Footnotes

1. Numbers 14:20 tn Heb “forgiven according to your word.” The direct object, “them,” is implied.
2. Numbers 14:21 sn This is the oath formula, but in the Pentateuch it occurs here and in v. 28.
3. Numbers 14:22 tn 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.
4. Numbers 14:22 tn “Ten” is here a round figure, emphasizing the complete testing. But see F. V. Winnett, The Mosaic Tradition, 121-54.
5. Numbers 14:22 tn Heb “listened to my voice.”
6. Numbers 14:23 tn The word אִם (ʾim) 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.
7. Numbers 14:24 tn Heb “seed.”
8. Numbers 14:25 sn The judgment on Israel is that they turn back to the desert and not attack the tribes in the land. So a parenthetical clause is inserted to state who was living there. They would surely block the entrance to the land from the south—unless God removed them. And he is not going to do that for Israel.
9. Numbers 14:27 tn 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.
10. Numbers 14:27 sn It is worth mentioning in passing that this is one of the Rabbinic proof texts for having at least ten men to form a congregation and have prayer. If God called ten men (the bad spies) a “congregation,” then a congregation must have ten men. But here the word “community/congregation” refers in this context to the people of Israel as a whole, not just to the ten spies.
11. Numbers 14:28 sn Here again is the oath that God swore in his wrath, an oath he swore by himself, that they would not enter the land. “As the Lord lives,” or “by the life of the Lord,” are ways to render it.
12. Numbers 14:28 tn The word נְאֻם (n^eʾum) is an “oracle.” It is followed by the subjective genitive: “the oracle of the Lord” is equal to saying “the Lord says.”
13. Numbers 14:28 tn 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).
14. Numbers 14:29 tn Or “your corpses” (also in vv. 32, 33).
15. Numbers 14:30 tn The relative pronoun “which” is joined with the resumptive pronoun “in it” to form a smoother reading “where.”
16. Numbers 14:30 tn The Hebrew text uses the anthropomorphic expression “I raised my hand” in taking an oath.
17. Numbers 14:30 tn Heb “to cause you to dwell; to cause you to settle.”
18. Numbers 14:31 tn Or “plunder.”
19. Numbers 14:31 tn Heb “know.”
20. Numbers 14:33 tn The word is “shepherds.” It means that the people would be wilderness nomads, grazing their flock on available land.
21. Numbers 14:33 tn 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.
22. Numbers 14:33 tn 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.
23. Numbers 14:34 tn Heb “you shall bear.”
24. Numbers 14:34 tn The phrase refers to the consequences of open hostility to God, or perhaps abandonment of God. The noun תְּנוּאָה (t^enuʾah) 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.