Numbers 6:7

6:7 He must not defile himself even ¹  for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister if they die, ²  because the separation ³  for ⁴  his God is on his head.

Numbers 12:12

12:12 Do not let her be like a baby born dead, whose flesh is half-consumed when it comes out of its ⁵  mother’s womb!”

Numbers 26:59

26:59 Now the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, daughter of Levi, who was born ⁶  to Levi in Egypt. And to Amram she bore Aaron, Moses, and Miriam their sister.

Numbers 18:15

18:15 The firstborn of every womb which they present to the Lord, whether human or animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn sons you must redeem, ⁷  and the firstborn males of unclean animals you must redeem.

[6:7]  ¹ tn The vav (ו) conjunction at the beginning of the clause specifies the cases of corpses that are to be avoided, no matter how painful it might be.

[6:7]  ² tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition and the suffixed subjective genitive – “in the dying of them” – to form the adverbial clause of time.

[6:7]  ³ tn The word “separation” here is metonymy of adjunct – what is on his head is long hair that goes with the vow.

[6:7]  ⁴ tn The genitive could perhaps be interpreted as possession, i.e., “the vow of his God,” but it seems more likely that an objective genitive would be more to the point.

[12:12]  ⁵ tc The words “its mother” and “its flesh” are among the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” According to this tradition the text originally had here “our mother” and “our flesh,” but the ancient scribes changed these pronouns from the first person to the third person. Apparently they were concerned that the image of Moses’ mother giving birth to a baby with physical defects of the sort described here was somehow inappropriate, given the stature and importance of Moses.

[26:59]  ⁹ tn Heb “who she bore him to Levi.” The verb has no expressed subject. Either one could be supplied, such as “her mother,” or it could be treated as a passive.

[18:15]  ¹³ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of the verb “to redeem” in order to stress the point – they were to be redeemed. N. H. Snaith suggests that the verb means to get by payment what was not originally yours, whereas the other root גָאַל (ga’al) means to get back what was originally yours (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 268).