Bilangan 2:2

2:2 “Every one ¹  of the Israelites must camp ²  under his standard with the emblems of his family; ³  they must camp at some distance ⁴  around the tent of meeting. ⁵ 

Bilangan 3:8-9

3:8 And they are responsible for all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and for the needs of the Israelites, as they serve ⁶  in the tabernacle. 3:9 You are to assign ⁷  the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they will be assigned exclusively ⁸  to him out of all ⁹  the Israelites.

Bilangan 4:46

4:46 All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel numbered by their families and by their clans,

Bilangan 5:6

5:6 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When ¹⁰  a man or a woman commits any sin that people commit, ¹¹  thereby breaking faith ¹²  with the Lord, and that person is found guilty, ¹³ 

Bilangan 6:2

6:2 “Speak to the Israelites, and tell them, ‘When either a man or a woman ¹⁴  takes a special vow, ¹⁵  to take a vow ¹⁶  as a Nazirite, ¹⁷  to separate ¹⁸  himself to the Lord,

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. ¹⁹ 

Bilangan 15:38

15:38 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them to make ²⁰  tassels ²¹  for themselves on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and put a blue thread ²²  on the tassel of the corners.

Bilangan 17:9

17:9 So Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites. They looked at them, ²³  and each man took his staff.

Bilangan 21:1

Victory at Hormah

21:1 ²⁴ When the Canaanite king of Arad ²⁵  who lived in the Negev ²⁶  heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner.

Bilangan 21:6

21:6 So the Lord sent poisonous ²⁷  snakes ²⁸  among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died.

Bilangan 21:17

21:17 Then Israel sang ²⁹  this song:

“Spring up, O well, sing to it!

Bilangan 23:10

23:10 Who ³⁰  can count ³¹  the dust ³²  of Jacob,

Or number ³³  the fourth part of Israel?

Let me ³⁴  die the death of the upright, ³⁵ 

and let the end of my life ³⁶  be like theirs.” ³⁷ 

Bilangan 25:13

25:13 So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, ³⁸  and has made atonement ³⁹  for the Israelites.’”

Bilangan 31:5

31:5 So a thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand armed for battle in all, were provided out of the thousands of Israel.

Bilangan 32:7

32:7 Why do you frustrate the intent ⁴⁰  of the Israelites to cross over into the land which the Lord has given them?

Bilangan 34:2

34:2 “Give these instructions ⁴¹  to the Israelites, and tell them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that has been assigned to you as an inheritance, ⁴²  the land of Canaan with its borders,

Bilangan 36:5

Moses’ Decision

36:5 Then Moses gave a ruling ⁴³  to the Israelites by the word ⁴⁴  of the Lord: “What the tribe of the Josephites is saying is right.

Bilangan 36:9

36:9 No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe. But every one of the tribes of the Israelites must retain its inheritance.”

[2:2]  ¹ tn Heb “a man by his own standard.”

[2:2]  ² tn The imperfect tense is to be taken in the nuance of instruction.

[2:2]  ³ tn Heb “of/for the house of their fathers.”

[2:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew expression מִנֶּגֶד (minneged) means “from before” or “opposite; facing” and “at some distance” or “away from the front of” (see BDB 617 s.v. נֶגֶד 2.c.a; DCH 5:603-4 s.v. 3.b).

[2:2]  ⁵ sn The Israelites were camping as a military camp, each tribe with the standards and emblems of the family. The standard was the symbol fastened to the end of a pole and carried to battle. It served to rally the tribe to the battle. The Bible nowhere describes these, although the serpent emblem of Numbers 21:8-9 may give a clue. But they probably did not have shapes of animals in view of the prohibition in the Decalogue. The standards may have been smaller for the families than the ones for the tribes. See further K. A. Kitchen, “Some Egyptian Background to the Old Testament,” TynBul 5 (1960): 11; and T. W. Mann, Divine Presence and Guidance in Israelite Tradition, 169-73.

[3:8]  ⁶ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct (epexegetically) followed by its cognate accusative. It would convey “to serve the service of the tabernacle,” but more simply it may be rendered as “serving.” Their spiritual and practical service is to serve.

[3:8]  sn The Levites had the duty of taking care of all the tabernacle and its furnishings, especially in times when it was to be moved. But they were also appointed to be gate-keepers (2 Kgs 22:4; 1 Chr 9:19) in order to safeguard the purity of the place and the activities that went on there. Their offices seem to have then become hereditary in time (1 Sam 1:3); they even took on more priestly functions, such as pronouncing the benediction (Deut 10:8). See further R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 348-49.

[3:9]  ⁷ tn The verb וְנָתַתָּה (vÿnatattah) is normally “give.” Here, though, the context refers to the assignment of the Levites to the priests for their duties. The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive, continuing the sequence for the imperfect of instruction.

