I’ll continue to look at yehôvâh’s fearful pronouncement: I punish the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject me…[1] Two tables comparing/contrasting four partial verses follow. In the center columns the Hebrew words read from top to bottom, beside them are my best effort at a word-for-word translation, and then the NET translations are in the outer columns.
|
Exodus 20:5b Table |
Deuteronomy 5:9b |
||||
| …responding (פקד) to the transgression (עון) of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject (לשׁנאי) me…
Exodus 20:5b (NET) |
visiting | פקד | פקד | visiting | …I punish (פקד) the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin (עון) of the fathers who reject (לשׁנאי) me…
Deuteronomy 5:9b (NET) |
| the iniquity | עון | עון | the iniquity | ||
| of fathers | אבת | אבות | of the fathers | ||
| upon | על | על | upon | ||
| sons | בנים | בנים | sons | ||
| upon | על | ועל | and upon | ||
| the third | שלשים | שלשים | the third | ||
| and upon | ועל | ועל | and upon | ||
| the fourth | רבעים | רבעים | the fourth | ||
| who hate | לשׁנאי | לשׁנאי | who hate | ||
|
Exodus 34:7b |
Numbers 14:18b |
||||
| …responding (פקד) to the transgression (עון) of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.
Exodus 34:7b (NET) |
visiting | פקד | פקד | visiting | …visiting (פקד) the iniquity (עון) of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.
Numbers 14:18b (NET) |
| the iniquity | עון | עון | the iniquity | ||
| of the fathers | אבות | אבות | of the fathers | ||
| upon | על | על | upon | ||
| sons | בנים | בנים | sons | ||
| and upon | ועל | על | upon | ||
| sons(’) | בני | ||||
| sons | בנים | ||||
| upon | על | ||||
| the third | שלשים | שלשים | the third | ||
| and upon | ועל | ועל | and upon | ||
| the fourth | רבעים | רבעים | the fourth | ||
There doesn’t seem to be anything about the Hebrew words themselves that would compel anyone to translate פקד (pâqad) I punish or עון (ʽâvôn) for the sin.[2] In fact, forms of pâqad were only translated punish or punishment three other times in the NET prior to Deuteronomy 5:9. Two occur after Israel worshipped the golden calf. Moses said (Exodus 32:30-35 NET):
“You have committed a very serious sin, but now I will go up to the Lord – perhaps I can make atonement on behalf of your sin.”
So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has committed a very serious sin, and they have made for themselves gods of gold [Table]. But now, if you will forgive (nâsâh, תשׁא) their sin…, but if not, wipe me out from your book that you have written” [Table]. The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me – that person I will wipe out of my book. So now go, lead the people to the place I have spoken to you about. See, my angel will go before you. But on the day that I punish (pâqad, פקדי; Tanakh: I visit), I will indeed punish (pâqad, ופקדתי; Tanakh: I will visit) them for their sin.”
And the Lord sent a plague (nâgaph, ויגף) on the people because they had made the calf – the one Aaron made.
I don’t have any quarrel with describing this plague[3] as punishment, but it occurs in a particular context. Though Moses offered—wipe me out from your book that you have written—yehôvâh said, Whoever has sinned against me – that person I will wipe out of my book. Later in his address recorded in Deuteronomy Moses said: Fathers must not be put to death for what their children do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.[4]
Rabbi Dr. Zev Farber in his article “Punishing Children for the Sins of their Parents,” on TheTorah online wrote about “the surprising claim” from Rabbi Yossi bar Chanina in the Babylonian Talmud “that in four cases the prophets overturned a decree Moses makes in the Torah.” Apparently Rabbi Yossi bar Chanina held that not only Deuteronomy 5:9 but Exodus 20:5 “makes a clear and strong claim that in at least one case—worshipping other gods or idols—God punishes the descendants of the sinner until the fourth generation.” Rabbi Farber took issue with one of the “four cases”:[5]
The prophet Ezekiel, who was exiled to Babylon in 597, offers a torrent of arguments and rhetoric against the concept of punishing children for the sins of the parents. He does not frame it as an argument against the Torah…but rather he frames it as a response to a popular notion (Ezek 18).
