹ 

Numbers 35:32

35:32 And you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge, to allow him to return home and live on his own land before the death of the high priest. ³² 

[5:14]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has the construct case, “spirit of jealousy.” The word “spirit” here has the sense of attitude, mood, feelings. The word קִנְאָה (qin’ah) is the genitive of attribute, modifying what kind of feelings they are. The word means either “zeal” or “jealousy,” depending on the context. It is a passionate feeling to guard or protect an institution or relationship. It can also express strong emotional possessiveness such as envy and coveting. Here there is a feeling of jealousy, but no proof of infidelity.

[5:14]  ² tn The word is now used in the Piel stem; the connotation is certainly “suspicious,” for his jealousy seems now to have some basis, even if it is merely suspicion.

[5:14]  ³ tn The noun clause begins with the conjunction and the pronoun; here it is forming a circumstantial clause, either temporal or causal.

[5:21]  ⁴ sn For information on such curses, see M. R. Lehmann, “Biblical Oaths,” ZAW 81 (1969): 74-92; A. C. Thiselton, “The Supposed Power of Words in the Biblical Writings,” JTS 25 (1974): 283-99; and F. C. Fensham, “Malediction and Benediction in Ancient Vassal Treaties and the Old Testament,” ZAW 74 (1962): 1-9.

[5:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “the priest will say.”

[5:21]  ⁶ tn This interpretation takes the two nouns as a hendiadys. The literal wording is “the Lord make you a curse and an oath among the people.” In what sense would she be an oath? The point of the whole passage is that the priest is making her take an oath to see if she has been sinful and will be cursed.

[5:21]  ⁷ sn The outcome of this would be that she would be quoted by people in such forms of expression as an oath or a curse (see Jer 29:22).

[5:21]  ⁸ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition to form an adverbial clause: “in the giving of the Lord…,” meaning, “if and when the Lord makes such and such to happen.”

[5:21]  ⁹ tn TEV takes the expression “your thigh” as a euphemism for the genitals: “cause your genital organs to shrink.”

[5:21]  ¹⁰ sn Most commentators take the expressions to be euphemisms of miscarriage or stillbirth, meaning that there would be no fruit from an illegitimate union. The idea of the abdomen swelling has been reinterpreted by NEB to mean “fall away.” If this interpretation stands, then the idea is that the woman has become pregnant, and that has aroused the suspicion of the husband for some reason. R. K. Harrison (Numbers [WEC], 111-13) discusses a variety of other explanations for diseases and conditions that might be described by these terms. He translates it with “miscarriage,” but leaves open what the description might actually be. Cf. NRSV “makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge.”

[9:20]  ⁷ tn The sentence uses וְיֵשׁ (vÿyesh) followed by a noun clause introduced with אֲשֶׁר (’asher) to express an existing situation; it is best translated as an adverbial clause of time: “and it was when the cloud was….”

[9:20]  ⁸ tn The word “number” is in apposition to the word “days” to indicate that their stay was prolonged for quite a few days.

[9:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “mouth of the Lord.”

[9:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “hand.”

[11:12]  ¹³ sn The questions Moses asks are rhetorical. He is actually affirming that they are not his people, that he did not produce them, but now is to support them. His point is that God produced this nation, but has put the burden of caring for their needs on him.

[11:12]  ¹⁴ tn The verb means “to beget, give birth to.” The figurative image from procreation completes the parallel question, first the conceiving and second the giving birth to the nation.

[11:12]  ¹⁵ tn The word אֹמֵן (’omen) is often translated “nurse,” but the form is a masculine form and would better be rendered as a “foster parent.” This does not work as well, though, with the יֹנֵק (yoneq), the “sucking child.” The two metaphors are simply designed to portray the duty of a parent to a child as a picture of Moses’ duty for the nation. The idea that it portrays God as a mother pushes it too far (see M. Noth, Numbers [OTL], 86-87).

[13:20]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is the Hitpael perfect with vav (ו) consecutive, from the root חָזַק (khazaq, “to be strong”). Here it could mean “strengthen yourselves” or “be courageous” or “determined.” See further uses in 2 Sam 10:12; 1 Kgs 20:22; 1 Chr 19:13.

[13:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Now the days were the days of.”

[13:20]  ¹⁸ sn The reference to the first ripe grapes would put the time somewhere at the end of July.

[21:1]  ¹⁹ sn This chapter has several events in it: the victory over Arad (vv. 1-3), the plague of serpents (vv. 4-9), the approach to Moab (vv. 10-20), and the victory over Sihon and Og (vv. 21-35). For information, see D. M. Gunn, “The ‘Battle Report’: Oral or Scribal Convention.” JBL 93 (1974): 513-18; and of the extensive literature on the archaeological site, see EAEHL 1:74-89.

[21:1]  ²⁰ sn The name Arad probably refers to a place a number of miles away from Tel Arad in southern Israel. The name could also refer to the whole region (like Edom).

[21:1]  ²¹ tn Or “the south”; “Negev” has become a technical name for the southern desert region and is still in use in modern times.

[23:7]  ²² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:7]  ²³ tn Heb “took up.”

[23:7]  ²⁴ tn The passage calls for a past tense translation; since the verb form is a prefixed conjugation, this tense should be classified as a preterite without the vav (ו). Such forms do occur, especially in the ancient poetic passages.

[23:7]  ²⁵ sn The opening lines seem to be a formula for the seer to identify himself and the occasion for the oracle. The tension is laid out early; Balaam knows that God has intended to bless Israel, but he has been paid to curse them.

[24:9]  ²⁵ tn On the usage of this word see HALOT 517 s.v. לָבִיא.

[25:8]  ²⁸ tn The word קֻבָּה (qubbah) seems to refer to the innermost part of the family tent. Some suggest it was in the tabernacle area, but that is unlikely. S. C. Reif argues for a private tent shrine (“What Enraged Phinehas? A Study of Numbers 25:8,” JBL 90 [1971]: 200-206).

[25:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and he thrust the two of them the Israelite man and the woman to her belly [lower abdomen].” Reif notes the similarity of the word with the previous “inner tent,” and suggests that it means Phinehas stabbed her in her shrine tent, where she was being set up as some sort of priestess or cult leader. Phinehas put a quick end to their sexual immorality while they were in the act.

[25:8]  ³⁰ sn Phinehas saw all this as part of the pagan sexual ritual that was defiling the camp. He had seen that the Lord himself had had the guilty put to death. And there was already some plague breaking out in the camp that had to be stopped. And so in his zeal he dramatically put an end to this incident, that served to stop the rest and end the plague.

[35:32]  ³¹ tn Heb “the priest.” The Greek and the Syriac have “high priest.” The present translation, along with many English versions, uses “high priest” as a clarification.