And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.

And Aaron said unto Moses, Oh, my lord, lay not, I pray thee, sin upon us, for that we have done foolishly, and for that we have sinned.

He said to Moses: I beseech thee, my lord, lay not upon us this sin, which we have foolishly committed:

Then Aaron said to Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not this sin upon us, wherein we have been foolish, and have sinned!

And Aaron said unto Moses, Oh my lord, lay not, I pray thee, sin upon us, for that we have done foolishly, and for that we have sinned.

And Aaron saith unto Moses, 'O, my lord, I pray thee, lay not upon us sin in which we have been foolish, and in which we have sinned;

Then Aaron said to Moses, O my lord, let not our sin be on our heads, for we have done foolishly and are sinners.

he said to Moses: "I beg you, my lord, not to impose upon us this sin, which we have committed foolishly.

Tunc dixit Aharon ad Mosen, Quaeso domine mi, ne nunc nobis imputes peccatum: quia stulte egimus, et quia peccavimus.

And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas! my lord. Although Aaron was aware that, through God's indulgence, his own punishment was remitted, still he does not cease to consider what he had deserved. For we ought not to wait until God smites ourselves, but since in chastising others He invites us to repentance, although He may spare ourselves, we should profit betimes by their punishments. The disfigurement, therefore, of his sister, alarmed and terrified Aaron, so that, examining his own condition, he acknowledged himself to be deserving of a similar judgment. His humble prayer manifests that those high aspirations were subdued, which had carried him away into unholy jealousy. Moses, who was younger than himself, and whose superiority he just before could not endure, tie now calls his lord, and confesses himself to be subject to his authority and power. Thus the dread of punishment was the best medicine to cure his disease of ambition. In beseeching Moses not to impute his sin to him, he does not usurp for mortal man a right which God by Isaiah claims for Himself alone; [1] but inasmuch as Moses had been injured, he asks his pardon, lest by his accusation he should be brought before the divine tribunal. Where he confesses his own and his sister's foolishness, he does not extenuate the grossness of his crime, as most people do, when they generally seek to cover their transgressions under the plea of error or thoughtlessness; but it is precisely as if he had said that they were senseless, and out of their minds, as we gather from the next clause, in which he plainly acknowledges their criminality. By the comparison which he introduces, it is evident that the leprosy of Miriam was of no ordinary kind, for nothing can be more disgusting than the dead body of any abortive foetus, corrupt with purulence and decay.

Footnotes

1 - No reference is here given by C. He probably alludes to Isaiah 43:25.

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 rigorous manner, without interceding to the Lord for us, for the abatement of removal of it; such a powerful and prevailing interest he knew he had with God, that by his prayers their punishment would be mitigated, or not laid, or, if laid, removed:
wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned; he owns they had sinned, but suggests, and so he would have it understood, that it was not through malice, and purposely and presumptuously, but through and ignorance, inadvertency and weakness, and hoped it would be forgiven.
(k) "in me", Montanus.

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 [Numbers 12:14-15].

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.

Lay not the sin - Let not the guilt and punishment of this sin rest upon us, upon her in this kind, upon me in any other kind, but pray to God for the pardon and removal of it.