Bilangan 17:12

17:12 The Israelites said to Moses, “We are bound to die! ¹  We perish, we all perish!

Bilangan 29:40--30:1

29:40 (30:1) ²  So Moses told the Israelites everything, just as the Lord had commanded him. ³ 

Vows Made by Men

30:1 ⁴ Moses told the leaders ⁵  of the tribes concerning the Israelites, “This is what ⁶  the Lord has commanded:

Bilangan 30:9

Vows Made by Widows

30:9 “But every vow of a widow or of a divorced woman which she has pledged for herself will remain intact. ⁷ 

[17:12]  ¹ tn The use of הֵן (hen) and the perfect tense in the nuance of a prophetic perfect expresses their conviction that they were bound to die – it was certain (see GKC 312-13 §106.n).

[29:40]  ² sn Beginning with 29:40, the verse numbers through 30:16 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 29:40 ET = 30:1 HT, 30:1 ET = 30:2 HT, etc., through 30:16 ET = 30:17 HT. With 31:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[29:40]  ³ tn Heb “Moses.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:1]  ⁴ sn Num 30 deals with vows that are different than the vows discussed in Lev 27 and Num 6. The material is placed here after all the rulings of the offerings, but it could have been revealed to Moses at any time, such as the Nazirite vows, or the question of the daughters’ inheritance. The logic of placing it here may be that a festival was the ideal place for discharging a vow. For additional material on vows, see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 465-66.

[30:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “heads.”

[30:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “This is the word which.”

[30:9]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text says her vow “shall stand against her.” In other words, she must fulfill, or bear the consequences of, whatever she vowed.