8:3 And Aaron did so; he set up the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses.
8:15 “After this, the Levites will go in 4 to do the work 5 of the tent of meeting. So you must cleanse them 6 and offer them like a wave offering. 7
11:4 9 Now the mixed multitude 10 who were among them craved more desirable foods, 11 and so the Israelites wept again 12 and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 13
12:4 The Lord spoke immediately to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam: “The three of you come to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went.
12:11 So Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, 14 please do not hold this sin against us, in which we have acted foolishly and have sinned!
12:15 So Miriam was shut outside of the camp for seven days, and the people did not journey on until Miriam was brought back in. 15
21:2 So Israel made a vow 27 to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver 28 this people into our 29 hand, then we will utterly destroy 30 their cities.”
23:6 So he returned to him, and he was still 34 standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.
27:22 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him; he took Joshua and set 42 him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community.
31:3 So Moses spoke to the people: “Arm 43 men from among you for the war, to attack the Midianites and to execute 44 the Lord’s vengeance on Midian.
31:41 So Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord’s raised offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.
32:28 So Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the families of the Israelite tribes.
35:7 “So the total of the towns you will give the Levites is forty-eight. You must give these together with their grazing lands.
35:16 “But if he hits someone with an iron tool so that he dies, 45 he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death.
1 tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) here carries its deictic force, calling attention to the fact that is being declared. It is underscoring the fact that the
2 tn Literally “in the place of.”
3 tn The imperfect tense functions here as a final imperfect, expressing the purpose of putting such folks outside the camp. The two preceding imperfects (repeated for emphasis) are taken here as instruction or legislation.
4 tn The imperfect tense could also be given the nuance of the imperfect of permission: “the Levites may go in.”
5 tn Heb “to serve.”
6 tn The two verbs in the rest of this verse are perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutive constructions, making them equal to the imperfect. Some commentators try to get around the difficulty of repetition by making these future perfects, “and you will have cleansed,” as opposed to a summary statement, “for thus you will cleanse….”
7 tc The Greek text adds “before the
8 sn The verb is the same as the noun: “they journeyed on their journeyings.” This underscores the point of their continual traveling.
9 sn The story of the sending of the quail is a good example of poetic justice, or talionic justice. God had provided for the people, but even in that provision they were not satisfied, for they remembered other foods they had in Egypt. No doubt there was not the variety of foods in the Sinai that might have been available in Egypt, but their life had been bitter bondage there as well. They had cried to the
10 tn The mixed multitude (or “rabble,” so NASB, NIV, NRSV; NLT “foreign rabble”) is the translation of an unusual word, הֲָאסַפְסֻף (ha’safsuf). It occurs in the Hebrew Bible only here. It may mean “a gathering of people” from the verb אָסַף (’asaf), yielding the idea of a mixed multitude (in line with Exod 12:38). But the root is different, and so no clear connection can be established. Many commentators therefore think the word is stronger, showing contempt through a word that would be equivalent to “riff-raff.”
11 tn The Hebrew simply uses the cognate accusative, saying “they craved a craving” (הִתְאַוּוּ תַּאֲוָה, hit’avvu ta’vah), but the context shows that they had this strong craving for food. The verb describes a strong desire, which is not always negative (Ps 132:13-14). But the word is a significant one in the Torah; it was used in the garden story for Eve’s desire for the tree, and it is used in the Decalogue in the warning against coveting (Deut 5:21).
12 tc The Greek and the Latin versions read “and they sat down” for “and they returned,” involving just a change in vocalization (which they did not have). This may reflect the same expression in Judg 20:26. But the change does not improve this verse.
tn The Hebrew text uses a verbal hendiadys here, one word serving as an adverb for the other. It literally reads “and they returned and they wept,” which means they wept again. Here the weeping is put for the complaint, showing how emotionally stirred up the people had become by the craving. The words throughout here are metonymies. The craving is a metonymy of cause, for it would have then led to expressions (otherwise the desires would not have been known). And the weeping is either a metonymy of effect, or of adjunct, for the actual complaints follow.
