Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Numbers 1:53

in Numbers 1

But the Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony and watch over it, so that no wrath will fall on the congregation of Israel. So the Levites are responsible for the tabernacle of the Testimony.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

But the Levites shall encamp round about the tabernacle of the testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.

KJV

But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of testimony.

⋯

This verse in Numbers 1

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

No wrath - From God, who is very tender of his worship, and will not suffer the profaners of it go unpunished! whose wrath is called simply wrath by way of eminency, as the most terrible kind of wrath.

This site's exposition

thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony

on Numbers 1:50-53

Levi is taken off one service and put to another, taking the tabernacle down, setting it up, bearing it and camping around it. The stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death, and the stranger meant is any Israelite outside Levi, a rule repeated at 3:10, 3:38 and 18:7 and tested by Korah in chapter 16. Israel pitches by standard at a distance, Levi forms a ring between, and verse 53 states the reason outright, that there be no wrath upon the congregation. The word standard occurs at verse 52 for the first time in Scripture, before chapter 2 names the four.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Note, Great care must be taken to prevent sin, because the preventing of sin is the preventing of wrath. It was their further honour that as Israel, being a holy people, was not reckoned among the nations, so they, being a holy tribe, were not reckoned among other Israelites, but numbered afterwards by themselves,

The words behind it

18 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְהַלְוִיִּ֞םand the Levites

    vehalviyimH3881 →291 times

  • יַחֲנ֤וּthey will encamp

    yachanuH2583 →143 times

  • סָבִיב֙around

    savivH5439 →336 times

  • לְמִשְׁכַּ֣ן<to> [the] tabernacle of

    lemishkanH4908 →139 times

  • הָעֵדֻ֔תthe testimony

    haedutH5715 →59 times

  • וְלֹֽא־and not

    velo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • יִהְיֶ֣הit will be

    yihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • קֶ֔צֶףwrath

    ketzefH7110 →29 times

  • עַל־towards

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • עֲדַ֖ת[the] congregation of

    ʾadatH5712 →149 times

  • בְּנֵ֣י[the] people

    beneiH1121 →4930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • וְשָׁמְרוּ֙and they will keep

    veshameruH8104 →468 times

  • הַלְוִיִּ֔םthe Levites

    halviyimH3881 →291 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • מִשְׁמֶ֖רֶת[the] duty of

    mishmeretH4931 →78 times

  • מִשְׁכַּ֥ן[the] tabernacle of

    mishkanH4908 →139 times

  • הָעֵדֽוּת׃the testimony

    haedutH5715 →59 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Numbers 16:46Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”5 works1 Chronicles 23:32So the Levites were to carry out the responsibilities for the Tent of Meeting and the Holy Place, and, under their brothers the descendants of Aaron, the service of the house of the LORD.5 worksNumbers 8:19And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to perform the service for the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting and to make atonement on their behalf, so that no plague will come against the Israelites when they approach the sanctuary.”5 worksNumbers 3:38Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, before the Tent of Meeting. They were to perform the duties of the sanctuary as a service on behalf of the Israelites; but any outsider who approached the sanctuary was to be put to death.5 worksLeviticus 10:6Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become disheveled and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the LORD will be angry with the whole congregation. But your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn on account of the fire that the LORD has ignited.4 worksRevelation 15:5After this I looked, and the temple—the tabernacle of the Testimony—was opened in heaven.4 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Exodus 38:21This is the inventory for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, as recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.4 worksNumbers 3:35The leader of the families of the Merarites was Zuriel son of Abihail; they were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.4 worksNumbers 8:26After that, they may assist their brothers in fulfilling their duties at the Tent of Meeting, but they themselves are not to do the work. This is how you are to assign responsibilities to the Levites.”4 worksNumbers 31:47From the Israelites’ half, Moses took one out of every fifty persons and animals and gave them to the Levites who kept charge of the tabernacle of the LORD, as the LORD had commanded him.3 worksNumbers 8:24–26“This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years of age or older shall enter to perform the service in the work at the Tent of Meeting.3 worksNumbers 3:7–8They are to perform duties for him and for the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, attending to the service of the tabernacle.3 worksNumbers 31:30From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep, or other animals, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.”3 worksNumbers 3:29The clans of the Kohathites were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle,3 worksNumbers 16:9Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to Himself to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?3 worksNumbers 3:23The Gershonite clans were to camp on the west, behind the tabernacle,3 worksNumbers 1:50Instead, you are to appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, all its furnishings, and everything in it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its articles, care for it, and camp around it.2 works2 Chronicles 13:10But as for us, the LORD is our God. We have not forsaken Him; the priests who minister to the LORD are sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their duties.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Numbers 16:46

    Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the…

    it leads to

    • Numbers 8:19

      And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to perform the service for the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting and to make atonement…

    • 1 Chronicles 27:24

      Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. For because of this census wrath came upon Israel, and the number was not entered in the Book of the Chronicles…

    • Leviticus 10:6

      Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become disheveled and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the LORD will be…

    • Numbers 11:33

      But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and the LORD struck them with a severe plague.

  • Through

    Leviticus 10:6

    Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become disheveled and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the LORD will be…

    it leads to

    • Joshua 22:18

      And now, would you turn away from the LORD? If you rebel today against the LORD, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.

    • Numbers 16:22

      But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”

  • Through

    1 Chronicles 23:32

    So the Levites were to carry out the responsibilities for the Tent of Meeting and the Holy Place, and, under their brothers the descendants of Aaron, the service of the house of the LORD.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 3:38

      Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, before the Tent of Meeting. They were to perform the duties of the sanctuary as a service…

    • Numbers 3:6–9

      “Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist him.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Numbers

The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Numbers: the study guide →Read Numbers 1 →

This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Numbers 1 →