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Numbers 15:33

in Numbers 15

Those who found the man gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.

KJV

And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.

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This verse in Numbers 15

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The mere gathering of sticks was not a sinful act and might be necessary for fuel to warm him or to make ready his food. But its being done on the Sabbath altered the entire character of the action. The law of the Sabbath being a plain and positive commandment, this transgression of it was a known and wilful sin, and it was marked by several aggravations.

This site's exposition

a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day

on Numbers 15:32-36

Exodus 31:14-15 had already fixed death for breaking the Sabbath, and verse 34 names what was missing: it had not been declared what should be done to him. So the man is held while Moses waits for a ruling. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown observe that gathering sticks was lawful on any other day, so the day is the whole case.

This site's exposition

brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation

The witnesses bring the man before the whole court of Israel, and the case becomes public. Adam Clarke reads him as the defiant sinner just described in verse 31, a man who despised the word of the LORD and broke his commandment. Clarke holds that he was punished on that ground.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And they that found him gathering sticks,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

It seems, even common Israelites, though there was much amiss among them, yet would not contentedly see the sabbath profaned, which was a good sign that they had not quite forsaken God, nor were utterly forsaken of him. God was consulted, because it was not declared what should be done to him.

The words behind it

13 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.

  • וַיַּקְרִ֣יבוּand they brought near

    vaiyakrivuH7126 →280 times

  • אֹת֔וֹ<obj.> him

    ʾotoH853 →10935 times

  • הַמֹּצְאִ֥יםthe [ones who] found

    hamotzeimH4672 →455 times

  • אֹת֖וֹ<obj.> him

    ʾotoH853 →10935 times

  • מְקֹשֵׁ֣שׁgathering

    mekosheshH7197 →

  • עֵצִ֑יםwood<s>

    ʾetzimH6086 →328 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • מֹשֶׁה֙Moses

    moshehH4872 →765 times

  • וְאֶֽל־and to

    veel-H413 →5510 times

  • אַהֲרֹ֔ןAaron

    ʾaharonH175 →347 times

  • וְאֶ֖לand to

    veelH413 →5510 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הָעֵדָֽה׃the congregation

    haedahH5712 →149 times

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

Related verses

3 in all, six open

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; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Numbers 15 →