translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: NUM

label: NET translator note

text: The book begins with the vav ( ו ) consecutive and the preterite, “and he spoke.” This does not indicate that the book is a continuation of the previous material, for in that case certain other books in the canon would have to be linked with the writings of other people just because they followed them. This form is simply the narrative verb; the conjunction need not be translated. The verb should not be limited to a literary formula, but does indicate the divine source of the command for Moses. God was speaking to Moses throughout the wilderness wanderings from the tent, and so the ideas are from him, and not from the “will of man.”


text: The construction uses the infinitive construct of יָצַא ( yatsa ’, “to go out”), with a suffix serving as the subjective genitive, and the lamed preposition providing the temporal indication: “according to the going out of them.” The Israelites are clearly intended as the subject.


text: Heb “they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “saying.” A new sentence was started here in the English translation for stylistic reasons.


text: The construction is literally “lift up the head[s],” ( שְׂאוּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ , sÿ ’ u ’ et-ro ’ sh ). This idiom for taking a census occurs elsewhere ( Exod 30:12 ; Lev 5:24; Num 1:24 ; etc.). The idea is simply that of counting heads to arrive at the base for the standing army. This is a different event than the one recorded in Exod 30:11-16 , which was taken for a different purpose altogether. The verb is plural, indicating that Moses had help in taking the census.


label: NET textual note

text: Smr lacks the Hebrew word “all” here.


text: Heb “the congregation of Israel.”


text: The tribe ( מַטֶּה , matteh or שֵׁבֶט , shevet ) is the main category. The family groups or clans ( מִשְׁפְּחֹת , mishpÿkhot ) and the households or families ( בֵּית אֲבֹת , bet ’ avot ) were sub-divisions of the tribe.


text: This clause simply has “in/with the number of the names of every male with respect to their skulls [individually].” Counting heads, or every skull, simply meant that each person was to be numbered in the census. Except for the Levites, no male was exempt from the count.


text: The verb ( פָּקַד , paqad ) means “to visit, appoint, muster, number.” The word is a common one in scripture. It has as its basic meaning the idea of “determining the destiny” of someone, by appointing, mustering, or visiting. When God “visits,” it is a divine intervention for either blessing or cursing. Here it is the taking of a census for war (see G. André, Determining the Destiny [ConBOT], 16).


text: The construction uses the participle “going out” followed by the noun “army.” It describes everyone “going out in a military group,” meaning serving in the army. It was the duty of every able-bodied Israelite to serve in this “peoples” army. There were probably exemptions for the infirm or the crippled, but every male over twenty was chosen. For a discussion of warfare, see P. C. Craigie, The Problem of War in the Old Testament , and P. D. Miller, “The Divine Council and the Prophetic Call to War,” VT 18 (1968): 100-107.


text: The text simply has “from twenty years old and higher.”


text: Heb “and up.”


text: The noun ( צָבָא , tsava ’) means “army” or “military group.” But the word can also be used for nonmilitary divisions of labor ( Num 4:3 ).


text: Heb “and with you.”


text: The construction uses the noun in a distributive sense: “a man, a man for a tribe,” meaning a man for each tribe.


text: The clause expresses a distributive function, “a man” means “each man.”


text: Heb “the house of his fathers.”


text: The verb is עָמַד (’ amad , “to stand”). It literally then is, “who will stand with you.” They will help in the count, but they will also serve as leaders as the camp moves from place to place.


text: The preposition lamed ( ל ) prefixed to the name could be taken in the sense of “from,” but could also be “with regard to” (specification).


text: There is a textual difficulty with this verb. The Greek form uses r and not d, giving the name Ra‘oul. There is even some variation in the Hebrew traditions, but BHS (following the Leningrad codex of a.d. 1008) has preferred the name Deuel.


text: The form has a Kethib-Qere problem, but the sentence calls for the Qere, the passive participle in the construct – “the called of….” These men were God’s choice, and not Moses’, or their own choice. He announced who they would be, and then named them. So they were truly “called” ( קָרָא , qara ’). The other reading is probably due to a copyist’s error.


text: The word is נָשִׂיא ( nasi ’, “exalted one, prince, leader”). Cf. KJV, ASV, NAB “princes.” These were men apparently revered or respected in their tribes, and so the clear choice to assist Moses with the leadership. See further, E. A. Speiser, “Background and Function of the Biblical na„sÃþá ,” CBQ 25 (1963): 111-17.


text: Heb “exalted ones of the tribes of their fathers.” The earlier group of elders was chosen by Moses at the advice of his father-in-law. This group represents the few leaders of the tribes that were chosen by God, a more literate group apparently, who were the forerunners of the שֹׁטְּרִים ( shottÿrim ).


text: The Hebrew text has אַלְפֵי (’ alfey, “thousands of”). There is some question over this reading in the MT, however. The community groups that have these leaders were larger tribes, but there is little certainty about the size of the divisions.


text: The verb is the Hiphil of the root קָהַל ( qahal ), meaning “to call, assemble”; the related noun is an “assembly.”


text: The LXX adds “of the second year.”


text: The verb is the Hitpael preterite form וַיִּתְיַלְדוּ ( vayyityaldu ) . The cognate noun תּוֹלְדוֹת ( tolÿdot ) is the word that means “genealogies, family records, records of ancestry.” The root is יָלַד ( yalad , “to bear, give birth to”). Here they were recording their family connections, and not, of course, producing children. The verbal stem seems to be both declarative and reflexive.


