11:21 Moses said, “The people around me 1 are 600,000 on foot; 2 but you say, ‘I will give them meat, 3 that they may eat 4 for a whole month.’
18:1 10 The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe 11 with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, 12 and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.
“Balak, the king of Moab, brought me 16 from Aram,
out of the mountains of the east, saying,
‘Come, pronounce a curse on Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.’ 17
24:8 God brought them out of Egypt.
They have, as it were, the strength of a young bull;
they will devour hostile people 18
and will break their bones
and will pierce them through with arrows.
29:39 “‘These things you must present to the Lord at your appointed times, in addition to your vows and your freewill offerings, as your burnt offerings, your grain offerings, your drink offerings, and your peace offerings.’”
31:47 From the Israelites’ share Moses took one of every fifty people and animals and gave them to the Levites who were responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle, just as the Lord commanded Moses.
1 tn Heb “the people who I am in their midst,” i.e., among whom I am.
2 tn The Hebrew sentence stresses the number. The sentence begins “600,000….”
3 tn The word order places the object first here: “Meat I will give them.” This adds to the contrast between the number and the statement of the
4 tn The verb is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, carrying the sequence from the preceding imperfect tense. However, this verb may be subordinated to the preceding to express a purpose clause.
5 tc The MT has the singular, but the ancient versions and Smr have the plural.
6 tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the following clause. The first verse gave the account of their journey over the whole land; this section focuses on what happened in the area of Hebron, which would be the basis for the false report.
7 sn These names are thought to be three clans that were in the Hebron area (see Josh 15:14; Judg 1:20). To call them descendants of Anak is usually taken to mean that they were large or tall people (2 Sam 21:18-22). They were ultimately driven out by Caleb.
8 sn The text now provides a brief historical aside for the readers. Zoan was probably the city of Tanis, although that is disputed today by some scholars. It was known in Egypt in the New Kingdom as “the fields of Tanis,” which corresponded to the “fields of Zoar” in the Hebrew Bible (Ps 78:12, 43).
9 tn Heb “seed.”
10 sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32).
11 tn Heb “your father’s house.”
12 sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary.
13 tn The Hishtaphel verb חָוָה (khavah) – שָׁחָה (shakhah) with metathesis – has a basic idea of “bow oneself low to the ground,” and perhaps in some cases the idea of “coil up.” This is the normal posture of prayer and of deep humility in the ancient religious world.
14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “took up.”
16 tn The passage calls for a past tense translation; since the verb form is a prefixed conjugation, this tense should be classified as a preterite without the vav (ו). Such forms do occur, especially in the ancient poetic passages.
17 sn The opening lines seem to be a formula for the seer to identify himself and the occasion for the oracle. The tension is laid out early; Balaam knows that God has intended to bless Israel, but he has been paid to curse them.
18 tn Heb “they will devour nations,” their adversaries.
19 tn This clause begins with a vav (ו) on a pronoun, marking it out as a disjunctive vav. In this context it fits best to take it as a circumstantial clause introducing concession.
20 tn Heb “in the midst of.”
21 tn The word order is emphatic: “but in/on account of his own sins he died.”
22 tn The word “include” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied. It is supplied in the translation to make a complete English sentence.
23 tn Heb “a month in its month.”