Rabbi Yossi bar Chanina apparently did not accept that “God punishes the descendants of the sinner until the fourth generation” was an erroneous popular notion and so he pit Ezekiel against Moses and even yehôvâh Himself. This tenacious aspect of the religious mind to justify itself should be familiar to us. How many generations of English speaking followers of Jesus have believed that ἄνωθεν meant again, Nicodemus’ misunderstanding of Jesus’ words? How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?[6] Jesus[7] answered (John 3:5-8 NET):
“I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above (ἄνωθεν).’ The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
I want to simplify the world to consider pâqad in the context of Adam and two of his sons Cain and Abel. First, for background, consider Paul’s understanding of their situation (Romans 5:12-14 NET Table):
So then, just as sin entered the world through one man [e.g., Adam] and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned – for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type of the coming one) transgressed.
And the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) was pleased with Abel and his offering…[8] But when Cain killed Abel it is apparently possible to argue by the Hebrew words of Deuteronomy 5:9 that yehôvâh punished Abel for Adam’s sin. It’s not an argument I want to make before the judgment seat of Christ. Then the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”[9] Cain lacked David’s knowledge of yehôvâh (Psalm 139:1-12 NET):
O Lord, you examine me and know. You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives. You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; you are aware of everything I do. Certainly my tongue does not frame a word without you, O Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), being thoroughly aware of it. You squeeze me in from behind and in front; you place your hand on me. Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension; it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it.
Where can I go to escape your spirit? Where can I flee to escape your presence? If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn, and settle down on the other side of the sea, even there your hand would guide me, your right hand would grab hold of me. If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, and the light will turn to night all around me,” even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, and the night is as bright as day; darkness and light are the same to you.
Cain mistook yehôvâh’s question—Where is your brother Abel?—for ignorance of what he had done rather than as an opportunity to confess, and repent of, his rash act. We can only imagine how differently this scene might have played out if Cain had expressed his own shock and horror at what he had done in anger, anger directed primarily at yehôvâh’s rejection of his offering. But I don’t take that to mean that yehôvâh was ignorant that Cain murdered Abel: The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground![10] Nor do I take it to mean that David was disputing with Moses or imagining novel qualities of yehôvâh. I assume that yehôvâh is ever this knowledgeable and Cain was simply ignorant of it.
Cain wasn’t stupid. Consider his clever evasion to yehôvâh’s question, Where is your brother Abel: I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?[11] Apparently, he reasoned that his father had tripped himself up by being too forthright with yehôvâh: I heard you moving about in the orchard, Adam had answered yehôvâh’s question, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.[12] As Cain understood it, the knowledge Adam let slip—I was naked—enabled yehôvâh to infer what his father had done: Who told you that you were naked? yehôvâh asked Adam. Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?[13] But again, I don’t assume that yehôvâh had to infer what He already knew Adam had done simply because Cain didn’t know Him.
In a similar way I assume that the word of yehôvâh (יהוה) that came to Ezekiel is the same word of the same yehôvâh revealed to Moses and recorded in Deuteronomy 5:9. The erroneous popular notion—Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear (nâsâh, נשׁא) the iniquity (ʽâvôn, בעון) of the father?[14]—that the son should or must die for the father’s sin (Ezekiel 18:20 Tanakh) was the misunderstanding of religious minds no matter how many famous rabbis espoused it. And so I take the translation of פקד (pâqad) as I punish in Deuteronomy 5:9 as a perpetuation of an erroneous popular notion of religious minds that was clearly corrected in Ezekiel 18.
I am not yet perfected in love. The first thing that comes to mind when things don’t go my way is that God is punishing me for something. Faith in yehôvâh comes from the fruit of his Spirit, along with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. If I think of verses like Deuteronomy 5:9 from the perspective of sons, grandsons and great grandsons, I will come to the same erroneous conclusion, what Rabbi Farber called Sour Grapes Theology:[15]
The sour grapes theology paints the punishment of descendants as a harsh but necessary way of God dispensing justice. Full punishment of a sinner may include the punishment of his family.
I think it’s more productive to view Deuteronomy 5:9 from the perspective of iniquitous fathers, particularly iniquitous fathers who don’t want the horror of their iniquity visited upon their children. For [our earthly fathers] disciplined us for a little while as seemed good to them, but [God] does so for our benefit, that we may share his holiness.[16] My children were not my biological offspring so I won’t even comment on passing on my iniquity via nature. But the iniquity I passed on to them via nurture was not merely a matter of my inept blundering.
As I think of it now I recall how often I passed on my perverse views of life, the way things “really” work. And I did so with as much or more conviction than anything I taught them about Christ and his righteousness. Add to that my own on-again-off-again righteousness—sometimes led by the Holy Spirit, sometimes not so much—and I have a truly horrifying picture of yehôvâh visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,[17] my children! And this, when I wanted what was best for them.
