Numbers 9:6–7

9:6 It happened that some men12 who were ceremonially defiled13 by the dead body of a man14 could not keep15 the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. 9:7 And those men said to him, “We are ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man; why are we kept back from offering the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?”

12	tn In the Hebrew text the noun has no definite article, and so it signifies “some” or “certain” men.
13	tn The meaning, of course, is to be ceremonially unclean, and therefore disqualified from entering the sanctuary.
14	tn Or “a human corpse” (so NAB, NKJV). So also in v. 7; cf. v. 10.
15	tn This clause begins with the vav (ו) conjunction and negative before the perfect tense. Here is the main verb of the sentence: They were not able to observe the Passover. The first part of the verse provides the explanation for their problem.