Numbers 5:15

5:15 then 1  the man must bring his wife to the priest, and he must bring the offering required for her, one tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he must not pour olive oil on it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of suspicion, 2  a grain offering for remembering, 3  for bringing 4  iniquity to remembrance.

Numbers 10:10

10:10 “Also in the time when you rejoice, such as 5  on your appointed festivals or 6  at the beginnings of your months, you must blow with your trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, so that they may 7  become 8  a memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God.”

Numbers 14:14

14:14 then they will tell it to the inhabitants 9  of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, 10  that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night.

1 tn All the conditions have been laid down now for the instruction to begin – if all this happened, then this is the procedure to follow.

2 tn The Hebrew word is “jealousy,” which also would be an acceptable translation here. But since the connotation is that suspicion has been raised about the other person, “suspicion” seems to be a better rendering in this context.

3 tn The word “remembering” is זִכָּרוֹן (zikkaron); the meaning of the word here is not so much “memorial,” which would not communicate much, but the idea of bearing witness before God concerning the charges. The truth would come to light through this ritual, and so the attestation would stand. This memorial would bring the truth to light. It was a somber occasion, and so no sweet smelling additives were placed on the altar.

4 tn The final verbal form, מַזְכֶּרֶת (mazkeret), explains what the memorial was all about – it was causing iniquity to be remembered.

5 tn The conjunction may be taken as explicative or epexegetical, and so rendered “namely; even; that is,” or it may be taken as emphatic conjunction, and translated “especially.”

6 tn The vav (ו) is taken here in its alternative use and translated “or.”

7 tn The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. After the instruction imperfects, this form could be given the same nuance, or more likely, subordinated as a purpose or result clause.

8 tn The verb “to be” (הָיָה, hayah) has the meaning “to become” when followed by the preposition lamed (ל).

9 tn The singular participle is to be taken here as a collective, representing all the inhabitants of the land.

10 tn “Face to face” is literally “eye to eye.” It only occurs elsewhere in Isa 52:8. This expresses the closest communication possible.