I find myself crying aloud with Cain’s words (if not his meaning): My iniquity (ʽâvôn, עוני) is too great to endure (nâsâh, מנשׁא)! What hope do I have but that which is to be found in the long name of yehôvâh? The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, keeping loyal love for thousands, [bearing] (nâsâh, נשׁא) iniquity (ʽâvôn, עון) and transgression and sin.[18]
In a prophecy that reads so much like history unbelievers doubt its authenticity, yehôvâh spoke of disobedient (Leviticus 26:13-17) survivors (Leviticus 26:39, 40 Tanakh):
And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their treachery which they committed against Me, and also that they have walked contrary unto Me.
Confession of one’s own iniquity is obvious. Confession of one’s fathers’ iniquity is necessary because we are far too likely to mistake our fathers’ iniquity for the way things are done, especially if those fathers were religious leaders of some note.
In the movie The Shack in a dream within a vision during a life-threatening coma Mack (Sam Worthington) spends a weekend in a cabin at a lake with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. His wife Nan (Radha Mitchell) calls God Papa, a bit too familiar for Mack’s taste at the beginning of the film.
Papa (Octavia Spencer) appears to Mack as the neighbor woman who, looking at young Mack’s bruised face, said, “Daddies aren’t supposed to do that to their kids. It ain’t love. You understand?” Papa explains to adult Mack, “After what you been through, I didn’t think you could handle a father right now.” But once Mack has God in his hands, so to speak, he has a lifetime of blame to unleash.
“You’re the almighty God, right?” he accuses Papa. “You know everything. You’re everywhere, all at once. And you have limitless power. Yet, somehow you let my little girl die. When she needed you most, you abandoned her.” Mack’s 7-year-old daughter Missy (Amélie Eve) was abducted by a serial killer. Nothing of her was ever found but her bloodstained dress. Still, Mack’s first salvo is mostly a ruse that doesn’t quite get to the heart of his issue with God.
That first night he reads himself to sleep with the Old Testament and dreams of Missy’s abduction, a dream within a dream within a vision in a coma. Missy calls out to him for rescue. The next morning at breakfast Mack moves one step closer to the real issue.
Mack: Everybody knows you punish the people who disappoint you.
Papa: Hmm. Nope. I don’t need to punish people. Sin is its own punishment.[19] As difficult as it is for you to accept, I’m in the middle of everything you perceive to be a mess, workin’ for your good.
Later, after a stroll across the lake with Jesus (Aviv Alush), Mack meets Wisdom (Alice Braga) in a cave beneath a waterfall. She helps him take his first steps toward obeying Jesus’ command: Do not judge so that you will not be judged.[20] Sitting with Wisdom, Mack approaches the heart of the matter.
Mack: You know, what I don’t understand is how God can love Missy and put her through so much horror. She was innocent.
Wisdom: I know.
Mack: Did he use her to punish me? ‘Cause that’s not fair. And she didn’t deserve it. My wife and my children didn’t deserve it. Now, I might. ‘Cause you know I’m…
Mack can never bring himself to confess that he murdered his father. Later that day Mack acknowledges being overly hard on God. Papa responds: “I can work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies. But that doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies.”
That evening Mack is taken to meet the abusive father he poisoned. Before he can say anything more than “Dad” his father says, “Mack, I’m so sorry for everything. I was blind and I couldn’t see you. I couldn’t see anyone.” Still, Mack can’t or won’t confess his murder, he only makes excuses. “Son, I forgive you,” his father continues. “You’ve become the father I could never be. And I’m so proud of you. Can you ever forgive me?”
In the movie Papa protested that she didn’t “orchestrate the tragedies.” Still, woven into the fabric of The Shack is a serial killer who came to a campground to abduct a little girl. His victim of opportunity was a murderer’s daughter. Papa in Mack’s dream in a vision in a coma in a movie may want to leave it to chance or fate or karma, but in Scripture visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children is as much a part of yehôvâh’s self-proclaimed name as forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.[21] That’s as important in reality as it proved to be in The Shack.
The next morning Papa appears to Mack as a man (Graham Greene). “For what we have to do today you’re gonna need a father,” Papa explains. He wants Mack to forgive the man who murdered his daughter.
Mack: So, you just let him get away with it?
