Numbers 5:3

5:3 You must expel both men and women; you must put them outside the camp, so that ¹  they will not defile their camps, among which I live.”

Numbers 9:18

9:18 At the commandment ²  of the Lord the Israelites would begin their journey, and at the commandment of the Lord they would make camp; as long as ³  the cloud remained settled over the tabernacle they would camp.

Numbers 23:9

23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see them; ⁴ 

from the hills I watch them. ⁵ 

Indeed, a nation that lives alone,

and it will not be reckoned ⁶  among the nations.

Numbers 24:2

24:2 When Balaam lifted up his eyes, he saw Israel camped tribe by tribe; ⁷  and the Spirit of God came upon him.

[5:3]  ¹ tn The imperfect tense functions here as a final imperfect, expressing the purpose of putting such folks outside the camp. The two preceding imperfects (repeated for emphasis) are taken here as instruction or legislation.

[9:18]  ² tn Heb “at the mouth of” (so also in vv. 20, 23).

[9:18]  ³ tn Heb “all the days of – that the cloud settled over the tabernacle.” “All” is the adverbial accusative of time telling how long they camped in one spot – all. The word is then qualified by the genitive of the thing measured – “all of the days” – and this in turn is qualified by a noun clause functioning as a genitive after “days of.”

[23:9]  ³ tn Heb “him,” but here it refers to the Israelites (Israel).

[23:9]  ⁴ sn Balaam reports his observation of the nation of Israel spread out below him in the valley. Based on that vision, and the Lord’s word, he announces the uniqueness of Israel – they are not just like one of the other nations. He was correct, of course; they were the only people linked with the living God by covenant.

[23:9]  ⁵ tn The verb could also be taken as a reflexive – Israel does not consider itself as among the nations, meaning, they consider themselves to be unique.

[24:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “living according to their tribes.”