Numbers 9:10

9:10 “Tell the Israelites, ‘If any ¹  of you or of your posterity become ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, or are on a journey far away, then he may ²  observe the Passover to the Lord.

Numbers 11:18

11:18 “And say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves ³  for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing ⁴  of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat, ⁵  for life ⁶  was good for us in Egypt?” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat.

Numbers 11:20

11:20 but a whole month, ⁷  until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick, ⁸  because you have despised ⁹  the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why ¹⁰  did we ever come out of Egypt?”’”

Numbers 13:32

13:32 Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging ¹¹  report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through ¹²  to investigate is a land that devours ¹³  its inhabitants. ¹⁴  All the people we saw there ¹⁵  are of great stature.

Numbers 16:5

16:5 Then he said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning the Lord will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that person ¹⁶  to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him.

Numbers 16:26

16:26 And he said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked ¹⁷  men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because ¹⁸  of all their sins.” ¹⁹ 

Numbers 19:2

19:2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded: ‘Instruct ²⁰  the Israelites to bring ²¹  you a red ²²  heifer ²³  without blemish, which has no defect ²⁴  and has never carried a yoke.

Numbers 22:5

22:5 And he sent messengers to Balaam ²⁵  son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates River ²⁶  in the land of Amaw, ²⁷  to summon him, saying, “Look, a nation has come out of Egypt. They cover the face ²⁸  of the earth, and they are settling next to me.

Numbers 34:13

34:13 Then Moses commanded the Israelites: “This is the land which you will inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to be given ²⁹  to the nine and a half tribes,

[9:10]  ¹ tn This sense is conveyed by the repetition of “man” – “if a man, a man becomes unclean.”

[9:10]  ² tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive functions as the equivalent of an imperfect tense. In the apodosis of this conditional sentence, the permission nuance fits well.

[11:18]  ³ tn The Hitpael is used to stress that they are to prepare for a holy appearance. The day was going to be special and so required their being set apart for it. But it is a holy day in the sense of the judgment that was to follow.

[11:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the ears.”

[11:18]  ⁵ tn Possibly this could be given an optative translation, to reflect the earlier one: “O that someone would give….” But the verb is not the same; here it is the Hiphil of the verb “to eat” – “who will make us eat” (i.e., provide meat for us to eat).

[11:18]  ⁶ tn The word “life” is not in the text. The expression is simply “it was for us,” or “we had good,” meaning “we had it good,” or “life was good.”

[11:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “a month of days.” So also in v. 21.

[11:20]  ⁶ tn The expression לְזָרָה (lÿzarah) has been translated “ill” or “loathsome.” It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. The Greek text interprets it as “sickness.” It could be nausea or vomiting (so G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 112) from overeating.

[11:20]  ⁷ sn The explanation is the interpretation of their behavior – it is in reality what they have done, even though they would not say they despised the Lord. They had complained and shown a lack of faith and a contempt for the program, which was in essence despising the Lord.

[11:20]  ⁸ tn The use of the demonstrative pronoun here (“why is this we went out …”) is enclitic, providing emphasis to the sentence: “Why in the world did we ever leave Egypt?”

[13:32]  ⁷ tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.

[13:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “which we passed over in it”; the pronoun on the preposition serves as a resumptive pronoun for the relative, and need not be translated literally.

[13:32]  ⁹ tn The verb is the feminine singular participle from אָכַל (’akhal); it modifies the land as a “devouring land,” a bold figure for the difficulty of living in the place.

[13:32]  ¹⁰ sn The expression has been interpreted in a number of ways by commentators, such as that the land was infertile, that the Canaanites were cannibals, that it was a land filled with warlike dissensions, or that it denotes a land geared for battle. It may be that they intended the land to seem infertile and insecure.

[13:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in its midst.”

[16:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “him.”

[16:26]  ¹¹ tn The word רָשָׁע (rasha’) has the sense of a guilty criminal. The word “wicked” sometimes gives the wrong connotation. These men were opposing the Lord, and so were condemned as criminals – they were guilty. The idea of “wickedness” therefore applies in that sense.

[16:26]  ¹² tn The preposition bet (בְּ) in this line is causal – “on account of their sins.”

[16:26]  ¹³ sn The impression is that the people did not hear what the Lord said to Moses, but only what Moses said to the people as a result. They saw the brilliant cloud, and perhaps heard the sound of his voice, but the relaying of the instructions indicates they did not hear the actual instruction from the Lord himself.

[19:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “speak to.”

[19:2]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “wherein there is no defect.”

[22:5]  ¹⁵ sn There is much literature on pagan diviners and especially prophecy in places in the east like Mari (see, for example, H. B. Huffmon, “Prophecy in the Mari Letters,” BA 31 [1968]: 101-24). Balaam appears to be a pagan diviner who was of some reputation; he was called to curse the Israelites, but God intervened and gave him blessings only. The passage forms a nice complement to texts that deal with blessings and curses. It shows that no one can curse someone whom God has blessed.

[22:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “by the river”; in most contexts this expression refers to the Euphrates River (cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[22:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in the land of Amaw” (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV); traditionally “in the land of the sons of his people.” The LXX has “by the river of the land.”

[22:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “eye.” So also in v. 11.

[34:13]  ¹⁷ tn The infinitive forms the direct object of what the Lord commanded. It actually means “to give,” but without an expressed subject may be made passive.