Papa: Nobody gets away with anything…I’m not asking you to excuse what he did. I’m asking you to trust me to do what’s right and to know what’s best.
| Form of pâqad | Reference | KJV | NET |
| פקד | Exodus 34:7 | …visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children… | …responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children… |
| Exodus 38:21 | …as it was counted, according to the commandment of Moses… | …which was counted by the order of Moses… | |
| Numbers 1:44 | …which Moses and Aaron numbered… | …whom Moses and Aaron numbered… | |
| Numbers 3:15 | Number the children of Levi after the… | Number the Levites by their clans and… | |
| Numbers 3:39 | …which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD… | …whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the word of the Lord… | |
| Numbers 3:40 | Number all the firstborn of the males of the children of Israel… | Number all the firstborn males of the Israelites… | |
| Numbers 4:37 | …which Moses and Aaron did number… | …whom Moses and Aaron numbered… | |
| Numbers 4:41 | …whom Moses and Aaron did number… | …whom Moses and Aaron numbered… | |
| Numbers 4:45 | …whom Moses and Aaron numbered… | …whom Moses and Aaron numbered… | |
| Numbers 4:46 | …whom Moses and Aaron and the chief of Israel numbered… | …whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel numbered… | |
| Numbers 4:49 | According to the commandment of the LORD they were numbered… | According to the word of the Lord they were numbered… | |
| Numbers 14:18 | …visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children… | …visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children… | |
| Deuteronomy 5:9 | …visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children… | I punish the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers… | |
| יפקד | Numbers 16:29 | …or if they be visited after the visitation of all men… | …or if they share the fate[22] of all men… |
| Numbers 27:16 | …set a man over the congregation… | …appoint a man over the community… | |
| פקדי | Exodus 32:34 | …nevertheless in the day when I visit… | But on the day that I punish… |
| פקדו | Numbers 26:63 | …who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab… | …who numbered the Israelites in the plains of Moab… |
| Numbers 26:64 | …when they numbered the children of Israel… | …when they numbered the Israelites… | |
| פקדיו | Numbers 1:22 | …those that were numbered of them, according to the number of the names… | …all the males numbered of them twenty years old or older… |
| Numbers 26:54 | …be given according to those that were numbered of him. | …given according to the number of people in it. | |
| פקדיכם | Numbers 14:29 | …and all that were numbered of you… | …all those of you who were numbered… |
| פקדיהם | Numbers 1:21 | Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Reuben… | Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Reuben were 46,500. |
| Numbers 1:23 | Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Simeon… | Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Simeon were 59,300. | |
| Numbers 1:25 | Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Gad… | Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Gad were 45,650. | |
| Numbers 1:27 | Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Judah… | Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Judah were 74,600. | |
| Numbers 1:29 | Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Issachar… | Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Issachar were 54,400. | |
| Numbers 1:31 | Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Zebulun… | Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Zebulun were 57,400. | |
| Numbers 1:33 | Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Ephraim… | Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Ephraim were 40,500. | |
| Numbers 1:35 | Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Manasseh… | Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Manasseh were 32,200. | |
| Numbers 1:37 | Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Benjamin… | Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Benjamin were 35,400. | |
| Numbers 1:39 | Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Dan… | Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Dan were 62,700. | |
| Numbers 1:41 | Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Asher… | Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Asher were 41,500. | |
| Numbers 1:43 | Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Naphtali… | Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Naphtali were 53,400. | |
| Numbers 3:22 | Those that were numbered of them, according to the number… | Those of them who were numbered, counting every male… | |
| Numbers 3:22 | …even those that were numbered of them were seven thousand and five hundred. | Not translated | |
| Numbers 4:36 | And those that were numbered of them by their families were… | …and those of them numbered by their families were 2,750. | |
| Numbers 4:40 | Even those that were numbered of them, throughout their families… | …those of them numbered by their families, by their clans, were 2,630. | |
| Numbers 4:44 | Even those that were numbered of them after their families… | …those of them numbered by their families were 3,200. | |
| Numbers 4:48 | Even those that were numbered of them, were… | …those of them numbered were 8,580. | |
