Samaritan Torah, פַּרְשַׁת שְׁלַח לְךָ

[lethargic_man]

Num. 13:16-17, coming immediately after the list of names of the spies, contains the passage in which Hoshea bin Nun is renamed Yehoshua (Joshua), despite already having been referred to as Joshua earlier in the Torah:

These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. Now Moses called Hoshea bin Nun Yehoshua. Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and told them, "Go up this [way] into the Negev, and ascend the mountain..."

אֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר־שָׁלַח מֹשֶׁה לָתוּר אֶת־הָאָרֶץ וַיִּקְרָא מֹשֶׁה לְהוֹשֵׁעַ בִּן־נוּן יְהוֹשֻׁעַ׃ וַיִּשְׁלַח אֹתָם מֹשֶׁה לָתוּר אֶת־אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם עֲלוּ זֶה בַּנֶּגֶב וַעֲלִיתֶם אֶת־הָהָר׃

In the Samaritan text here, there's no renaming, rather Moses is calling Joshua (who's so-named, not as Hoshea, a few verses beforehand) to give him orders:

These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Yehoshua bin Nun: "Yehoshua!" He sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and told them, "Go up this [way] into the Negev, and ascend the mountain..."

אֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר־שָׁלַח מֹשֶׁה לָתוּר אֶת־הָאָרֶץ וַיִּקְרָא מֹשֶׁה לִיהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן־נוּן יְהוֹשֻׁעַ׃ וַיִּשְׁלַח אֹתָם לָתוּר אֶת־אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם עֲלוּ זֶה בַּנֶּגֶב וַעֲלִיתֶם אֶת־הָהָר׃

Num 13:19:

And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;

וּמָה הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הוּא יֹשֵׁב בָּהּ הֲטוֹבָה הִוא אִם־רָעָה וּמָה הֶעָרִים אֲשֶׁר־הוּא יוֹשֵׁב בָּהֵנָּה הַבְּמַחֲנִים אִם בְּמִבְצָרִים׃

The Samaritan text uses a difficult to translate word; I think the right reading is:

And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether from towers, or strongholds;

וּמָה הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הוּא יֹשֵׁב בָּהּ הֲטוֹבָה הִיא אִם־רָעָה וּמָה הֶעָרִים אֲשֶׁר־הוּא יֹשֵׁב בָּהֵן הַמִבַחַנִים אִם מִבְצָרִים׃

The KJV translates Num. 13:22 as, "They ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron". However, the Hebrew literally reads:

They ascended by the south, and he came to Hebron.

וַיַּעֲלוּ בַנֶּגֶב וַיָּבֹא עַד־חֶבְרוֹן

The Midrash picks up on this and says it was just Joshua who went to Hebron, to pay his respects at the Tomb of the Patriarchs. The Samaritan text, however, unromantically corrects the grammar:

They ascended by the south, and they came to Hebron.

וַיַּעֲלוּ בַנֶּגֶב וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד־חֶבְרוֹן

When the people quail following the report of the spies, and try and stone Joshua and Caleb, God threatens to disinherit them, and Moses tries to talk God out of it, saying, inter alia (Num. 14:17-18):

And now, I beseech you, let the power of my Lord be great, according as you have spoken: "The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation."

וְעַתָּה יִגְדַּל־נָא כֹּחַ אֲדֹנָי כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ לֵאמֹר׃ ה׳ אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב־חֶסֶד נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן וָפָשַׁע וְנַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבוֹת עַל־בָּנִים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִים׃

The reference is of course to the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy in Exodus 34:6-7, but there are words missing from this version. The Samaritan text restores some of them, and makes the same change as before:

And now, I beseech you, let the power of my Lord be great, according as you have spoken: "The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, and clearing him—he will clear—visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation."

וְעַתָּה יִגְדַּל־נָא כֹּחַ אֲדֹנָי כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ לֵאמֹר׃ ה׳ אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב־חֶסֶד וֶאֶמֶת נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן וָפָשַׁע וְחַטָאָה וְנַקֵּה לֹו יְנַקֶּה פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבוֹת עַל־בָּנִים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִים׃

Num. 16:3 reads:

They gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, "You take too much upon yourselves, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you raise yourselves up over the congregation of the Lord?"

וַיִּקָּהֲלוּ עַל־מֹשֶׁה וְעַל־אַהֲרֹן וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֲלֵהֶם רַב־לָכֶם כִּי כָל־הָעֵדָה כֻּלָּם קְדֹשִׁים וּבְתוֹכָם ה׳ וּמַדּוּעַ תִּתְנַשְּׂאוּ עַל־קְהַל ה׳׃

The word for "holy" here is קְדֹשִׁים. In the Samaritan text this reads קדישים; influence of Aramaic, perhaps? (If so, that's definitely a later corruption; the only Aramaic words in the Torah are the two spoken by Laban in Gen. 31:47.)

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