Kejadian 19:9

19:9 “Out of our way!” ¹  they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, ²  and now he dares to judge us! ³  We’ll do more harm ⁴  to you than to them!” They kept ⁵  pressing in on Lot until they were close enough ⁶  to break down the door.

Bilangan 16:13

16:13 Is it a small thing ⁷  that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, ⁸  to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a prince ⁹  over us?

[19:9]  ¹ tn Heb “approach out there” which could be rendered “Get out of the way, stand back!”

[19:9]  ² tn Heb “to live as a resident alien.”

[19:9]  ³ tn Heb “and he has judged, judging.” The infinitive absolute follows the finite verbal form for emphasis. This emphasis is reflected in the translation by the phrase “dares to judge.”

[19:9]  ⁴ tn The verb “to do wickedly” is repeated here (see v. 7). It appears that whatever “wickedness” the men of Sodom had intended to do to Lot’s visitors – probably nothing short of homosexual rape – they were now ready to inflict on Lot.

[19:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they pressed against the man, against Lot, exceedingly.”

[19:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they drew near.”

[16:13]  ⁷ tn The question is rhetorical. It was not a small thing to them – it was a big thing.

[16:13]  ⁸ tn The modern scholar who merely sees these words as belonging to an earlier tradition about going up to the land of Canaan that flows with milk and honey misses the irony here. What is happening is that the text is showing how twisted the thinking of the rebels is. They have turned things completely around. Egypt was the land flowing with milk and honey, not Canaan where they will die. The words of rebellion are seldom original, and always twisted.

[16:13]  ⁹ tn The verb הִשְׂתָּרֵר (histarer) is the Hitpael infinitive absolute that emphasizes the preceding תִשְׂתָּרֵר (tistarer), the Hitpael imperfect tense (both forms having metathesis). The verb means “to rule; to act like a prince; to make oneself a prince.” This is the only occurrence of the reflexive for this verb. The exact nuance is difficult to translate into English. But they are accusing Moses of seizing princely power for himself, perhaps making a sarcastic reference to his former status in Egypt. The rebels here are telling Moses that they had discerned his scheme, and so he could not “hoodwink” them (cf. NEB).