[3:9]  ⁸ tn This emphasis is derived from the simple repetition of the passive participle, נְתוּנִם נְתוּנִם (nÿtunim nÿtunim). See GKC 396 §123.e. The forms serve as the predicate with the subject pronoun.

[3:9]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text simply has the preposition, “from the Israelites.”

[5:6]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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.”

[10:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they shall assemble themselves.”

[15:38]  ²⁰ tn The construction uses the imperative followed by perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutives. The first perfect tense may be translated as the imperative, but the second, being a third common plural form, has to be subordinated as a purpose clause, or as the object of the preceding verb: “speak…and say…that they make.”

[15:38]  ²¹ sn This is a reference to the צִיצִת (tsitsit), the fringes on the borders of the robes. They were meant to hang from the corners of the upper garment (Deut 22:12), which was worn on top of the clothing. The tassel was probably made by twisting the overhanging threads of the garment into a knot that would hang down. This was a reminder of the covenant. The tassels were retained down through history, and today more elaborate prayer shawls with tassels are worn during prayer. For more information, see F. J. Stephens, “The Ancient Significance of Sisith,” JBL 50 (1931): 59-70; and S. Bertman, “Tasselled Garments in the Ancient East Mediterranean,” BA 24 (1961): 119-28.

[15:38]  ²² sn The blue color may represent the heavenly origin of the Law, or perhaps, since it is a royal color, the majesty of the Lord.

[17:9]  ²³ tn The words “at them” are not in the Hebrew text, but they have been added in the translation for clarity.

[21:1]  ²⁴ sn This chapter has several events in it: the victory over Arad (vv. 1-3), the plague of serpents (vv. 4-9), the approach to Moab (vv. 10-20), and the victory over Sihon and Og (vv. 21-35). For information, see D. M. Gunn, “The ‘Battle Report’: Oral or Scribal Convention.” JBL 93 (1974): 513-18; and of the extensive literature on the archaeological site, see EAEHL 1:74-89.

[21:1]  ²⁵ sn The name Arad probably refers to a place a number of miles away from Tel Arad in southern Israel. The name could also refer to the whole region (like Edom).

[21:1]  ²⁶ tn Or “the south”; “Negev” has become a technical name for the southern desert region and is still in use in modern times.

[21:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “fiery.”

[21:6]  ²⁸ tn The designation of the serpents/ snakes is נְחָשִׁים (nÿkhashim), which is similar to the word for “bronze” (נְחֹשֶׁת, nÿkhoshet). This has led some scholars to describe the serpents as bronze in color. The description of them as fiery indicates they were poisonous. Perhaps the snake in question is a species of adder.

[21:17]  ²⁹ tn After the adverb “then” the prefixed conjugation has the preterite force. For the archaic constructions, see D. N. Freedman, “Archaic Forms in Early Hebrew Poetry,” ZAW 72 (1960): 101-7. The poem shows all the marks of being ancient.

[23:10]  ³⁰ tn The question is again rhetorical; it means no one can count them – they are innumerable.

[23:10]  ³¹ tn The perfect tense can also be classified as a potential nuance. It does not occur very often, but does occur several times.

[23:10]  ³² sn The reference in the oracle is back to Gen 13:16, which would not be clear to Balaam. But God had described their growth like the dust of the earth. Here it is part of the description of the vast numbers.

[23:10]  ³³ tn Heb “and as a number, the fourth part of Israel.” The noun in the MT is not in the construct state, and so it should be taken as an adverbial accusative, forming a parallel with the verb “count.” The second object of the verse then follows, “the fourth part of Israel.” Smr and the LXX have “and who has numbered” (וּמִסְפָּר, umispar), making this colon more parallel to the preceding one. The editor of BHS prefers this reading.

[23:10]  ³⁴ tn The use of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) for the subject of the verb stresses the personal nature – me.

[23:10]  ³⁵ sn Here the seer’s words link with the promise of Gen 12:3, that whoever blesses Israel will be blessed. Since the blessing belongs to them, the upright (and not Balak), Balaam would like his lot to be with them.

[23:10]  ³⁶ tn Heb “my latter end.”

[23:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “his.”

[25:13]  ³⁸ tn The motif is reiterated here. Phinehas was passionately determined to maintain the rights of his God by stopping the gross sinful perversions.

[25:13]  ³⁹ sn The atonement that he made in this passage refers to the killing of the two obviously blatant sinners. By doing this he dispensed with any animal sacrifice, for the sinners themselves died. In Leviticus it was the life of the substitutionary animal that was taken in place of the sinners that made atonement. The point is that sin was punished by death, and so God was free to end the plague and pardon the people. God’s holiness and righteousness have always been every bit as important as God’s mercy and compassion, for without righteousness and holiness mercy and compassion mean nothing.

[32:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “heart.” So also in v. 9.

[34:2]  ⁴¹ tn Or “command.”

[34:2]  ⁴² tn Heb “this is the land that will fall to you as an inheritance.”

[36:5]  ⁴³ tn Heb “commanded.”

[36:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “mouth.”