Numbers 11:9-11

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Numbers 11:9 tn The temporal clause is constructed of the infinitive construct from יָרָד (yarad) with a temporal preposition, followed by the subjective genitive.
2. Numbers 11:9 tn Heb “came down.”
3. Numbers 11:10 sn Moses begins to feel the burden of caring for this people, a stubborn and rebellious people. His complaint shows how contagious their complaining has been. It is one thing to cry out to God about the load of ministry, but it is quite another to do it in such a way as to reflect a lack of faith in God’s provision. God has to remind the leader Moses that he, the Lord, can do anything. This is a variation on the theme from Exodus—“who am I that I should lead….”
4. Numbers 11:10 tn The participle “weeping” is functioning here as the noun in the accusative case, an adverbial accusative of state. It is explicative of the object.
5. Numbers 11:10 tn Heb “it was evil in the eyes of Moses.”
6. Numbers 11:11 tn The verb is the Hiphil of רָעַע (raʿaʿ, “to be evil”). Moses laments (with the rhetorical question) that God seems to have caused him harm.
7. Numbers 11:11 tn The infinitive construct with the preposition is expressing the result of not finding favor with God (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 12-13, §57). What Moses is claiming is that because he has been given this burden God did not show him favor.