Numbers 5:13

5:13 and a man has sexual relations ¹  with her ²  without her husband knowing it, ³  and it is hidden that she has defiled herself, since ⁴  there was no witness against her, nor was she caught –

Numbers 23:19

23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a human being, ⁵  that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen? ⁶ 

Numbers 23:21

23:21 He ⁷  has not looked on iniquity in Jacob, ⁸ 

nor has he seen trouble ⁹  in Israel.

The Lord their God is with them;

his acclamation ¹⁰  as king is among them.

Numbers 25:13

25:13 So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, ¹¹  and has made atonement ¹²  for the Israelites.’”

Numbers 30:4

30:4 and her father hears of her vow or the obligation to which she has pledged herself, and her father remains silent about her, ¹³  then all her vows will stand, ¹⁴  and every obligation to which she has pledged herself will stand.

Numbers 30:8

30:8 But if when her husband hears it he overrules her, then he will nullify ¹⁵  the vow she has taken, ¹⁶  and whatever she uttered impulsively which she has pledged for herself. And the Lord will release her from it.

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¹ tn Heb “and a man lies with her with the emission of semen.” This makes it clear that there was adultery involved, so that the going astray is going astray morally. The indication in the text is that if she had never behaved suspiciously the sin might not have been detected.

² tc The sign of the accusative אֹתָהּ (’otah) is probably to be repointed to the preposition with the suffix, אִתָּהּ (’ittah).

³ tn Heb “and it is concealed from the eyes of her husband.”

⁴ tn The noun clause beginning with the simple conjunction is here a circumstantial clause, explaining that there was no witness to the sin.

⁵ tn Heb “son of man.”

⁶ tn The verb is the Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “to cause to rise; to make stand”). The meaning here is more of the sense of fulfilling the promises made.

⁷ tn These could be understood as impersonal and so rendered “no one has discovered.”

⁸ sn The line could mean that God has regarded Israel as the ideal congregation without any blemish or flaw. But it could also mean that God has not looked on their iniquity, meaning, held it against them.

⁹ tn The word means “wrong, misery, trouble.” It can mean the idea of “disaster” as well, for that too is trouble. Here it is parallel to “iniquity” and so has the connotation of something that would give God reason to curse them.

¹⁰ tn The people are blessed because God is their king. In fact, the shout of acclamation is among them – they are proclaiming the Lord God as their king. The word is used normally for the sound of the trumpet, but also of battle shouts, and then here acclamation. This would represent their conviction that Yahweh is king. On the usage of this Hebrew word see further BDB 929-30 s.v. תְּרוּעָה; HALOT 1790-91 s.v.

¹¹ tn The motif is reiterated here. Phinehas was passionately determined to maintain the rights of his God by stopping the gross sinful perversions.

¹² sn The atonement that he made in this passage refers to the killing of the two obviously blatant sinners. By doing this he dispensed with any animal sacrifice, for the sinners themselves died. In Leviticus it was the life of the substitutionary animal that was taken in place of the sinners that made atonement. The point is that sin was punished by death, and so God was free to end the plague and pardon the people. God’s holiness and righteousness have always been every bit as important as God’s mercy and compassion, for without righteousness and holiness mercy and compassion mean nothing.

¹³ tn The intent of this expression is that he does not object to the vow.

¹⁴ tn The verb קוּם (qum) is best translated “stand” here, but the idea with it is that what she vows is established as a genuine oath with the father’s approval (or acquiescence).

¹⁵ 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.

¹⁶ tn Heb “which [she is] under it.”