¹ tn As before, the emphasis is obtained by repeating the passive participle: “given, given to me.”

² tn Or “as substitutes” for all the firstborn of the Israelites.

³ tn Here אַף (’af) has the sense of “in addition.” It is not a common use.

⁴ tn Heb “will you bore out the eyes of these men?” The question is “Will you continue to mislead them?” (or “hoodwink” them). In Deut 16:19 it is used for taking a bribe; something like that kind of deception is intended here. They are simply stating that Moses is a deceiver who is misleading the people with false promises.

⁵ tn Heb “taken.”

⁶ tn The infinitive construct in this sentence is from עָבַד (’avad), and so is the noun that serves as its object: to serve the service.

⁷ tn This form may be classified as a perfect of resolve – he has decided to give them to them, even though this is a listing of what they will receive.

⁸ tn Or “to sanctify me.”

sn The verb is the main word for “believe, trust.” It is the verb that describes the faith in the Word of the Lord that leads to an appropriate action. Here God says that Moses did not believe him, meaning that what he did showed more of Moses than of what God said. Moses had taken a hostile stance toward the people, and then hit the rock twice. This showed that Moses was not satisfied with what God said, but made it more forceful and terrifying, thus giving the wrong picture of God to the people. By doing this the full power and might of the Lord was not displayed to the people. It was a momentary lack of faith, but it had to be dealt with.

⁹ sn Using the basic meaning of the word קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be separate, distinct, set apart”), we can understand better what Moses failed to do. He was supposed to have acted in a way that would have shown God to be distinct, different, holy. Instead, he gave the impression that God was capricious and hostile – very human. The leader has to be aware of what image he is conveying to the people.

¹⁰ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

¹¹ tn There is debate as to exactly what the sin of Moses was. Some interpreters think that the real sin might have been that he refused to do this at first, but that fact has been suppressed from the text. Some think the text was deliberately vague to explain why they could not enter the land without demeaning them. Others simply, and more likely, note that in Moses there was unbelief, pride, anger, impatience – disobedience.

¹² sn This is the standard poetic expression for death. The bones would be buried, often with the bones of relatives in the same tomb, giving rise to the expression.

¹³ tn The verb is in the second person plural form, and so it is Moses and Aaron who rebelled, and so now because of that Aaron first and then Moses would die without going into the land.

¹⁴ tn Heb “mouth.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “to many you will multiply his inheritance.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “to a few you will lessen his inheritance.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “according to those that were numbered of him,” meaning, in accordance with the number of people in his clan.

¹⁸ tn Heb “eyes.”

¹⁹ tn The verb is the Hiphil jussive from עָבַר (’avar, “to cross over”). The idea of “cause to cross” or “make us cross” might be too harsh, but “take across” with the rest of the nation is what they are trying to avoid.

²⁰ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

²¹ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the parallel yet chronologically later verb in the next clause.

²² tn The infinitive construct here with lamed (ל) is functioning as a result clause.

²³ tn The Lord had not given it yet, but was going to give it. Hence, the perfect should be classified as a perfect of resolve.

²⁴ tn The infinitive forms the direct object of what the Lord commanded. It actually means “to give,” but without an expressed subject may be made passive.