| Numbers 26:7 | …and they that were numbered of them were… | …and those numbered of them were 43,730. | |
| Numbers 26:62 | And those that were numbered of them were… | Those of them who were numbered were 23,000… | |
| פקודי | Exodus 38:21 | This is the sum of the tabernacle… | This is the inventory of the tabernacle… |
| Exodus 38:25 | And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation… | The silver of those who were numbered of the community… | |
| Numbers 1:45 | So were all those that were numbered of the children of Israel… | …who could serve in Israel’s army, were numbered… | |
| Numbers 2:32 | These are those which were numbered of the children of Israel… | These are the Israelites, numbered according to their families. | |
| Numbers 2:32 | …all those that were numbered of the camps… | All those numbered in the camps… | |
| Numbers 3:39 | All that were numbered of the Levites… | All who were numbered of the Levites… | |
| Numbers 4:37 | These were they that were numbered of the families of the Kohathites… | These were those numbered from the families of the Kohathites… | |
| Numbers 4:41 | These are they that were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon… | These were those numbered from the families of the Gershonites… | |
| Numbers 4:45 | These be those that were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari… | These are those numbered from the families of the Merarites… | |
| Numbers 26:51 | These were the numbered of the children of Israel… | These were those numbered of the Israelites, 601,730. | |
| Numbers 26:57 | And these are they that were numbered of the Levites… | …Levites who were numbered according to their families… | |
| Numbers 26:63 | These are they that were numbered by Moses… | These are those who were numbered by Moses… | |
| Numbers 31:14 | …Moses was wroth with the officers of the host… | …Moses was furious with the officers of the army… | |
| ויפקד | Numbers 3:16 | Moses numbered them according to the word of the LORD… | Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord… |
| Numbers 3:42 | And Moses numbered, as the LORD commanded him… | So Moses numbered all the firstborn males among the Israelites… | |
| Numbers 4:34 | And Moses and Aaron and the chief of the congregation numbered… | …Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the community numbered… | |
| ופקדיו | Numbers 2:6 | And his host, and those that were numbered thereof… | Those numbered in his division are 54,400. |
| Numbers 2:8 | And his host, and those that were numbered thereof… | Those numbered in his division are 57,400. | |
| Numbers 2:11 | And his host, and those that were numbered thereof… | Those numbered in his division are 46,500. | |
| Numbers 4:49 | …thus were they numbered of him… | Thus were they numbered by him… | |
| ויפקדם | Numbers 1:19 | …so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai. | And so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai. |
| ופקדתי | Exodus 32:34 | …I will visit their sin upon them. | …I will indeed punish them for their sin. |
| ופקדתם | Numbers 4:27 | …and ye shall appoint unto them in charge… | You will assign them all their tasks… |
| ופקדיהם | Numbers 2:4 | And his host, and those that were numbered of them… | Those numbered in his division are 74,600. |
| Numbers 2:13 | And his host, and those that were numbered of them… | Those numbered in his division are 59,300. | |
| Numbers 2:15 | And his host, and those that were numbered of them… | Those numbered in his division are 45,650. | |
| Numbers 2:19 | And his host, and those that were numbered of them… | Those numbered in his division are 40,500. | |
| Numbers 2:21 | And his host, and those that were numbered of them… | Those numbered in his division are 32,200. | |
| Numbers 2:23 | And his host, and those that were numbered of them… | Those numbered in his division are 35,400. | |
| Numbers 2:26 | And his host, and those that were numbered of them… | Those numbered in his division are 62,700. | |
| Numbers 2:28 | And his host, and those that were numbered of them… | Those numbered in his division are 41,500. | |
| Numbers 2:30 | And his host, and those that were numbered of them… | Those numbered in his division are 53,400. | |
| Numbers 3:34 | And those that were numbered of them, according to the number… | Those of them who were numbered, counting every male… | |
| Numbers 26:34 | …Manasseh, and those that were numbered of them… | …Manasseh; those numbered of them were 52,700. | |
| Numbers 26:41 | …and they that were numbered of them were… | …and according to those numbered of them, 45,600. | |
| Numbers 26:50 | …and they that were numbered of them were… | …and those numbered of them were 45,400. | |
| ואפקד | Leviticus 18:25 | …therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it… | …and I have brought the punishment for its iniquity upon it… |
| והפקדתי | Leviticus 26:16 | …I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague… | …I will inflict horror on you, consumption and fever… |
| ופקודי | Numbers 4:38 | And those that were numbered of the sons of Gershon… | Those numbered from the Gershonites… |
| Numbers 4:42 | And those that were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari… | Those numbered from the families of the Merarites… | |
| לפקדיהם | Exodus 30:12 | …sum of the children of Israel after their number… | …census of the Israelites according to their number… |
