Numbers 20:7
in Numbers 20And the LORD said to Moses,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
KJV
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
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This verse in Numbers 20
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
the entrance to the Tent of Meeting
on Numbers 20:6-7
Moses and Aaron leave the assembly and go face down at the door of the tent, which is the posture they took at 14:5, 16:4, 16:22 and 16:45. Each of those times the glory appeared and something was settled. Here the glory appears and the word that follows it is an instruction rather than a sentence.
This site's exposition
And the LORD said to Moses
The word comes to Moses alone, though both brothers lay facedown. Verse 8 still sends Aaron with him, and verse 24 says both rebelled against that command. Adam Clarke places the offence in Moses judging that speaking would be insufficient, so that he struck the rock unbidden.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Out of what was the token of his glory, which perhaps was the cloud, with an uncommon lustre and brightness in it: saying; as follows.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
there was no water for the congregation--There was at Kadesh a fountain, En-Mishpat (Ge 14:7), and at the first encampment of the Israelites there was no want of water.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר | vaydaber | and he spoke | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מֹשֶׁ֥ה | mosheh | Moses | H4872 → | 765 times |
| לֵּאמֹֽר׃ | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
וַיְדַבֵּ֥רand he spoke
vaydaberH1696 →1141 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מֹשֶׁ֥הMoses
moshehH4872 →765 times
לֵּאמֹֽר׃<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
About Numbers

Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
