Discovery BoxNumbers 4:5 
Context4:5 When it is time for the camp to journey, 1 Aaron and his sons must come and take down the screening curtain and cover the ark of the testimony with it.
Numbers 9:3
Context9:3 In the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, 2 you are to observe it at its appointed time; you must keep 3 it in accordance with all its statutes and all its customs.” 4
Numbers 9:7
Context9:7 And those men said to him, “We are ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man; why are we kept back from offering the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?”
Numbers 10:6
Context10:6 And when you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that are located on the south side must begin to travel. 5 An alarm must be sounded 6 for their journeys.
Numbers 23:23
Context23:23 For there is no spell against 7 Jacob,
nor is there any divination against Israel.
At this time 8 it must be said 9 of Jacob
and of Israel, ‘Look at 10 what God has done!’
Numbers 28:2
Context28:2 “Command the Israelites: 11 ‘With regard to my offering, 12 be sure to offer 13 my food for my offering made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to me at its appointed time.’ 14
1 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive construct in an adverbial clause of time; literally it says “in the journeying of the camp.” The genitive in such constructions is usually the subject. Here the implication is that people would be preparing to transport the camp and its equipment.
2 tn The literal Hebrew expression is “between the evenings” (so also in vv. 5, 11). Sunset is certainly one evening; the other may refer to the change in the middle of the afternoon to the late afternoon, or the beginning of dusk. The idea is probably just at twilight, or dusk (see R. B. Allen, TWOT 2:694).
3 tn The two verbs in this verse are identical; they are imperfects of instruction. The English translation has been modified for stylistic variation.
4 tn The two words in this last section are standard “Torah” words. The word חֹק (khoq) is a binding statute, something engraved and monumental. The word מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) means “judgment, decision,” but with a more general idea of “custom” at its core. The verse is making it very clear that the Passover had to follow the custom and form that was legislated in Egypt.
5 tc The MT does not mention the departures of the northerly and westerly tribes. The Greek text completes the description by adding them, making a full schedule of the departure of the groups of tribes. The Greek is not likely to be original, however, since it carries all the signs of addition to complete the text, making a smooth, full reading. The MT is to be preferred; it apparently used two of the groups to give the idea.
6 tn The Hebrew text has “they shall blow an alarm”; the sentence without a formal subject should be taken as a passive idea.
7 tn Or “in Jacob.” But given the context the meaning “against” is preferable. The words describe two techniques of consulting God; the first has to do with observing omens in general (“enchantments”), and the second with casting lots or arrows of the like (“divinations” [Ezek 21:26]). See N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers (NCB), 295-96.
8 tn The form is the preposition “like, as” and the word for “time” – according to the time, about this time, now.
9 tn The Niphal imperfect here carries the nuance of obligation – one has to say in amazement that God has done something marvelous or “it must be said.”
10 tn The words “look at” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Heb “and say to them.” These words have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
12 tn Th sentence begins with the accusative “my offering.” It is suspended at the beginning as an independent accusative to itemize the subject matter. The second accusative is the formal object of the verb. It could also be taken in apposition to the first accusative.
13 tn The construction uses the imperfect tense expressing instruction, followed by the infinitive construct used to express the complement of direct object.
14 sn See L. R. Fisher, “New Ritual Calendar from Ugarit,” HTR 63 (1970): 485-501.