| Numbers 3:43 | …of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand… | Not translated | |
| Numbers 26:18 | …Gad according to those that were numbered of them… | …Gadites according to those numbered of them, 40,500. | |
| Numbers 26:22 | …Judah according to those that were numbered of them… | …Judah according to those numbered of them, 76,500. | |
| Numbers 26:25 | …Issachar according to those that were numbered of them… | …Issachar, according to those numbered of them, 64,300. | |
| Numbers 26:27 | …Zebulunites according to those that were numbered of them… | …Zebulunites, according to those numbered of them, 60,500. | |
| Numbers 26:37 | …Ephraim according to those that were numbered of them… | …Ephraimites, according to those numbered of them, 32,500. | |
| Numbers 26:43 | …Shuhamites, according to those that were numbered of them… | …Shuhahites according to those numbered of them were 64,400. | |
| Numbers 26:47 | …Asher according to those that were numbered of them… | …Asherites, according to those numbered of them, 53,400. | |
| בפקד | Exodus 30:12 | …ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them… | …ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them… |
| Exodus 30:12 | …that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. | …there will be no plague among them when you number them. | |
| Numbers 31:49 | …and there lacketh not one man of us. | …and not one is missing. | |
| הפקד | Leviticus 6:4[23] | …or that which was delivered him to keep… | …or the thing that he had held in trust… |
| תפקד | Numbers 1:49 | …thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi… | …the tribe of Levi you must not number… |
| Numbers 1:50 | But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony… | But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony… | |
| Numbers 3:10 | And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons… | So you are to appoint Aaron and his sons… | |
| Numbers 4:23 | …until fifty years old shalt thou number them… | You must number them from thirty years old and upward… | |
| Numbers 4:29 | …thou shalt number them after their families… | …you are to number them by their families… | |
| הפקדים | Exodus 30:13 | …every one that passeth among them that are numbered… | Everyone who crosses over to those who are numbered… |
| Exodus 30:14 | Every one that passeth among them that are numbered… | Everyone who crosses over to those numbered… | |
| Exodus 38:26 | …for every one that went to be numbered… | …for everyone who crossed over to those numbered… | |
| Numbers 1:44 | These are those that were numbered… | These were the men… | |
| Numbers 1:46 | Even all they that were numbered were… | And all those numbered totaled 603,550. | |
| Numbers 2:9 | All that were numbered in the camp of… | All those numbered of the camp of Judah… | |
| Numbers 2:16 | All that were numbered in the camp of Reuben… | All those numbered of the camp of Reuben… | |
| Numbers 2:24 | All that were numbered of the camp of Ephraim… | All those numbered of the camp of Ephraim… | |
| Numbers 2:31 | All they that were numbered in the camp… | All those numbered of the camp of Dan… | |
| Numbers 4:46 | All those that were numbered of the… | All who were numbered of the Levites… | |
| Numbers 7:2 | …over them that were numbered… | …had been supervising the numbering. | |
| תפקדו | Numbers 1:3 | …thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies. | You and Aaron are to number all in Israel… |
| Numbers 4:32 | …and by name ye shall reckon the instruments… | You are to assign by names the items… | |
| תפקדם | Numbers 3:15 | …a month old and upward shalt thou number… | …a month old and upward you are to number. |
| Numbers 4:30 | …unto fifty years old shalt thou number them… | You must number them from thirty years… | |
| הפקדים | Numbers 31:48 | And the officers which were over thousands of the host… | Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army… |
| התפקדו | Numbers 1:47 | …were not numbered among them. | …were not numbered among them. |
| Numbers 2:33 | But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel… | But the Levites were not numbered among the other Israelites… | |
| Numbers 26:62 | …they were not numbered among the children of Israel… | …they were not numbered among the Israelites… | |
| מפקודי | Numbers 26:64 | …whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered… | …a man among these who had been among those numbered by Moses… |
[2] I also notice that the qualifications לשׁנאי (translated: of those who reject me) and מצותי ולשמרי לאהבי (translated: those who love me and keep my commandments ) have vanished from occurrences after the end of the forty-day covenant. I won’t say more since they reappear in Moses’ history lesson (Deuteronomy 5:5-10).
[3] Leviticus 26:14-17 may give some hint what this plague may have been.
[5] Rabbi Dr. Zev Farber, “Punishing Children for the Sins of their Parents,” TheTorah
[7] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had the article ο preceding Jesus. The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.
[8] Genesis 4:4b (NET) Table
[10] Genesis 4:10b (NET) Table
[15] Rabbi Dr. Zev Farber, “Punishing Children for the Sins of their Parents,” TheTorah
[19] “Sin is its own punishment,” is practically the definition of ʽâvôn but that will have to wait for another essay.
[22] peqûddâh
[23] According to NET online this is piqqâdôn rather than pâqad as it is listed in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance.