Numbers 5:21

5:21 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 26:54

26:54 To a larger group you will give a larger inheritance, ⁸  and to a smaller group you will give a smaller inheritance. ⁹  To each one its inheritance must be given according to the number of people in it. ¹⁰ 

Numbers 27:14

27:14 For ¹¹  in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you ¹²  rebelled against my command ¹³  to show me as holy ¹⁴  before their eyes over the water – the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.”

[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 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]  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 Lord…,” meaning, “if and when the Lord makes such and such to happen.”

[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.”

[26:54]  ⁸ tn Heb “to many you will multiply his inheritance.”

[26:54]  ⁹ tn Heb “to a few you will lessen his inheritance.”

[26:54]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to those that were numbered of him,” meaning, in accordance with the number of people in his clan.

[27:14]  ¹⁵ tn The preposition on the relative pronoun has the force of “because of the fact that.”

[27:14]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is the second masculine plural form.

[27:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “mouth.”

[27:14]  ¹⁸ sn Using the basic meaning of the word קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be separate, distinct, set apart”), we can understand better what Moses failed to do. He was supposed to have acted in a way that would have shown God to be distinct, different, holy. Instead, he gave the impression that God was capricious and hostile – very human. The leader has to be aware of what image he is conveying to the people.