14:36 The men whom Moses sent to investigate the land, who returned and made the whole community murmur against him by producing 8 an evil report about the land,
20:18 But Edom said to him, “You will not pass through me, 17 or I will come out against 18 you with the sword.”
23:4 Then God met Balaam, who 21 said to him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”
23:6 So he returned to him, and he was still 22 standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.
27:18 The Lord replied 24 to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is such a spirit, 25 and lay your hand on him; 26
32:16 Then they came very close to him and said, “We will build sheep folds here for our flocks and cities for our families, 35
1 tn The verb וְנָתַתָּה (vÿnatattah) is normally “give.” Here, though, the context refers to the assignment of the Levites to the priests for their duties. The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive, continuing the sequence for the imperfect of instruction.
2 tn This emphasis is derived from the simple repetition of the passive participle, נְתוּנִם נְתוּנִם (nÿtunim nÿtunim). See GKC 396 §123.e. The forms serve as the predicate with the subject pronoun.
3 tn The Hebrew text simply has the preposition, “from the Israelites.”
4 tn The verb is עָלָה (’alah). The Hiphil infinitive construct functions in a temporal clause. The idea of arranging the lamps on the lampstand certainly involved raising the lamps and placing them on the tops of each shaft and branch. Some have taken the idea to mean cause the flame to go up, or light the lamps.
5 tn The imperfect tense forms part of the instruction, and so the translation has to indicate that. The instruction would seem obvious, but the light was to shine in the area immediately in front of the lampstand, so that it would illumine the way and illumine the table that was across the room (hence, “in front of”).
6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Hobab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn The vav (ו) disjunctive on the noun at the beginning of the clause forms a strong adversative clause here.
8 tn The verb is the Hiphil infinitive construct with a lamed (ל) preposition from the root יָצָא (yatsa’, “to bring out”). The use of the infinitive here is epexegetical, that is, explaining how they caused the people to murmur.
9 tn The verb בָּזָה (bazah, “to despise”) means to treat something as worthless, to treat it with contempt, to look down the nose at something as it were.
10 tn The verb פָּרַר (parar, “to break”) can mean to nullify, break, or violate a covenant.
11 tn Heb “soul.”
12 tn The construction uses the Niphal imperfect with the modifying Niphal infinitive absolute. The infinitive makes the sentence more emphatic. If the imperfect tense is taken as an instruction imperfect, then the infinitive makes the instruction more binding. If it is a simple future, then the future is certain. In either case, there is no exclusion from being cut off.
13 sn The point is that the person’s iniquity remains with him – he must pay for his sin. The judgment of God in such a case is both appropriate and unavoidable.
14 tn The sentence begins with the emphatic use of the infinitive absolute with the verb in the Hophal imperfect: “he shall surely be put to death.” Then, a second infinitive absolute רָגוֹם (ragom) provides the explanatory activity – all the community is to stone him with stones. The punishment is consistent with other decrees from God (see Exod 31:14,15; 35:2). Moses had either forgotten such, or they had simply neglected to (or were hesitant to) enact them.
15 sn The question indicates that they had been murmuring against Aaron, that is, expressing disloyalty and challenging his leadership. But it is actually against the
16 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.
17 tn The imperfect tense here has the nuance of prohibition.
18 tn Heb “to meet.”
19 tn The infinitive construct is the object of the preposition.
20 sn The name Bamoth Baal means “the high places of Baal.”
21 tn The relative pronoun is added here in place of the conjunction to clarify that Balaam is speaking to God and not vice versa.
22 tn The Hebrew text draws the vividness of the scene with the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) – Balaam returned, and there he was, standing there.
23 tn Heb “living according to their tribes.”
24 tn Or “said.”
25 sn The word “spirit” probably refers to the Holy Spirit, in which case it would be rendered “in whom is the Spirit.” This would likely be a permanent endowment for Joshua. But it is also possible to take it to refer to a proper spirit to do all the things required of such a leader (which ultimately is a gift from the Spirit of God). The Hebrew text simply says “in whom is a spirit.”
26 sn This symbolic act would indicate the transfer of leadership to Joshua.
27 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.
28 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.
29 tn Heb “hear.”
30 tn Heb “to Moses”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
31 tn Heb “lifted up the head.”
32 tn Heb “in our hand.”
33 tn The construction uses a verbal hendiadys with the verb “to add” serving to modify the main verb.
34 tn Heb “and you will destroy all this people.”
35 tn Heb “our little ones.”