Numbers 14:28

14:28 Say to them, ‘As I live, ¹  says ²  the Lord, I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing. ³ 

Numbers 20:14

Rejection by the Edomites

20:14 ⁴ Moses ⁵  sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: ⁶  “Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardships we have experienced, ⁷ 

Numbers 22:16

22:16 And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak son of Zippor: ‘Please do not let anything hinder you from coming ⁸  to me.

Numbers 32:27

32:27 but your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, to do battle in the Lord’s presence, just as my lord says.”

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¹ sn Here again is the oath that God swore in his wrath, an oath he swore by himself, that they would not enter the land. “As the Lord lives,” or “by the life of the Lord,” are ways to render it.

² tn The word נְאֻם (nÿ’um) is an “oracle.” It is followed by the subjective genitive: “the oracle of the Lord” is equal to saying “the Lord says.”

³ tn Heb “in my ears.”

sn They had expressed the longing to have died in the wilderness, and not in war. God will now give them that. They would not say to God “your will be done,” so he says to them, “your will be done” (to borrow from C. S. Lewis).

⁴ sn For this particular section, see W. F. Albright, “From the Patriarchs to Moses: 2. Moses out of Egypt,” BA 36 (1973): 57-58; J. R. Bartlett, “The Land of Seir and the Brotherhood of Edom,” JTS 20 (1969): 1-20, and “The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Edom,” PEQ 104 (1972): 22-37, and “The Brotherhood of Edom,” JSOT 4 (1977): 2-7.

⁵ tn Heb “And Moses sent.”

⁶ sn Some modern biblical scholars are convinced, largely through arguments from silence, that there were no unified kingdoms in Edom until the 9th century, and no settlements there before the 12th century, and so the story must be late and largely fabricated. The evidence is beginning to point to the contrary. But the cities and residents of the region would largely be Bedouin, and so leave no real remains.

⁷ tn Heb “found.”

⁸ tn The infinitive construct is the object of the preposition.