Translation talk:Numbers

A brief introduction to Numbers

Chronologically, Numbers ought to follow Exodus rather than Leviticus. Traditionally the book was authored by Moses, though that has been debated on the basis of stylistic differences. The purpose of Numbers is to record the traditions associated with the wanderings of the Israelites, provide genealogical continuity for the patriarchal traditions, and to provide a legal and moral basis for the conquests reported. Numbers sets down the basis for legislative precedent with special emphasis on questions of inheritance and on priestly and Levitical obligations and benefits. -- Pinkfud (talk) 22:47, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

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Sources

I am sourcing my work here entirely from the Torah and various Rabbinical commentaries on the Book. -- Pinkfud (talk) 08:46, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Retranslating

I retranslated chapter 1. Here is the old chapter one. My comments are below.

Old Chapter 1

¹ On the first day of the second month, in the second year after the exodus from the land of Egypt,^[1] the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting,^[2] saying:

² Take a census of all the Israelites by the clans of their ancestral houses, listing the names of every male head by head. ³ You and Aaron shall record by their groups, from the age of twenty years and up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms. ⁴ The man who is head of his ancestral house from each tribe shall assist you.^[3]

⁵ These are the names of the men who are to assist you: From Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur. ⁶ From Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. ⁷ From Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab. ⁸ From Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar. ⁹ From Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon. ¹⁰ From the sons of Joseph: From Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; from Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. ¹¹ From Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni. ¹² From Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. ¹³ From Asher, Pagiel the son of Ochran. ¹⁴ From Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel. ¹⁵ From Naphtali, Ahira, the son of Enam. ¹⁶ These are the elected of the Israelites, the chieftains of the ancestral tribes; they are the leaders of the houses^[4] of Israel.

¹⁷ So Moses and Aaron took these men who were designated by name, ¹⁸ and on the first day of the second month, they gathered together the whole of the people and registered them by the clans of their ancestral houses - the names of those being aged twenty years and over listed head by head. ¹⁹ As the Lord had commanded Moses, so he registered them in the wilderness of the Sinai.

²⁰ (Note)^[5] The total of the census was as follows: The descendants of Reuben, first-born of Israel, the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms - ²¹ Those registered from the tribe of Reuben: 46,500.

²² Of the descendants of Simeon, the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms - ²³ Those registered from the tribe of Simeon: 59,300.

²⁴ Of the descendants of Gad, the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms - ²⁵ Those registered from the tribe of Gad: 45,650.

²⁶ Of the descendants of Judah, the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms - ²⁷ Those registered from the tribe of Judah: 74,600.

²⁸ Of the descendants of Issachar, the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms - ²⁹ Those registered from the tribe of Issachar: 54,400.

³⁰ Of the descendants of Zebulun, the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms - ³¹ Those registered from the tribe of Zebulun: 57,400.

³² Of the descendants of Joseph: Of the descendants of Ephraim: the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms - ³³ Those registered from the tribe of Ephraim: 40,500.

³⁴ Of the descendants of Manasseh, the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms - ³⁵ Those registered from the tribe of Manasseh: 32,200.

³⁶ Of the descendants of Benjamin, the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms - ³⁷ Those registered from the tribe of Benjamin: 35,400.

³⁸ Of the descendants of Dan, the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms - ³⁹ Those registered from the tribe of Dan: 62,700.

⁴⁰ Of the descendants of Asher, the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms - ⁴¹ Those registered from the tribe of Asher: 41,500.

⁴² Of the descendants of Naphtali, the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms - ⁴³ Those registered from the tribe of Naphtali: 53,400.

⁴⁴ Those are the listings recorded by Moses and Aaron and by the chieftains of Israel, who were twelve in number, being one man from each ancestral house. ⁴⁵ All the Israelites aged twenty years and over, listed by their ancestral houses, all those in Israel who were able to bear arms - ⁴⁶ all who were counted came to 603,550.

⁴⁷ The Levites, however, were not listed among them by their ancestral tribe. ⁴⁸ For the Lord had spoken to Moses saying: ⁴⁹ Do not for any reason record the Levites or take a census of them with the Israelites. ⁵⁰ You shall put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Pact with all its furnishings and all that belongs to it; They shall carry the Tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall tend it, and they shall make their camp around it. ⁵¹ When the Tabernacle is to be taken down, the Levites shall take it down, and when the Tabernacle is to be assembled, the Levites shall assemble it, and any outsider who interferes shall be put to death.

⁵² The Israelites shall make their camps troop by troop, each man with his section and each under his standard. ⁵³ But the Levites shall always camp around the Tabernacle of the Pact, so that wrath may not strike against the community; the Levites shall stand guard over the Tabernacle of the Pact.

⁵⁴ And the Israelites did all these things, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so they did.

