to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Moses
מֹשֶׁ֑הmo.Sheh
H4872
Mosheh · proper noun, a man's name
Alas
בִּ֣יbi
H994
oh that! · interjection
lord
אֲדֹנִ֔י'a.do.Ni
H113
sovereign · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
lay
תָשֵׁ֤תta.Shet
H7896
to place (in a very wide application) · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
sin
חַטָּ֔אתcha.Tat
H2403
an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
foolishly
נוֹאַ֖לְנוּno.'Al.nu
H2973
properly · verb, niphal perfect, 1st person common plural
sinned
חָטָֽאנוּcha.Ta.nu
H2398
properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Samuel 24:10 And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done:…
2 Samuel 19:19 And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that…
Proverbs 30:32 If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.
Exodus 12:32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.
1 Samuel 2:30 Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now t…
1 Samuel 12:19 And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this…
1 Samuel 15:24-25 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, a…
1 Kings 13:6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Numbers 12:10–end
Here is, I. God's judgment upon Miriam (Num 12:10): The cloud departed from off that part of the tabernacle, in token of God's displeasure, and presently Miriam became leprous; when God goes, evil comes; expect no good when God departs. The leprosy was a disease often inflicted by the immediate hand of God as the punishment of some particular sin, as on Gehazi for lying, on Uzziah for invading the priest's office, and here on Miriam for scolding and making mischief among relations. The plague of the leprosy, it is likely, appeared in her face, so that it appeared to all that saw her that she was struck with it, with the worst of it, she was leprous as snow; not only so white, but so soft, th…
On the humble and penitential submission of Aaron, Moses interceded for both the offenders, especially for Miriam, who was restored; not, however, till she had been made, by her exclusion, a public example [Num 12:14-15].
John Gill on Numbers 12:11
And Aaron said unto Moses, alas, my lord!.... The word for "alas" is generally interpreted by the Jewish writers as a note of beseeching and entreating, as it is here by the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan,"I beseech thee, my lord,''or "upon me, my lord" (k), be all the blame; such was his tenderness to his sister, and the compassion he had on her; and such reverence and respect did he show to Moses his brother, though younger than he, because of his superior dignity as a prophet, and chief magistrate, and prime minister, and servant of the Lord, calling him "my lord":
I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us; the punishment of it, bear not hard upon us, or suffer us to be punished in a rigo…
Numbers 12:1-16
1. And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
1. Et loquuta est Maria et Aharon contra Mosen propter uxorem AEthiopissam quam acceperat: uxorem enim AEthiopissam acceperat.
2. And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.
2. Et dixerunt, Nunquid solummodo per Mosen loquutus est Jehova? nonne etiam per nos loquutus est? Et audivit Jehova.
3. (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)
3. Vir autem ille Moses mansuetissimus fuit prae cunctis hominibus qui erant super faci…
The Church Fathers
"And Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses: I pray, Lord, do not lay upon us the sin, since we did not know that we sinned. Let her not be made like death, and like a miscarriage cast out from the mother's womb, and it has consumed half of her flesh." He wishes in this to show that that people was indeed formed in the womb of its mother the synagogue, yet could not arrive at a perfect and whole birth. For just as a miscarriage is an imperfect and unformed birth, so also that people was for a certain time indeed placed within its mother's womb, that is, within the instruction of the synagogue; but, with sins intervening, it could not be formed to completeness and quickened, and therefore they were cast off like an imperfect and untimely miscarriage, sin, as he says, consuming half of its flesh. Yet there is sometimes even a good miscarriage. And it is called a good miscarriage when it is compared with others, just as Ecclesiastes too says: "and I said: a miscarriage is better than that one." Than which one? "He who," he says, "goes forward in vanity and walks in darkness." He does not then call a miscarriage good absolutely, but better than a life which is led in vanity and in the darkness of ignorance. And with him there is a certain comparison of individuals; for the same Ecclesiastes says also elsewhere that the dead are better than the living. And if again you compare a miscarriage with these, you would say it is better than both. If therefore you consider who are the living and who are the dead, than whom a miscarriage is better in that it has not even tasted the beginnings of the life of this world, you will find what the differences are in this comparison. Consider, then, that he there names as living none other than those of whom it is said in the Psalms: "yet truly every living man is vanity." Every man, therefore, who lives in vanity. For not every life is in vanity, but that life which is according to the flesh and according to the errors and pleasures of the world — this is the life of vanity, and above this is everyone who is dead to this life and who says: "but to me the world is crucified, and I to the world," and of whom it is said: "you are therefore dead with Christ." These, therefore, are better than those living. But above these a miscarriage is said to be, because, although it may seem to have…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Aaron — The eldest son of Amram and Jochebed, a daughter of Levi (Ex. 6:20). Some explain the name as meaning mountaineer, others mountain of strength, illuminator. He was born in Egypt three years before…
Hazeroth — Fenced enclosures consisting of “a low wall of stones in which thick bundles of thorny acacia are inserted, the tangled branches and long needle-like spikes forming a perfectly impenetrable hedge…
Leprosy — (Heb. tsara’ath, a “smiting,” a “stroke,” because the disease was regarded as a direct providential infliction). This name is from the Greek lepra, by which the Greek physicians designated the…
Miriam — Their rebellion. (1.) The sister of Moses and Aaron (Ex. 2:4-10; 1 Chr. 6:3). Her name is prominent in the history of the Exodus. She is called “the prophetess” (Ex. 15:20). She took the lead in the…
Citizens · .Miriam and Aaron — .Miriam and Aaron
Confession Of Sin · Exemplified: Aaron — Exemplified: Aaron
Forgiveness · .Moses forgives the Israelites — .Moses forgives the Israelites
Judgments · Miriam — Miriam
Treason · .Of Aaron and Miriam against Moses — .Of Aaron and Miriam against Moses
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
When Aaron saw his sister smitten in this way, he said to Moses, "Alas! my lord, I beseech thee, lay not this sin upon us, for we have done foolishly;" i.e., let us not bear its punishment. "Let her (Miriam) not be as the dead thing, on whose coming out of its mother's womb half its flesh is consumed;" i.e., like a still-born child, which comes into the world half decomposed. His reason for making this comparison was, that leprosy produces decomposition in the living body.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Numbers 12:9-16
Miriam bore the brunt of God’s wrath (see study note on 12:1-2). Once Aaron saw what had happened to her, he admitted his error and sought Moses’ intercession (cp. 11:2). Both Moses and the Lord accepted Aaron’s confession.
Rashi on Numbers 12:11
נואלנו — Understand this as the Targum does: (we have acted foolishly); it is associated in meaning with אויל “a fool”.
