Discovery BoxNumbers 5:21
Context5:21 Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse 1 and will say 2 to the her, “The Lord make you an attested curse 3 among your people, 4 if the Lord makes 5 your thigh fall away 6 and your abdomen swell; 7
Numbers 14:2-3
Context14:2 And all the Israelites murmured 8 against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died 9 in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished 10 in this wilderness! 14:3 Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”
Numbers 16:13
Context16:13 Is it a small thing 11 that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, 12 to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a prince 13 over us?
Numbers 19:2
Context19:2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded: ‘Instruct 14 the Israelites to bring 15 you a red 16 heifer 17 without blemish, which has no defect 18 and has never carried a yoke.
Numbers 20:5
Context20:5 Why 19 have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to 20 this dreadful place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!”
Numbers 22:32
Context22:32 The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Look, I came out to oppose you because what you are doing 21 is perverse before me. 22
Numbers 31:16
Context31:16 Look, these people through the counsel of Balaam caused the Israelites to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor – which resulted in the plague among the community of the Lord!
Numbers 31:50
Context31:50 So we have brought as an offering for the Lord what each man found: gold ornaments, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves 23 before the Lord.” 24
Numbers 32:17
Context32:17 but we will maintain ourselves in armed readiness 25 and go before the Israelites until whenever we have brought them to their place. Our descendants will be living in fortified towns as a protection against 26 the inhabitants of the land.
[5:21] 1 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] 2 tn Heb “the priest will say.”
[5:21] 3 tn This interpretation takes the two nouns as a hendiadys. The literal wording is “the
[5:21] 4 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] 5 tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition to form an adverbial clause: “in the giving of the
[5:21] 6 tn TEV takes the expression “your thigh” as a euphemism for the genitals: “cause your genital organs to shrink.”
[5:21] 7 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.”
[14:2] 8 tn The Hebrew verb “to murmur” is לוּן (lun). It is a strong word, signifying far more than complaining or grumbling, as some of the modern translations have it. The word is most often connected to the wilderness experience. It is paralleled in the literature with the word “to rebel.” The murmuring is like a parliamentary vote of no confidence, for they no longer trusted their leaders and wished to choose a new leader and return. This “return to Egypt” becomes a symbol of their lack of faith in the
[14:2] 9 tn The optative is expressed by לוּ (lu) and then the verb, here the perfect tense מַתְנוּ (matnu) – “O that we had died….” Had they wanted to die in Egypt they should not have cried out to the
[16:13] 15 tn The question is rhetorical. It was not a small thing to them – it was a big thing.
[16:13] 16 tn The modern scholar who merely sees these words as belonging to an earlier tradition about going up to the land of Canaan that flows with milk and honey misses the irony here. What is happening is that the text is showing how twisted the thinking of the rebels is. They have turned things completely around. Egypt was the land flowing with milk and honey, not Canaan where they will die. The words of rebellion are seldom original, and always twisted.
[16:13] 17 tn The verb הִשְׂתָּרֵר (histarer) is the Hitpael infinitive absolute that emphasizes the preceding תִשְׂתָּרֵר (tistarer), the Hitpael imperfect tense (both forms having metathesis). The verb means “to rule; to act like a prince; to make oneself a prince.” This is the only occurrence of the reflexive for this verb. The exact nuance is difficult to translate into English. But they are accusing Moses of seizing princely power for himself, perhaps making a sarcastic reference to his former status in Egypt. The rebels here are telling Moses that they had discerned his scheme, and so he could not “hoodwink” them (cf. NEB).
[19:2] 23 tn The line literally reads, “speak to the Israelites that [and] they bring [will bring].” The imperfect [or jussive] is subordinated to the imperative either as a purpose clause, or as the object of the instruction – speak to them that they bring, or tell them to bring.
[19:2] 24 tn The color is designated as red, although the actual color would be a tanned red-brown color for the animal (see the usage in Isa 1:18 and Song 5:10). The reddish color suggested the blood of ritual purification; see J. Milgrom, “The Paradox of the Red Cow (Num 19),” VT 31 (1981): 62-72.
[19:2] 25 sn Some modern commentators prefer “cow” to “heifer,” thinking that the latter came from the influence of the Greek. Young animals were usually prescribed for the ritual, especially here, and so “heifer” is the better translation. A bull could not be given for this purification ritual because that is what was given for the high priests or the community according to Lev 4.
[19:2] 26 tn Heb “wherein there is no defect.”
[20:5] 30 tn Here also the infinitive construct (Hiphil) forms the subordinate clause of the preceding interrogative clause.
[22:32] 37 tn The verb יָרַט (yarat) occurs only here and in Job 16:11. Balaam is embarking on a foolish mission with base motives. The old rendering “perverse” is still acceptable.
[31:50] 43 tn Heb “our souls.”
[31:50] 44 sn The expression here may include the idea of finding protection from divine wrath, which is so common to Leviticus, but it may also be a thank offering for the fact that their lives had been spared.
[32:17] 50 tn The MT has חֻשִׁים (khushim); the verbal root is חוּשׁ (khush, “to make haste” or “hurry”). But in light of the Greek and Latin Vulgate the Hebrew should probably be emended to חֲמֻשִׁים (hamushim), a qal passive participle meaning “in battle array.” See further BDB 301 s.v. I חוּשׁ, BDB 332 s.v. חֲמֻשִׁים; HALOT 300 s.v. I חושׁ, חישׁ; HALOT 331 s.v. I חמשׁ.