Footnotes

1. (1:1) The second month conflicts with the account in Exodus 38:26.
2. (1:2) The portable wilderness sanctuary was sometimes called the Tent of Meeting (Ohel Mo-ed) and sometimes Tabernacle (Mishkan).
3. (1:3) Ancestral house refers to the patriarchal lineage of a person's descent.
4. (1:4) houses might be better understood as "troops" or "military contingents".
5. (1:4) The totals given here seem unreasonable. I can only record what is written in the Torah.

Comments

I retranslated mostly for continuity with the stylistic choices which are consistent in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. But I have some reservations about the text above. "troop" is not as nice as "rank", which I used for "Tsva'am" consistently (it amazingly works as a translation even when the term is used metaphorically). I didn't like the more tribal tone of "chieftain" etc, which gives the translation a different feeling. While I agree that this is what is going on, the terms used in Hebrew do not have connotations of small-mindedness that these tribal terms do.

The first comment claims that verse 1 is inconsistent with Exodus 38:26. That is not so--- that part could have been in the first year of the wandering. The passage referenced is describing head taxes, not necessarily a head count. The head count here seems to be for purposes of explaining land appropriations to the twelve tribes in the land of Israel. My guess is that the numbers reflect acreage allotted to the tribes in the kingdom of Israel. So the fifth comment is not particularly apropos.

Continuing Numbers

I just finished Chapter 2, I am using the Masoretic text as reproduced on www.mechon-mamre.org. I decided to change "parked" to "camped" since most people associate "park" with automobiles, so I feel "camp" reflects desert wanderings better.

Sources: 6:19 through the end of Chapter 32

Previous translators have left off their work part-way through chapter 6. I've picked up at the beginning of chapter 7. I'm translating from the Masoretic Text (I haven't made any text-critical decisions yet). I've glanced at the KJV and Jewish Publication Society translation of 1917, and felt free to borrow wording when it seemed appropriate, as both are public domain translations. However, what I've produced is basically a fresh translation. I've been adding footnotes where I've engaged in (even very limited) paraphrasing, or where I've been unsure if my translation gets it right. Alephb (talk) 15:13, 10 May 2017 (UTC). Ditto for the rest of the chapter. Alephb (talk) 02:57, 22 May 2017 (UTC)

Chapter 8, same methods.Alephb (talk) 03:42, 23 May 2017 (UTC)

Chapter 6:19-27, same methods. Alephb (talk) 04:37, 23 May 2017 (UTC)

Chapter 9 from the Masoretic text, borrowing wording from the King James Version and Gesenius whenever it seemed appropriate, and also relying on Gray's commentary on Numbers in the tricky spots. Alephb (talk) 07:14, 2 June 2017 (UTC)

By Gray's commentary, I mean George Gray. Alephb (talk) 06:10, 8 June 2017 (UTC)

This translation follows the Masoretic text except where the footnotes indicate otherwise. Alephb (talk) 14:36, 10 June 2017 (UTC)

Numbers 15:15 / "resident alien" or "proselyte"?

I wish to suggest here a more precise translation of the Hebrew word "ger" in Numbers 15:15 (in the Wikisource translated as "resident alien"). First, though, this background information.

In Lev. 17:15 we read: "And every soul that eats that which died of itself, or that which was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a proselyte (Heb. "ger"), he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even, etc." The Hebrew word improperly translated in most English translations as "stranger" is actually "ger," = גּר (translated as "proselyte" in the Aramaic Targum, by Onkelos). What is rarely understood by many is that the same word, "ger" when used in the Hebrew language, has actually a double-meaning. Sometimes it is used to represent the foreigner who has joined himself to the people of Israel, and who now follows their religion (i.e. a convert or proselyte to Judaism). For this reason, it says in the Torah (Num. 15:16): "One law and one ordinance shall be for you, and for the proselyte ("ger") that sojourns with you."

At other times, the same word, "ger," is used to represent someone who has not yet converted to the Jewish religion, yet lives amongst the Jewish people. Hence: stranger. For this reason, it says of him in another place: "You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself; you shall give it unto the stranger ("ger") that is in your gates, that he might eat it, etc."

Note that in one place (Deut. 14:21) the Torah says that carrion can be given as food to the "stranger" ("ger"), but in a different place cited in the verse above (Lev 17:15) the Torah says that carrion should NOT be given to a "stranger" ("ger"). The Rabbis, seeing this contradiction, said that in one case the word refers to a foreigner was has not yet converted to our religion, while in the other place, the word refers to a proselyte. Thus, we find the words translated accordingly in the Aramaic Targums and in the Greek Septuagint. (The words "stranger" in Exo. 12:49, and in Lev. 22:18, and in Num. 15:15-16, are to be understood as "proselyte").Davidbena (talk) 05:38, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

Where the traditional rabbinical interpretation varies from the majority of modern interpreters, it seems like, either way, it would be a good idea to footnote the other rendering. I suggest, for example, that if we keep "proselyte" in the passages where you prefer it, that we add a footnote along the lines of:

proselyte. Following rabbinical exegesis and the Septuagint. Most modern translators read the word as "resident alien." Alephb (talk) 23:13, 22 November 2017 (UTC)