Numbers 5:17

5:17 The priest will then take holy water ¹  in a pottery jar, and take some ²  of the dust ³  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 ⁴  detest this worthless ⁵  food.”

Numbers 21:16

21:16 And from there they traveled ⁶  to Beer; ⁷  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.

[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]  ⁴ tn Heb “our souls.”

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

[21:16]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ sn Isa 15:8 mentions a Moabite Beerelim, which Simons suggests is Wadi Ettemed.