Numbers 19:15-17

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Numbers 19:16 tn The expression for “in the open field” is literally “upon the face of the field” (עַל־פְּנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה, ʿal p^ene hassadeh). This ruling is in contrast now to what was contacted in the tent.
2. Numbers 19:16 tn Heb “a dead body,” but in contrast to the person killed with a sword, this must refer to someone who died of natural causes.
3. Numbers 19:16 sn See Matt 23:27 and Acts 23:3 for application of this by the time of Jesus.
4. Numbers 19:17 tn The verb is the perfect tense, third masculine plural, with a vav (ו) consecutive. The verb may be worded as a passive, “ashes must be taken,” but that may be too awkward for this sentence. It may be best to render it with a generic “you” to fit the instruction of the text.
5. Numbers 19:17 tn The word “heifer” is not in the Hebrew text, but it is implied.
6. Numbers 19:17 tn Here too the verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; rather than make this passive, it is here left as a direct instruction to follow the preceding one. For the use of the verb נָתַן (natan) in the sense of “pour,” see S. C. Reif, “A Note on a Neglected Connotation of ntn,” VT 20 (1970): 114-16.
7. Numbers 19:17 tn The expression is literally “living water.” Living water is the fresh, flowing spring water that is clear, life-giving, and not the collected pools of stagnant or dirty water.