Bilangan 4:23

4:23 You must number them from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who enter the company to do the work of the tent of meeting.

Bilangan 4:49

4:49 According to the word of the Lord they were numbered, ¹  by the authority of Moses, each according to his service and according to what he was to carry. ²  Thus were they numbered by him, ³  as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Bilangan 7:87

7:87 All the animals for the burnt offering were 12 young bulls, 12 rams, 12 male lambs in their first year, with their grain offering, and 12 male goats for a purification offering.

Bilangan 12:1

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses

12:1 ⁴ Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against ⁵  Moses because of the Cushite ⁶  woman he had married ⁷  (for he had married an Ethiopian woman).

Bilangan 16:16

16:16 Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company present yourselves before the Lord – you and they, and Aaron – tomorrow.

Bilangan 18:6

18:6 I myself have chosen ⁸  your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties ⁹  of the tent of meeting.

Bilangan 20:11

20:11 Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too.

Bilangan 21:23

21:23 But Sihon did not permit Israel to pass through his border; he ¹⁰  gathered all his forces ¹¹  together and went out against Israel into the wilderness. When ¹²  he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.

Bilangan 23:27

23:27 Balak said to Balaam, “Come, please; I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God ¹³  to let you curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴ 

Bilangan 25:6

25:6 Just then ¹⁵  one of the Israelites came and brought to his brothers ¹⁶  a Midianite woman in the plain view of Moses and of ¹⁷  the whole community of the Israelites, while they ¹⁸  were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Bilangan 26:58

26:58 These are the families of the Levites: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korahites. Kohath became the father of Amram.

Bilangan 31:3

31:3 So Moses spoke to the people: “Arm ¹⁹  men from among you for the war, to attack the Midianites and to execute ²⁰  the Lord’s vengeance on Midian.

Bilangan 36:8

36:8 And every daughter who possesses an inheritance from any of the tribes of the Israelites must become the wife of a man from any family in her father’s tribe, so that every Israelite ²¹  may retain the inheritance of his fathers.

[4:49]  ¹ tn The verb is the simple perfect tense – “he numbered them.” There is no expressed subject; therefore, the verb can be rendered as a passive.

[4:49]  ² tn Or “his burden.”

[4:49]  ³ tn The passive form simply reads “those numbered by him.” Because of the cryptic nature of the word, some suggest reading a preterite, “and they were numbered.” This is supported by the Greek, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate. It would follow in the emendation that the relative pronoun be changed to “just as” (כַּאֲשֶׁר, ka’asher). The MT is impossible the way it stands; it can only be rendered into smooth English by adding something that is missing.

[12:1]  ⁴ sn In this short chapter we find a prime example of jealousy among leaders and how God dealt with it. Miriam and Aaron are envious of Moses’ leadership, but they use an occasion – his marriage – to criticize him. Often the immediate criticism is simply a surface issue for a deeper matter. God indicates very clearly he will speak through many people, including them, but Moses is different. Moses is the mediator of the covenant. The chapter is a lesson of what not to do. They should have fulfilled their duties before God and not tried to compete or challenge the leader in this way. There is a touch of divine irony here, for Miriam is turned white with leprosy. The chapter falls easily into the sections of the story: the accusation (vv. 1-3), the Lord’s response (vv. 4-10), the intercession of Moses (vv. 11-16). For further information, see J. S. Kselman, “A Note on Numbers 12:6-8,” VT 26 (1976): 500-504.

[12:1]  ⁵ tn The preposition bet (בְּ) has the adversative sense here, “[speak] against” (see also its use for hostile speech in 21:5, 7). Speaking against is equal to the murmuring throughout the wilderness period. The verb of the sentence is וַתְּדַבֵּר (vattÿdabber), the feminine form of the verb. This indicates that Miriam was the main speaker for the two, the verb agreeing with the first of the compound subject.

[12:1]  sn It may be that Miriam was envious of the Cushite woman Moses married. And, in view of the previous chapter’s content about others being given a portion of the Spirit to share in the leadership role, she may have seen this as her chance finally to become just as important in the nation as her younger brother. After all, she safeguarded his birth and early years (Exod 2). But there are two issues here – the reason she gives (“does the Lord only speak through Moses?”), and the reason the text gives (the Cushite woman).

[12:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text has הַכֻּשִׁית (hakkushit, “the Cushite”) as the modifier of “woman.” The Greek text interpreted this correctly as “Ethiopian.” The word Cush in the Bible can describe the Cassites, east of Babylon of the later period (Gen 10:18), or Ethiopia (Isa 20:3; Nah 3:5; et al). Another suggestion is that it would refer to Cushan of Hab 3:7, perhaps close to Midian, and so the area Moses had been. This would suggest it could be Zipporah – but the Bible does not identify the Cushite as Zipporah. The most natural understanding would be that it refers to an Egyptian/Ethiopian woman. The text does not say when Moses married this woman, or what Miriam’s problem with her was. It is clear that it was a racial issue, by virtue of the use of “Cushite.” Whether she was of darker skin than the Hebrews would be hard to say, since the Bible gives no further detail. Neither does it say if this is a second wife, or a woman Moses married since Zipporah went home (Exod 18:2). These do not seem to be the issues the text wishes to elaborate on; it is simply stating that this woman was the occasion for a deeper challenge.

[12:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “taken.”

[18:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “taken.”

[18:6]  ⁹ 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.

[21:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Sihon.”

[21:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “people.”

[21:23]  ¹² tn The clause begins with a preterite with vav (ו) consecutive, but may be subordinated to the next preterite as a temporal clause.

[23:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “be pleasing in the eyes of God.”

[23:27]  ¹⁴ sn Balak is stubborn, as indeed Balaam is persistent. But Balak still thinks that if another location were used it just might work. Balaam had actually told Balak in the prophecy that other attempts would fail. But Balak refuses to give up so easily. So he insists they perform the ritual and try again. This time, however, Balaam will change his approach, and this will result in a dramatic outpouring of power on him.

[25:6]  ¹⁵ tn The verse begins with the deictic particle וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh), pointing out the action that was taking place. It stresses the immediacy of the action to the reader.

[25:6]  ¹⁶ tn Or “to his family”; or “to his clan.”

[25:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of.”

[25:6]  ¹⁸ tn The vav (ו) at the beginning of the clause is a disjunctive because it is prefixed to the nonverbal form. In this context it is best interpreted as a circumstantial clause, stressing that this happened “while” people were weeping over the sin.

[31:3]  ¹⁹ tn The Niphal imperative, literally “arm yourselves,” is the call to mobilize the nation for war. It is followed by the jussive, “and they will be,” which would then be subordinated to say “that they may be.” The versions changed the verb to a Hiphil, but that is unnecessary: “arm some of yourselves.”

[31:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “give.”

[36:8]  ²¹ tn The subject is “Israelites” and the verb is plural to agree with it, but the idea is collective as the word for “man” indicates: “so that the Israelites may possess – [each] man the inheritance of his fathers.”