Numbers 9:6-7

9:6 It happened that some men ¹  who were ceremonially defiled ²  by the dead body of a man ³  could not keep ⁴  the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. 9:7 And those men said to him, “We are ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man; why are we kept back from offering the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?”

Numbers 9:10

9:10 “Tell the Israelites, ‘If any ⁵  of you or of your posterity become ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, or are on a journey far away, then he may ⁶  observe the Passover to the Lord.

Numbers 9:13

9:13 But ⁷  the man who is ceremonially clean, and was not on a journey, and fails ⁸  to keep the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people. ⁹  Because he did not bring the Lord’s offering at its appointed time, that man must bear his sin. ¹⁰ 

Numbers 16:38

16:38 As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, ¹¹  they must be made ¹²  into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the Lord and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites.”

Numbers 19:18

19:18 Then a ceremonially clean person must take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all its furnishings, and on the people who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, or one killed, or one who died, or a grave.

Numbers 19:20

19:20 But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person must be cut off from among the community, because he has polluted the sanctuary of the Lord; the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, so he is unclean.

Numbers 30:2

30:2 If a man ¹³  makes a vow ¹⁴  to the Lord or takes an oath ¹⁵  of binding obligation on himself, ¹⁶  he must not break his word, but must do whatever he has promised. ¹⁷ 

Numbers 30:5

30:5 But if her father overrules her when he hears ¹⁸  about it, then none ¹⁹  of her vows or her obligations which she has pledged for herself will stand. And the Lord will release ²⁰  her from it, because her father overruled her.

Numbers 30:8

30:8 But if when her husband hears it he overrules her, then he will nullify ²¹  the vow she has taken, ²²  and whatever she uttered impulsively which she has pledged for herself. And the Lord will release her from it.

Numbers 30:12

30:12 But if her husband clearly nullifies ²³  them when he hears them, then whatever she says ²⁴  by way of vows or obligations will not stand. Her husband has made them void, and the Lord will release her from them.

Numbers 31:19

Purification After Battle

31:19 “Any of you who has killed anyone or touched any of the dead, remain outside the camp for seven days; purify yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.

Numbers 31:28

31:28 “You must exact ²⁵  a tribute for the Lord from the fighting men who went out to battle: one life out of five hundred, from the people, the cattle, and from the donkeys and the sheep.

Numbers 31:50

31:50 So we have brought as an offering for the Lord what each man found: gold ornaments, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves ²⁶  before the Lord.” ²⁷ 

[9:6]  ¹ tn In the Hebrew text the noun has no definite article, and so it signifies “some” or “certain” men.

[9:6]  ² tn The meaning, of course, is to be ceremonially unclean, and therefore disqualified from entering the sanctuary.

[9:6]  ³ tn Or “a human corpse” (so NAB, NKJV). So also in v.7; cf. v. 10.

[9:6]  ⁴ tn This clause begins with the vav (ו) conjunction and negative before the perfect tense. Here is the main verb of the sentence: They were not able to observe the Passover. The first part of the verse provides the explanation for their problem.

[9:10]  ⁵ tn This sense is conveyed by the repetition of “man” – “if a man, a man becomes unclean.”

[9:10]  ⁶ 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.

[9:13]  ⁹ tn The disjunctive vav (ו) signals a contrastive clause here: “but the man” on the other hand….

[9:13]  ¹⁰ tn The verb חָדַל (khadal) means “to cease; to leave off; to fail.” The implication here is that it is a person who simply neglects to do it. It does not indicate that he forgot, but more likely that he made the decision to leave it undone.

[9:13]  ¹¹ sn The pronouncement of such a person’s penalty is that his life will be cut off from his people. There are at least three possible interpretations for this: physical death at the hand of the community (G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 84-85), physical and/or spiritual death at the hand of God (J. Milgrom, “A Prolegomenon to Lev 17:11,” JBL 90 [1971]: 154-55), or excommunication or separation from the community (R. A. Cole, Exodus [TOTC], 109). The direct intervention of God seem to be the most likely in view of the lack of directions for the community to follow. Excommunication from the camp in the wilderness would have been tantamount to a death sentence by the community, and so there really are just two views.

[9:13]  ¹² tn The word for “sin” here should be interpreted to mean the consequences of his sin (so a metonymy of effect). Whoever willingly violates the Law will have to pay the consequences.

[16:38]  ¹³ tn The expression is “in/by/against their life.” That they sinned against their life means that they brought ruin to themselves.

[16:38]  ¹⁴ tn The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. But there is no expressed subject for “and they shall make them,” and so it may be treated as a passive (“they shall [must] be made”).

[30:2]  ¹⁷ tn The legal construction states the class to which the law applies, and then lays down the condition: “men [man] – if….”

[30:2]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text uses a cognate accusative construction to express this: “a man if he vows a vow.”

[30:2]  ¹⁹ tn The expression is “swear an oath” (הִשָּׁבַע שְׁבֻעָה, hishava’ shÿvu’ah). The vow (נֵדֶר, neder) was a promise to donate something of oneself or one’s substance to the Lord. The solemn oath seals the vow before the Lord, perhaps with sacrifice. The vocabulary recalls Abraham’s treaty with Abimelech and the naming of Beer Sheba with the word (see Gen 21).

[30:2]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text hasלֶאְסֹר אִסָּר (le’sor ’issar), meaning “to take a binding obligation.” This is usually interpreted to mean a negative vow, i.e., the person attempts to abstain from something that is otherwise permissible. It might involve fasting, or abstaining from marital sex, but it might also involve some goal to be achieved, and the abstaining from distractions until the vow is fulfilled (see Ps 132). The נֶדֶר (neder) may have been more for religious matters, and the אִסָּר more for social concerns, but this cannot be documented with certainty.

[30:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “according to all that goes out of his mouth.”

[30:5]  ²¹ tn The idiom is “in the day of,” but it is used in place of a preposition before the infinitive construct with its suffixed subjective genitive. The clause is temporal.

[30:5]  ²² tn The Hebrew “all will not stand” is best rendered “none will stand.”

[30:5]  ²³ tn The verb has often been translated “forgive” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV, NLT), but that would suggest a sin that needed forgiving. The idea of “release from obligation” is better; the idea is like that of having a debt “forgiven” or “retired.” In other words, she is free from the vow she had made. The Lord will not hold the woman responsible to do what she vowed.

[30:8]  ²⁵ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive from the verb פָּרַר (parar, “to annul”). The verb functions here as the equivalent of an imperfect tense; here it is the apodosis following the conditional clause – if this is the case, then this is what will happen.

[30:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “which [she is] under it.”

[30:12]  ²⁹ tn The verb is the imperfect tense in the conditional clause. It is intensified with the infinitive absolute, which would have the force of saying that he nullified them unequivocally, or he made them null and void.

[30:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb whatever proceeds from her lips.”

[31:28]  ³³ tn The verb is the Hiphil, “you shall cause to be taken up.” The perfect with vav (ו) continues the sequence of the instructions. This raised offering was to be a tax of one-fifth of one percent for the Lord.

[31:50]  ³⁷ tn Heb “our souls.”

[31:50]  ³⁸ sn The expression here may include the idea of finding protection from divine wrath, which is so common to Leviticus, but it may also be a thank offering for the fact that their lives had been spared.