Numbers 11:15

15 If in other manner it seemeth to thee, I beseech thee, that thou slay me, and that I find grace in thine eyes, that I be not punished, or travailed, with so great evils. (If it seemeth to thee otherwise, then I beseech thee, that thou kill me, and so I shall receive grace from thee, and I shall no longer be punished, or travailed, with such great evil.)

Numbers 11:15 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 11:15

And if thou deal thus with me
Let the whole weight of government lie upon me, and leave the alone to bear it:

kill me, I pray thee, out of hand;
take me out of the world at once, or "kill me now, in killing" ^F14; dispatch me immediately, and make a thorough end of me directly:

if I have found favour in thy sight;
if thou hast any love for me, or art willing to show me a kindness, to remove me by death, I shall take as one:

and let me not see my wretchedness;
or live to be the unhappy man I shall be; pressed with such a weight of government, affected and afflicted with the wants of a people I cannot relieve, or seeing them bore down with judgments and punishments inflicted on them for their sins and transgressions I am not able to prevail upon them to abstain from: so the Targum of Jerusalem,

``that I may not see their evil, who are thy people;''

so Abendana, and in the margin of some Hebrew copies, it is read,

``this is one of the eighteen words, the correction of the scribes;''

who, instead of "my wretchedness" or evil, corrected it, "their wretchedness" or evil; but Aben Ezra says there is no need of this correction.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (grh an yngrh) "occide me nunc occidendo", Drusius; "occide me jam, occide", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Numbers 11:15 In-Context

13 whereof be meats to me, that I feed so great a multitude? They weep before me, and say, Give us flesh, that we eat; (where shall I find enough meat, so that I can feed so great a multitude? They weep before me, and say to me, Give us flesh, so that we can eat it;)

14 I may not alone sustain all this people, for it is grievous to me. (I cannot sustain all these people alone, for this is too heavy a burden for me/for they be too heavy a burden for me.)

15 If in other manner it seemeth to thee, I beseech thee, that thou slay me, and that I find grace in thine eyes, that I be not punished, or travailed, with so great evils. (If it seemeth to thee otherwise, then I beseech thee, that thou kill me, and so I shall receive grace from thee, and I shall no longer be punished, or travailed, with such great evil.)

16 And the Lord said to Moses, Gather thou to me seventy men of the elder men of Israel, whom thou knowest to be (the) eld(er) men, and (the) masters of the people; and thou shalt lead them to the door of the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace (and thou shalt bring them to the entrance to the Tabernacle of the Covenant), and thou shalt make them to stand there with thee,

17 that I come down, and speak to thee; and I shall take away of thy spirit, and I shall give to them, that they sustain with thee the burden of the people, and not thou alone be grieved. (and I shall come down, and speak with thee; and I shall take away some of the spirit that is upon thee, and I shall give it to them, so that they can help sustain the burden of the people along with thee, and so that not only thou be travailed.)