translation: Chukat
I read torah on Shabbat and translated from the scroll. Here's what I read
and (approximately) how I translated it (I'm doing this again from the Hebrew
as I write this):
(Numbers 20:22-29)
And they journeyed from Kadeish, and the whole congregation of Israel came to Mount Hor. God spoke to Moshe and Aharon at [1] Mount Hor, upon the border of the land of Edom, saying: Aharon will be gathered to his people, because he will not come to the land that I gave the children of Israel, on account of [2] the rebellion at the waters of Merivah. Take Aharon and Elazar his son, and take them up [3] [to] Mount Hor. Strip Aharon [of] his vestments and place them [on] Elazar his son. Aharon will be gathered and die [4] there. And Moshe did as God commanded; they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of the whole congregation. Moshe stripped Aharon [of] his vestments and he placed them on Elazar his son, and Aharon died there at the top of the mountain. Moshe and Elazar descended from the mountain. And [5] the whole congregation saw that Aharon had died [6], and they wailed (mourned?) Aharon thirty days, the whole house of Israel.
[1] The "b'" prefix can mean at, on, in, and similar things. I chose not to read it as "on Mount Hor" because they're going to go up later.
[2] Colloquial; I had to look it up.
[3] "v'ha'al otam" -- the verb is "go up" (ascend) and "otam" is a direct object (third-person plural); I'm inferring that the verb form is causitive and the verb is irregular, but I didn't look it up.
[4] I've seen "gathered in death".
[5] Most translations I've seen have "when the people..." rather than "and the people", which I don't see in the Hebrew.
[6] I'm taking a translation's word for it on "gava"="died". It's not the usual word.
The bits about "strip Aharon of his vestments" are interesting, because the "of" isn't there. Structurally, the verb appears to have two direct objects: strip et-Aharon et-vestments (to mix languages here). If that's correct (and it might not be!), I think it's the first time I've seen a double direct object without benefit of a conjunction. (It's definitely "et- ... et-", not "...v'et".)
(Numbers 20:22-29)
And they journeyed from Kadeish, and the whole congregation of Israel came to Mount Hor. God spoke to Moshe and Aharon at [1] Mount Hor, upon the border of the land of Edom, saying: Aharon will be gathered to his people, because he will not come to the land that I gave the children of Israel, on account of [2] the rebellion at the waters of Merivah. Take Aharon and Elazar his son, and take them up [3] [to] Mount Hor. Strip Aharon [of] his vestments and place them [on] Elazar his son. Aharon will be gathered and die [4] there. And Moshe did as God commanded; they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of the whole congregation. Moshe stripped Aharon [of] his vestments and he placed them on Elazar his son, and Aharon died there at the top of the mountain. Moshe and Elazar descended from the mountain. And [5] the whole congregation saw that Aharon had died [6], and they wailed (mourned?) Aharon thirty days, the whole house of Israel.
[1] The "b'" prefix can mean at, on, in, and similar things. I chose not to read it as "on Mount Hor" because they're going to go up later.
[2] Colloquial; I had to look it up.
[3] "v'ha'al otam" -- the verb is "go up" (ascend) and "otam" is a direct object (third-person plural); I'm inferring that the verb form is causitive and the verb is irregular, but I didn't look it up.
[4] I've seen "gathered in death".
[5] Most translations I've seen have "when the people..." rather than "and the people", which I don't see in the Hebrew.
[6] I'm taking a translation's word for it on "gava"="died". It's not the usual word.
The bits about "strip Aharon of his vestments" are interesting, because the "of" isn't there. Structurally, the verb appears to have two direct objects: strip et-Aharon et-vestments (to mix languages here). If that's correct (and it might not be!), I think it's the first time I've seen a double direct object without benefit of a conjunction. (It's definitely "et- ... et-", not "...v'et".)