Numbers 6:6

6:6 “‘All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he must not contact ¹  a dead body. ² 

Numbers 15:27

15:27 “‘If any person ³  sins unintentionally, then he must bring a yearling female goat for a purification offering.

Numbers 30:13

30:13 “Any vow or sworn obligation that would bring affliction to her, ⁴  her husband can confirm or nullify. ⁵ 

Numbers 31:40

31:40 The people were 16,000, of which the Lord’s tribute was 32 people. ⁶ 

[6:6]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb is simply “enter, go,” no doubt with the sense of go near.

[6:6]  ² tn The Hebrew has נֶפֶשׁ מֵת (nefesh met), literally a “dead person.” But since the word נֶפֶשׁ can also be used for animals, the restriction would be for any kind of corpse. Death was very much a part of the fallen world, and so for one so committed to the Lord, avoiding all such contamination would be a witness to the greatest separation, even in a family.

[15:27]  ³ tn The Hebrew text hasוְאִם־נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת (vÿ’im-nefesh ’akhat), sometime translated “and if any soul.” But the word describes the whole person, the soul in the body; it refers here to the individual who sins.

[30:13]  ⁵ tn The sentence uses the infinitive construct לְעַנֹּת (lÿ’annot, “to afflict”), which is the same word used in the instructions for the day of atonement in which people are to afflict themselves (their souls). The case here may be that the woman would take a religious vow on such an occasion to humble herself, to mortify her flesh, to abstain from certain things, perhaps even sexual relations within marriage.

[30:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “or her husband can nullify.”

[31:40]  ⁷ tn Heb “soul.”