Bilangan 5:6

5:6 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When ¹  a man or a woman commits any sin that people commit, ²  thereby breaking faith ³  with the Lord, and that person is found guilty, ⁴ 

Bilangan 6:2

6:2 “Speak to the Israelites, and tell them, ‘When either a man or a woman ⁵  takes a special vow, ⁶  to take a vow ⁷  as a Nazirite, ⁸  to separate ⁹  himself to the Lord,

Bilangan 6:7

6:7 He must not defile himself even ¹⁰  for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister if they die, ¹¹  because the separation ¹²  for ¹³  his God is on his head.

Bilangan 10:4

10:4 “But if they blow with one trumpet, then the leaders, the heads of the thousands of Israel, must come to you. ¹⁴ 

Bilangan 10:32

10:32 And if you come with us, it is certain ¹⁵  that whatever good things the Lord will favor us with, we will share with you as well.”

Bilangan 15:27

15:27 “‘If any person ¹⁶  sins unintentionally, then he must bring a yearling female goat for a purification offering.

Bilangan 30:7

30:7 and her husband hears about it, but remains silent about her when he hears about it, then her vows will stand and her obligations which she has pledged for herself will stand.

Bilangan 30:15

30:15 But if he should nullify them after he has heard them, then he will bear her iniquity.” ¹⁷ 

Bilangan 32:23

32:23 “But if you do not do this, then look, you will have sinned ¹⁸  against the Lord. And know that your sin will find you out.

Bilangan 35:18

35:18 Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon so that he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death.

Bilangan 35:20

35:20 “But if he strikes him out of hatred or throws something at him intentionally ¹⁹  so that he dies,

[5:6]  ¹ sn This type of law is known as casuistic. The law is introduced with “when/if” and then the procedure to be adopted follows it. The type of law was common in the Law Code of Hammurabi.

[5:6]  ² tn The verse simply says “any sin of a man,” but the genitive could mean that it is any sin that a man would commit (subjective genitive), or one committed against a man (objective genitive). Because of the similarity with Lev 5:22, the subjective is better. The sin is essentially “missing the mark” which is the standard of the Law of the Lord. The sin is not in this case accidental or inadvertent. It means here simply failing to live up to the standard of the Lord. Since both men and women are mentioned in the preceding clause, the translation uses “people” here.

[5:6]  ³ tn The verb is מַעַל (ma’al), which means to “defraud, violate, trespass against,” or “to deal treacherously, do an act of treachery.” In doing any sin that people do, the guilty have been unfaithful to the Lord, and therefore must bring him a sacrifice.

[5:6]  ⁴ tn The word used here for this violation is אָשָׁם (’asham). It can be translated “guilt, to be guilty”; it can also be used for the reparation offering. The basic assumption here is that the individual is in a state of sin – is guilty. In that state he or she feels remorse for the sin and seeks forgiveness through repentance. See further P. P. Saydon, “Sin Offering and Trespass Offering,” CBQ 8 (1946): 393-98; H. C. Thompson, “The Significance of the Term ’Asham in the Old Testament,” TGUOS 14 (1953): 20-26.

[6:2]  ⁵ tn The formula is used here again: “a man or a woman – when he takes.” The vow is open to both men and women.

[6:2]  ⁶ tn The vow is considered special in view of the use of the verb יַפְלִא (yafli’), the Hiphil imperfect of the verb “to be wonderful, extraordinary.”

[6:2]  ⁷ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct followed by the cognate accusative: “to vow a vow.” This intensifies the idea that the vow is being taken carefully.

[6:2]  ⁸ tn The name of the vow is taken from the verb that follows; נָזַר (nazar) means “to consecrate oneself,” and so the Nazirite is a consecrated one. These are folks who would make a decision to take an oath for a time or for a lifetime to be committed to the Lord and show signs of separation from the world. Samuel was to be a Nazirite, as the fragment of the text from Qumran confirms – “he will be a נָזִיר (nazir) forever” (1 Sam 1:22).

[6:2]  ⁹ tn The form of the verb is an Hiphil infinitive construct, forming the wordplay and explanation for the name Nazirite. The Hiphil is here an internal causative, having the meaning of “consecrate oneself” or just “consecrate to the Lord.”

[6:7]  ¹⁰ tn The vav (ו) conjunction at the beginning of the clause specifies the cases of corpses that are to be avoided, no matter how painful it might be.

[6:7]  ¹¹ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition and the suffixed subjective genitive – “in the dying of them” – to form the adverbial clause of time.

[6:7]  sn The Nazirite would defile himself, i.e., ruin his vow, by contacting their corpses. Jesus’ hard saying in Matt 8:22, “let the dead bury their own dead,” makes sense in the light of this passage – Jesus was calling for commitment to himself.

[6:7]  ¹² tn The word “separation” here is metonymy of adjunct – what is on his head is long hair that goes with the vow.

[6:7]  ¹³ tn The genitive could perhaps be interpreted as possession, i.e., “the vow of his God,” but it seems more likely that an objective genitive would be more to the point.

[10:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they shall assemble themselves.”

[10:32]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and it shall be.”

[15:27]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew text hasוְאִם־נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת (vÿ’im-nefesh ’akhat), sometime translated “and if any soul.” But the word describes the whole person, the soul in the body; it refers here to the individual who sins.

[30:15]  ¹⁷ sn In other words, he will pay the penalty for making her break her vows if he makes her stop what she vowed. It will not be her responsibility.

[32:23]  ¹⁸ tn The nuance of the perfect tense here has to be the future perfect.

[35:20]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text is more vivid: “by lying in wait.”