translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: NUM

label: NET translator note

text: The two verbs “lifted up their voice and cried” form a hendiadys; the idiom of raising the voice means that they cried aloud.


text: There are a number of things that the verb “to weep” or “wail” can connote. It could reflect joy, grief, lamentation, or repentance, but here it reflects fear, hopelessness, or vexation at the thought of coming all this way and being defeated by the Canaanite armies. See Judg 20:23, 26 .


text: The Hebrew verb “to murmur” is לוּן ( lun ). It is a strong word, signifying far more than complaining or grumbling, as some of the modern translations have it. The word is most often connected to the wilderness experience. It is paralleled in the literature with the word “to rebel.” The murmuring is like a parliamentary vote of no confidence, for they no longer trusted their leaders and wished to choose a new leader and return. This “return to Egypt” becomes a symbol of their lack of faith in the Lord .


text: The optative is expressed by לוּ ( lu ) and then the verb, here the perfect tense מַתְנוּ ( matnu ) – “O that we had died….” Had they wanted to die in Egypt they should not have cried out to the Lord to deliver them from bondage. Here the people became consumed with the fear and worry of what lay ahead, and in their panic they revealed a lack of trust in God.


text: Heb “died.”


text: Heb “a man to his brother.”


text: The verb is נָתַן ( natan , “to give”), but this verb has quite a wide range of meanings in the Bible. Here it must mean “to make,” “to choose,” “to designate” or the like.


text: The word “head” ( רֹאשׁ , ro ’ sh ) probably refers to a tribal chief who was capable to judge and to lead to war (see J. R. Bartlett, “The Use of the Word רֹאשׁ as a Title in the Old Testament,” VT 19 [1969]: 1-10).


text: The form is a cohortative with a vav ( ו ) prefixed. After the preceding cohortative this could also be interpreted as a purpose or result clause – in order that we may return.


text: Heb “before all the assembly of the congregation.”


text: The repetition of the adverb מְאֹד ( mÿ ’ od ) is used to express this: “very, very [good].”


text: The subjective genitives “milk and honey” are symbols of the wealth of the land, second only to bread. Milk was a sign of such abundance ( Gen 49:12 ; Isa 7:21,22 ). Because of the climate the milk would thicken quickly and become curds, eaten with bread or turned into butter. The honey mentioned here is the wild honey (see Deut 32:13 ; Judg 14:8-9 ). It signified sweetness, or the finer things of life ( Ezek 3:3 ).


text: Heb “their shade.” The figure compares the shade from the sun with the protection from the enemy. It is also possible that the text is alluding to their deities here.


text: Heb “said to stone them with stones.” The verb and the object are not from the same root, but the combination nonetheless forms an emphasis equal to the cognate accusative.


text: The vav ( ו ) on the noun “glory” indicates a strong contrast, one that interrupts their threatened attack.


label: NET textual note

text: The Greek, Syriac, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “in the cloud over the tent.”


text: The verb נָאַץ ( na ’ ats ) means “to condemn, spurn” (BDB 610 s.v.). Coats suggests that in some contexts the word means actual rejection or renunciation ( Rebellion in the Wilderness , 146, 7). This would include the idea of distaste.


text: The verb “to believe” (root אָמַן , ’ aman ) has the basic idea of support, dependability for the root. The Hiphil has a declarative sense, namely, to consider something reliable or dependable and to act on it. The people did not trust what the Lord said.


text: The Greek version has “death.”


text: The construction is unusual in that we have here a perfect tense with a vav ( ו ) consecutive with no verb before it to establish the time sequence. The context requires that this be taken as a vav ( ו ) consecutive. It actually forms the protasis for the next verse, and would best be rendered “when … then they will say.”


text: The singular participle is to be taken here as a collective, representing all the inhabitants of the land.


text: “Face to face” is literally “eye to eye.” It only occurs elsewhere in Isa 52:8 . This expresses the closest communication possible.


text: The verb is the Hiphil perfect of מוּת ( mut ), וְהֵמַתָּה ( vÿhemattah ). The vav ( ו ) consecutive makes this also a future time sequence verb, but again in a conditional clause.


text: Heb “as one man.”


text: The form in the text is אֲדֹנָי (’ adonay ), the word that is usually used in place of the tetragrammaton. It is the plural form with the pronominal suffix, and so must refer to God.


text: The expression is רַב־חֶסֶד ( rav khesed ) means “much of loyal love,” or “faithful love.” Some have it “totally faithful,” but that omits the aspect of his love.


text: Or “rebellion.”


text: The infinitive absolute emphasizes the verbal activity of the imperfect tense, which here serves as a habitual imperfect. Negated it states what God does not do; and the infinitive makes that certain.


text: The verb סְלַח־נָא ( selakh-na ’), the imperative form, means “forgive” (see Ps 130:4 ), “pardon,” “excuse.” The imperative is of course a prayer, a desire, and not a command.


text: The construct unit is “the greatness of your loyal love.” This is the genitive of specification, the first word being the modifier.


text: Heb “forgiven according to your word.” The direct object, “them,” is implied.