text: Heb “those numbered of them.” The form is פְּקֻדֵיהֶם ( pÿqudehem ), the passive participle with the pronominal suffix. This indicates that the number came to 46,500, but it specifically refers to “those numbered.” This expression occurs frequently throughout the book of Numbers.


text: Some witnesses have omitted “those that were numbered of them,” to preserve the literary pattern of the text. The omission is supported by the absence of the expression in the Greek as well as in some MT mss. Most modern commentators follow this.


text: The LXX has vv. 24-35 after v. 37 .


text: The verse does not have the preposition, only “the descendants of Naphtali.”


text: The construction uses both the passive participle הַפְּקֻדִים ( happÿqudim ) and the verb פָּקַד ( paqad ), giving a literal translation of “these were the numbered ones, whom Moses and Aaron numbered.”


text: Heb “they were one man for the house of his fathers.”


text: Literally the text has, “and all the numbered of the Israelites were according to their families.” The verb in the sentence is actually without a complement (see v. 46 ).


text: The vav ( ו ) on this word indicates a disjunction with the previous sequence of reports. It may be taken as a contrastive clause, translated “but” or “however.”


text: The construction is unexpected, for Levites would be from the tribe of Levi. The note seems more likely to express that all these people were organized by tribal lineage, and so too the Levites, according to the tribe of their fathers – individual families of Levites.


text: The form in the text is הָתְפָּקְדוּ ( hotpaqÿdu ); if this is correct, then it is an isolated instance of the reflexive of the Qal of פָּקַד ( paqad ) . Some, however, explain the form as the Hitpael without the doubling of the middle letter and with a compensatory lengthening of the vowel before it (G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC] , 10).


text: Heb “had spoken to Moses, saying.” The infinitive construct of אָמַר (’ amar ), sometimes rendered “saying” in older English translations, does not need to be translated, but can be taken simply as the indicator of direct discourse. Most recent English translations, including the present one, leave the form untranslated for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.


text: The construction has literally, “only the tribe of Levi you shall not number.” The Greek text rendered the particle אַךְ (’ akh ) forcefully with “see to it that” or “take care that.” For the uses of this form, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax , 65, §388-89.


text: Heb “lift up their head.”


text: Heb “in the midst of the sons of Israel.”


text: The same verb translated “number” ( פָּקַד , paqad ) is now used to mean “appoint” ( הַפְקֵד , hafqed ), which focuses more on the purpose of the verbal action of numbering people. Here the idea is that the Levites were appointed to take care of the tabernacle. On the use of this verb with the Levites’ appointment, see M. Gertner, “The Masorah and the Levites,” VT 10 (1960): 252.


text: The Hebrew name used here is מִשְׁכַּן הָעֵדֻת ( mishkan ha ’ edut ) . The tabernacle or dwelling place of the Lord was given this name because it was here that the tablets of the Law were kept. The whole shrine was therefore a reminder ( הָעֵדוּת , a “warning sign” or “testimony”) of the stipulations of the covenant. For the ancient Near Eastern customs of storing the code in the sanctuaries, see M. G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King , 14-19, and idem, The Structure of Biblical Authority, 35-36. Other items were in the ark in the beginning, but by the days of Solomon only the tablets were there ( 1 Kgs 8:9 ).


text: The imperfect tense here is an obligatory imperfect telling that they are bound to do this since they are appointed for this specific task.


text: The addition of the pronoun before the verb is emphatic – they are the ones who are to attend to the tabernacle. The verb used is שָׁרַת ( sharat ) in the Piel, indicating that they are to serve, minister to, attend to all the details about this shrine.


text: Heb “the tabernacle.” The pronoun (“it”) was used in the translation here for stylistic reasons.


text: The construction uses the infinitive construct with the temporal preposition; the “tabernacle” is then the following genitive. Literally it is “and in the moving of the tabernacle,” meaning, “when the tabernacle is supposed to be moved,” i.e., when people are supposed to move it. The verb נָסָע ( nasa ’) means “pull up the tent pegs and move,” or more simply, “journey.”


text: Here we have the parallel construction using the infinitive construct in a temporal adverbial clause.


text: Heb “raise it up.”


text: The word used here is זָר ( zar ), normally translated “stranger” or “outsider.” It is most often used for a foreigner, an outsider, who does not belong in Israel, or who, although allowed in the land, may be viewed with suspicion. But here it seems to include even Israelites other than the tribe of Levi.


text: Instead of “wrath” the Greek text has “sin,” focusing the emphasis on the human error and not on the wrath of God. This may have been a conscious change to explain the divine wrath. tn Heb “so that there be no wrath on.” In context this is clearly the divine anger, so “the Lord ’s” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.


text: The main verb of the clause is the perfect tense with vav ( ו ) consecutive, וְשָׁמְרוּ ( vÿshamÿru ) meaning they “shall guard, protect, watch over, care for.” It may carry the same obligatory nuance as the preceding verbs because of the sequence. The object used with this is the cognate noun מִשְׁמֶרֶת ( mishmeret ): “The Levites must care for the care of the tabernacle.” The cognate intensifies the construction to stress that they are responsible for this care.


text: The LXX adds “and Aaron.”