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Numbers 15:14

in Numbers 15

And for the generations to come, if a foreigner residing with you or someone else among you wants to prepare an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the LORD, he is to do exactly as you do.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever may be among you throughout your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto Jehovah; as ye do, so he shall do.

KJV

And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord; as ye do, so he shall do.

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This verse in Numbers 15

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

This was an invitation to the Gentiles to become proselytes, and to embrace the faith and worship of the true God. In civil things there was a difference between strangers and true-born Israelites, but not in the things of God; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord, for with him there is no respect of persons.

This site's exposition

Everyone who is native-born shall prepare these things

on Numbers 15:13-16

One ordinance covers the homeborn and the stranger, and four verses say it three times over. Exodus 12:49 had given one law to the homeborn and the stranger for the passover, and here the same rule reaches every offering made by fire. Henry reads the words as an open door to the Gentiles, since Israel kept a difference in civil matters and kept none before the Lord.

This site's exposition

he is to do exactly as you do

Every rule of verses 1 to 12 now reaches the foreigner who lives among Israel, down to the quarter hin of wine. He brings the same animals with the same bread and wine. Isaiah 56:6-7 later promises that foreigners who join themselves to the LORD will have their offerings accepted on his altar.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Concerning dough for heave-offerings, ver. 17-21. Sacrifices for sins of ignorance, ver. 22-29. Concerning presumptuous sinners, ver. 30,

quarantine:anchor (2026-07-29) — cites-ver-22/30-anchored-1-16

And if a stranger sojourn with you,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

If a stranger sojourn - See the notes on Lev 19:33;Lev 22:9. When the case of the Jewish people is fairly considered, and their situation with respect to the surrounding idolatrous nations, we shall see the absolute necessity of having but one form of worship in the land. That alone was genuine which was prescribed by the Almighty, and no others could be tolerated, because they were idolatrous.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

ככם כגר means, AS YOU ARE SO IS THE STRANGER (“you and the stranger shall be alike”). Thus (the use of the prefix כ with each of two things or persons stated to be exactly alike) is the Hebrew idiom to express complete similarity.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Numbers 15:15:1, via Sefaria, Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

17 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.

  • וְכִֽי־and if

    vekhi-H3588 →4482 times

  • יָגוּר֩he will sojourn

    yagurH1481 →97 times

  • אִתְּכֶ֨םwith you

    ʾitekhemH854 →929 times

  • גֵּ֜רa sojourner

    gerH1616 →92 times

  • א֤וֹor

    ʾoH176 →321 times

  • אֲשֶֽׁר־[one] who

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • בְּתֽוֹכְכֶם֙[is] among midst of you

    betokhemH8432 →418 times

  • לְדֹרֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔םto generations your

    ledoroteikhemH1755 →167 times

  • וְעָשָׂ֛הand he will offer

    veasahH6213 →2628 times

  • אִשֵּׁ֥הa fire offering of

    ʾishehH801 →65 times

  • רֵֽיחַ־an odor of

    reiach-H7381 →58 times

  • נִיחֹ֖חַsoothing

    nichoachH5207 →43 times

  • לַיהוָ֑הto Yahweh

    layahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • כַּאֲשֶׁ֥רjust as

    kaasherH834 →5497 times

  • תַּעֲשׂ֖וּyou do

    taasuH6213 →2628 times

  • כֵּ֥ןso

    kenH3651 →771 times

  • יַעֲשֶֽׂה׃he will do

    yaasehH6213 →2628 times

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

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Numbers

The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.
The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.
Numbers: the study guide →Read Numbers 15 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Numbers 15 →