Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Numbers 17:6

in Numbers 17

So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff—one for each of the leaders of their tribes, twelve staffs in all. And Aaron’s staff was among them.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Moses spake unto the children of Israel; and all their princes gave him rods, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.

KJV

And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.

⋯

This verse in Numbers 17

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Among their rods - Was laid up with the rest, being either one of the twelve, as the Hebrew affirm, or the thirteenth, as others think.

This site's exposition

the rod of Aaron was among their rods

on Numbers 17:6-7

Every prince hands in a rod and Aaron's lies among them, twelve dry sticks with nothing to tell them apart when the door shuts. Calvin holds that the twelve include Levi, since no division of land is in question here and Joseph therefore counts as one tribe; other readers make Aaron's a thirteenth laid beside the twelve. The room is called the tabernacle of the congregation at verse 4 and the tabernacle of witness at verse 7, and the rods are put where the witness is kept.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And Moses spake unto the children of Israel,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

the rod of Aaron was among their rods--either one of the twelve, or, as many suppose, a thirteenth in the midst (Heb 9:4). The rods were of dry sticks or wands, probably old, as transmitted from one head of the family to a succeeding.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The whole number of rods was twelve exclusive of Aaron’s, as the Vulgate expressly states.

The words behind it

24 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.

  • וַיְדַבֵּ֨רand he spoke

    vaydaberH1696 →1141 times

  • מֹשֶׁ֜הMoses

    moshehH4872 →765 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of

    beneiH1121 →4930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • וַיִּתְּנ֣וּand they gave

    vaiyitenuH5414 →2011 times

  • אֵלָ֣יו׀to him

    ʾelavH413 →5510 times

  • כָּֽל־all

    kal-H3605 →5413 times

  • נְשִֽׂיאֵיהֶ֡םleaders their

    nesieihemH5387 →134 times

  • מַטֶּה֩a rod

    matehH4294 →252 times

  • לְנָשִׂ֨יאfor a leader

    lenasi'H5387 →134 times

  • אֶחָ֜דone

    ʾechadH259 →971 times

  • מַטֶּ֨הa rod

    matehH4294 →252 times

  • לְנָשִׂ֤יאfor a leader

    lenasi'H5387 →134 times

  • אֶחָד֙one

    ʾechadH259 →971 times

  • לְבֵ֣יתto [the] house of

    leveitH1004 →2046 times

  • אֲבֹתָ֔םancestors their

    ʾavotamH1 →1212 times

  • שְׁנֵ֥יםtwo [plus]

    sheneimH8147 →768 times

  • עָשָׂ֖רten

    ʾasarH6240 →338 times

  • מַטּ֑וֹתrods

    matotH4294 →252 times

  • וּמַטֵּ֥הand [the] rod of

    umatehH4294 →252 times

  • אַהֲרֹ֖ןAaron

    ʾaharonH175 →347 times

  • בְּת֥וֹךְ[was] in among

    betokhH8432 →418 times

  • מַטּוֹתָֽם׃rods their

    matotamH4294 →252 times

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

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Numbers: the study guide →Read Numbers 17 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.

Read on in Numbers 17 →