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Numbers 31:12 - On the “community” label

וַיָּבִ֡אוּ אֶל־מֹשֶׁה֩ וְאֶל־אֶלְעָזָ֨ר הַכֹּהֵ֜ן וְאֶל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אֶת־הַשְּׁבִ֧י וְאֶת־הַמַּלְק֛וֹחַ וְאֶת־הַשָּׁלָ֖ל אֶל־הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑ה אֶל־עַֽרְבֹ֣ת מוֹאָ֔ב אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־יַרְדֵּ֥ן יְרֵחֽוֹ׃

and they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the whole Israelite community,* at the camp in the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho.

*whole Israelite community See next verse and note at 8.9.

(The above rendering and its footnote come from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation.)


The next verse substitutes the label כׇּל־נְשִׂיאֵי הָעֵדָה “all the chieftains of the community” for the body that is labeled here as עֲדַת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל “the whole Israelite community.” And the footnote at 8:9 says: “Or the leadership, on the community’s behalf.”

To understand this expression עֲדַת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל and its use as a metonym, see the section “Gender and Figurative Language” in this introduction, pp. 3–4; and see my comment to Exod 12:3, where the term כׇּל־עֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל is similarly employed.

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