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Numbers 20:8

in Numbers 20

“Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock; so thou shalt give the congregation and their cattle drink.

KJV

Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

This verse in Numbers 20

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
Take the rod - That with which the miracles in Egypt had been performed (Exo 7:8 ff; Exo 7:19 ff; Exo 8:5 ff, etc.), and which had been used on a similar occasion at Rephidim (Exo 17:5 following). This rod, as the memorial of so many divine interpositions, was naturally laid up in the tabernacle, and is accordingly Num 20:9 described now as taken by Moses “from before the Lord.”

This site's exposition

speak ye unto the rock before their eyes

The instruction carries two verbs and the whole chapter turns on which one is acted. Take the rod, and speak ye unto the rock, so the rod is carried and the rock is addressed. At Exodus 17:6 the word was smite the rock, and there the striking was the obedience. The rod is commanded in the same breath here, and the thing it is carried for is the speaking.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), but in it he made them to drink spiritual drink, which typified spiritual blessings, for that rock was Christ. Moses and Aaron acted improperly in the management of this matter, so much so that God in displeasure told them immediately that they should not have the honour of bringing Israel into Canaan,

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

Take thy rod,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Moses must a second time in God's name command water out of a rock for them, to show that God is as able as ever to supply his people with good things, even in their greatest straits an in the utmost failure of second causes. Almighty power can bring water out of a rock, has done it, and can again, for his arm is not shortened.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

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

25 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.

  • קַ֣חtake

    kachH3947966 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הַמַּטֶּ֗הthe rod

    hamatehH4294252 times

  • וְהַקְהֵ֤לand assemble

    vehakhelH695039 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הָעֵדָה֙the congregation

    haedahH5712149 times

  • אַתָּה֙you

    ʾatahH8591094 times

  • וְאַהֲרֹ֣ןand Aaron

    veaharonH175347 times

  • אָחִ֔יךָbrother your

    ʾachikhaH251630 times

  • וְדִבַּרְתֶּ֧םand you will speak

    vedibartemH16961141 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • הַסֶּ֛לַעthe rock

    hasela'H555358 times

  • לְעֵינֵיהֶ֖םto eyes their

    leeineihemH5869887 times

  • וְנָתַ֣ןand it will give

    venatanH54142011 times

  • מֵימָ֑יוwater its

    meimavH4325581 times

  • וְהוֹצֵאתָ֨and you will bring out

    vehotzetaH33181067 times

  • לָהֶ֥םfor <the> them

    lahem

  • מַ֙יִם֙water

    mayimH4325581 times

  • מִן־from

    min-H44801188 times

  • הַסֶּ֔לַעthe rock

    hasela'H555358 times

  • וְהִשְׁקִיתָ֥and you will give drink to

    vehishkitaH824861 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הָעֵדָ֖הthe congregation

    haedahH5712149 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH85310935 times

  • בְּעִירָֽם׃livestock their

    beiramH11656 times

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

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

    Revelation 22:17

    The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.

    it leads to

    • John 4:14

      But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Revelation 21:6

      And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.

    • Isaiah 55:1–3

      “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!

    • John 7:37

      On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

    • Isaiah 12:3

      With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation,

  • Through

    Nehemiah 9:15

    In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven; in their thirst You brought them water from the rock. You told them to go in and possess the land which You had sworn to…

    it leads to

    • 1 Corinthians 10:3–4

      They all ate the same spiritual food

    • Deuteronomy 1:8

      See, I have placed the land before you. Enter and possess the land that the LORD swore He would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants after them.”

  • Through

    Isaiah 43:20

    The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 41:17

      The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

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 (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.