translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: NUM

label: NET translator note

text: For location see Map5-B2 ; Map6-E1 ; Map7-E1 ; Map8-E3 ; Map10-A2 ; Map11-A1 .


text: The verb is the perfect tense with vav ( ו ) consecutive: “command…and they will give,” or “that they give.”


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


text: Heb “one thousand cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) in length, so this would be a distance of 1,500 feet or 500 yards (675 meters).


text: The verb is the Qal perfect of מָדַד ( madad , “to measure”). With its vav ( ו ) consecutive it carries the same instructional force as the imperfect.


text: Heb “two thousand cubits” (also three more times in this verse). This would be a distance of 3,000 feet or 1,000 yards (1,350 meters).


text: The “manslayer” is the verb “to kill” in a participial form, providing the subject of the clause. The verb means “to kill”; it can mean accidental killing, premeditated killing, or capital punishment. The clause uses the infinitive to express purpose or result: “to flee there the manslayer,” means “so that the manslayer may flee there.”


text: The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.


text: the verb is the preterite of “die.” The sentence has :“if…he strikes him and he dies.” The vav ( ו ) consecutive is showing the natural result of the blow.


text: The participle גֹּאֵל ( go ’ el ) is the one who protects the family by seeking vengeance for a crime. This is the same verb used for levirate marriages and other related customs.


text: The Hebrew text is more vivid: “by lying in wait.”


text: Heb “in it.”


text: Heb “he.”


text: Heb “a statute of judgment” (so KJV).


text: Heb “ at the mouth of”; the metonymy stresses it is at their report.


text: The verb should be given the nuance of imperfect of potentiality.


text: Heb “the priest.” The Greek and the Syriac have “high priest.” The present translation, along with many English versions, uses “high priest” as a clarification.