Discovery BoxNumbers 5:8 
Context5:8 But if the individual has no close relative 1 to whom reparation can be made for the wrong, the reparation for the wrong must be paid to the Lord 2 for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement by which atonement is made for him.
Numbers 5:21
Context5:21 Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse 3 and will say 4 to the her, “The Lord make you an attested curse 5 among your people, 6 if the Lord makes 7 your thigh fall away 8 and your abdomen swell; 9
Numbers 6:18
Context6:18 “‘Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head 10 at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire 11 where the peace offering is burning. 12
Numbers 27:7
Context27:7 “The daughters of Zelophehad have a valid claim. 13 You must indeed 14 give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s relatives, and you must transfer 15 the inheritance of their father to them.
Numbers 28:8
Context28:8 And the second lamb you must offer in the late afternoon; just as you offered the grain offering and drink offering in the morning, 16 you must offer it as an offering made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
Numbers 35:25
Context35:25 The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there 17 until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil.
1 sn For more information on the word, see A. R. Johnson, “The Primary Meaning of גאל,” VTSup 1 (1953): 67-77.
2 tc The editors of BHS prefer to follow the Greek, Syriac, and Latin and not read “for the
3 sn For information on such curses, see M. R. Lehmann, “Biblical Oaths,” ZAW 81 (1969): 74-92; A. C. Thiselton, “The Supposed Power of Words in the Biblical Writings,” JTS 25 (1974): 283-99; and F. C. Fensham, “Malediction and Benediction in Ancient Vassal Treaties and the Old Testament,” ZAW 74 (1962): 1-9.
4 tn Heb “the priest will say.”
5 tn This interpretation takes the two nouns as a hendiadys. The literal wording is “the
6 sn The outcome of this would be that she would be quoted by people in such forms of expression as an oath or a curse (see Jer 29:22).
7 tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition to form an adverbial clause: “in the giving of the
8 tn TEV takes the expression “your thigh” as a euphemism for the genitals: “cause your genital organs to shrink.”
9 sn Most commentators take the expressions to be euphemisms of miscarriage or stillbirth, meaning that there would be no fruit from an illegitimate union. The idea of the abdomen swelling has been reinterpreted by NEB to mean “fall away.” If this interpretation stands, then the idea is that the woman has become pregnant, and that has aroused the suspicion of the husband for some reason. R. K. Harrison (Numbers [WEC], 111-13) discusses a variety of other explanations for diseases and conditions that might be described by these terms. He translates it with “miscarriage,” but leaves open what the description might actually be. Cf. NRSV “makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge.”
10 tn Some versions simply interpret this to say that he shaves his hair, for it is the hair that is the sign of the consecration to God. But the text says he shaves his consecrated head. The whole person is obviously consecrated to God – not just the head. But the symbolic act of cutting the hair shows that the vow has been completed (see Acts 21:23-24). The understanding of the importance of the hair in the ancient world has been the subject of considerable study over the years (see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 436; and J. A. Thompson, “Numbers,” New Bible Commentary: Revised, 177).
11 sn Some commentators see this burning of the hair as an offering (McNeile, Numbers, 35; G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 68). But others probably with more foundation see it as destroying something that has served a purpose, something that if left alone might be venerated (see R. de Vaux, Israel, 436).
12 tn Heb “which is under the peace offering.” The verse does not mean that the hair had to be put under that sacrifice and directly on the fire.
13 tn Heb “[the daughters of Zelophehad] speak right” (using the participle דֹּבְרֹת [dovÿrot] with כֵּן [ken]).
14 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense. The imperfect is functioning as the imperfect of instruction, and so the infinitive strengthens the force of the instruction.
15 tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive, from the root עָבַר (’avar, “to pass over”). Here it functions as the equivalent of the imperfect of instruction: “and you shall cause to pass,” meaning, “transfer.”
16 tn Heb “as the grain offering of the morning and as its drink offering.”
17 tn Heb “in it.”