text: The verb נָסָה ( nasah ) means “to test, to tempt, to prove.” It can be used to indicate things are tried or proven, or for testing in a good sense, or tempting in the bad sense, i.e., putting God to the test. In all uses there is uncertainty or doubt about the outcome. Some uses of the verb are positive: If God tests Abraham in Genesis 22:1 , it is because there is uncertainty whether he fears the Lord or not; if people like Gideon put out the fleece and test the Lord , it is done by faith but in order to be certain of the Lord ’s presence. But here, when these people put God to the test ten times, it was because they doubted the goodness and ability of God, and this was a major weakness. They had proof to the contrary, but chose to challenge God.


text: “Ten” is here a round figure, emphasizing the complete testing. But see F. V. Winnett, The Mosaic Tradition , 121-54.


text: Heb “listened to my voice.”


text: The word אִם (’ im ) indicates a negative oath formula: “if” means “they will not.” It is elliptical. In a human oath one would be saying: “The Lord do to me if they see …,” meaning “they will by no means see.” Here God is swearing that they will not see the land.


text: Heb “seed.”


text: The figure is aposiopesis, or sudden silence. The main verb is deleted from the line, “how long…this evil community.” The intensity of the emotion is the reason for the ellipsis.


text: The word נְאֻם ( nÿ ’ um ) is an “oracle.” It is followed by the subjective genitive: “the oracle of the Lord ” is equal to saying “the Lord says.”


text: Heb “in my ears.” sn They had expressed the longing to have died in the wilderness, and not in war. God will now give them that. They would not say to God “your will be done,” so he says to them, “your will be done” (to borrow from C. S. Lewis).


text: Or “your corpses” (also in vv. 32, 33 ).


text: The relative pronoun “which” is joined with the resumptive pronoun “in it” to form a smoother reading “where.”


text: The Hebrew text uses the anthropomorphic expression “I raised my hand” in taking an oath.


text: Heb “to cause you to dwell; to cause you to settle.”


text: Or “plunder.”


text: Heb “know.”


text: The word is “shepherds.” It means that the people would be wilderness nomads, grazing their flock on available land.


text: Heb “you shall bear your whoredoms.” The imagery of prostitution is used throughout the Bible to reflect spiritual unfaithfulness, leaving the covenant relationship and following after false gods. Here it is used generally for their rebellion in the wilderness, but not for following other gods.


text: The infinitive is from תָּמַם ( tamam ), which means “to be complete.” The word is often used to express completeness in a good sense – whole, blameless, or the like. Here and in v. 35 it seems to mean “until your deaths have been completed.” See also Gen 47:15 ; Deut 2:15 .


text: Heb “you shall bear.”


text: The phrase refers to the consequences of open hostility to God, or perhaps abandonment of God. The noun תְּנוּאָה ( tÿnu ’ ah ) occurs in Job 33:10 (perhaps). The related verb occurs in Num 30:6 HT ( 30:5 ET) and 32:7 with the sense of “disallow, discourage.” The sense of the expression adopted in this translation comes from the meticulous study of R. Loewe, “Divine Frustration Exegetically Frustrated,” Words and Meanings , 137-58.


text: The verb is the Hiphil infinitive construct with a lamed ( ל ) preposition from the root יָצָא ( yatsa ’, “to bring out”). The use of the infinitive here is epexegetical, that is, explaining how they caused the people to murmur.


text: The Hebrew text uses the preposition “from,” “some of” – “from those men.” The relative pronoun is added to make a smoother reading.


text: The preterite here is subordinated to the next preterite to form a temporal clause.


text: The word אָבַל (’ aval ) is rare, used mostly for mourning over deaths, but it is used here of mourning over bad news (see also Exod 33:4 ; 1 Sam 15:35; 16:1 ; etc.).


text: The verb וַיַּשְׁכִּמוּ ( vayyashkimu ) is often found in a verbal hendiadys construction: “They rose early…and they went up” means “they went up early.”


text: The Hebrew text says literally “the top of the hill,” but judging from the location and the terrain it probably means the heights of the hill country.


text: The verb is simply “said,” but it means the place that the Lord said to go up to in order to fight.


text: The line literally has, “Why is this [that] you are transgressing….” The demonstrative pronoun is enclitic; it brings the force of “why in the world are you doing this now?”


text: Heb “mouth.”


text: This verb could also be subordinated to the preceding: “that you be not smitten.”


text: N. H. Snaith compares Arabic ’ afala (“to swell”) and gafala (“reckless, headstrong”; Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 248). The word עֹפֶל (’ ofel ) means a “rounded hill” or a “tumor.” The idea behind the verb may be that of “swelling,” and so “act presumptuously.”


text: The disjunctive vav ( ו ) here introduces a circumstantial clause; the most appropriate one here would be the concessive “although.”


text: Heb “came down.”


text: The verb used here means “crush by beating,” or “pounded” them. The Greek text used “cut them in pieces.”


text: The name “Hormah” means “destruction”; it is from the word that means “ban, devote” for either destruction or temple use.