13 tn The Hebrew expresses the strong wish or longing idiomatically: “Who will give us flesh to eat?” It is a rhetorical expression not intended to be taken literally, but merely to give expression to the longing they had. See GKC 476 §151.a.1.
14 tn The expression בִּי אֲדֹנִי (bi ’adoni, “O my lord”) shows a good deal of respect for Moses by Aaron. The expression is often used in addressing God.
15 tn The clause has the Niphal infinitive construct after a temporal preposition.
16 tn Heb “mouth.”
17 tn Heb “heads.”
18 tn Heb “came down.”
19 tn The verb used here means “crush by beating,” or “pounded” them. The Greek text used “cut them in pieces.”
20 tn The name “Hormah” means “destruction”; it is from the word that means “ban, devote” for either destruction or temple use.
21 tn Heb “they fell on their faces.”
22 tn The words “at them” are not in the Hebrew text, but they have been added in the translation for clarity.
23 tn The clause is a purpose clause, and the imperfect tense a final imperfect.
24 tc The clause is a little ambiguous. It reads “and he shall slaughter it before him.” It sounds as if someone else will kill the heifer in the priest’s presence. Since no one is named as the subject, it may be translated as a passive. Some commentators simply interpret that Eleazar was to kill the animal personally, but that is a little forced for “before him.” The Greek text gives a third person plural sense to the verb; the Vulgate follows that reading.
25 tn Heb “and why….” The conjunction seems to be recording another thing that the people said in their complaint against Moses.
26 tn The clause uses the infinitive construct with the lamed (ל) preposition. The clause would be a result clause in this sentence: “Why have you brought us here…with the result that we will all die?”
27 tn The Hebrew text uses a cognate accusative with the verb: They vowed a vow. The Israelites were therefore determined with God’s help to defeat Arad.
28 tn The Hebrew text has the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of נָתַן (natan) to stress the point – if you will surely/indeed give.”
29 tn Heb “my.”
30 tn On the surface this does not sound like much of a vow. But the key is in the use of the verb for “utterly destroy” – חָרַם (kharam). Whatever was put to this “ban” or “devotion” belonged to God, either for his use, or for destruction. The oath was in fact saying that they would take nothing from this for themselves. It would simply be the removal of what was alien to the faith, or to God’s program.
31 tn Heb “its daughters.”
32 tn The construction uses the Piel infinitive כַּבֵּד (kabbed) to intensify the verb, which is the Piel imperfect/cohortative אֲכַבֶּדְךָ (’akhabbedkha). The great honor could have been wealth, prestige, or position.
33 tn The Hebrew text has “on the altar,” but since there were seven of each animal and seven altars, the implication is that this means on each altar.
34 tn The Hebrew text draws the vividness of the scene with the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) – Balaam returned, and there he was, standing there.
35 tn Heb “flee to your place.”
36 tn Heb “slay – a man his men.” The imperative is plural, and so “man” is to be taken collectively as “each of you men.”
37 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity (also in v. 62).
38 map For the location of Jericho see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
39 tn The verb is simply “give,” but in this context giving some of Moses’ honor to Joshua in the presence of the people is essentially passing the leadership to him, or delegating the authority to him with the result that people would follow him.
40 tc The Greek, Syriac, and Vulgate read “glory” for this form that occurs only here in the Pentateuch. Elsewhere it is rendered “majesty, splendor” (see Ps 96:6). It could even be “vitality” here. The authority being transferred here is both spiritual and civil.
41 tn Heb “hear.”
42 tn Heb “stood.”
43 tn The Niphal imperative, literally “arm yourselves,” is the call to mobilize the nation for war. It is followed by the jussive, “and they will be,” which would then be subordinated to say “that they may be.” The versions changed the verb to a Hiphil, but that is unnecessary: “arm some of yourselves.”
44 tn Heb “give.”
45 tn the verb is the preterite of “die.” The sentence has :“if…he strikes him and he dies.” The vav (ו) consecutive is showing the natural result of the blow.