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Numbers 3:23

in Numbers 3

The Gershonite clans were to camp on the west, behind the tabernacle,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

The families of the Gershonites shall encamp behind the tabernacle westward.

KJV

The families of the Gershonites shall pitch behind the tabernacle westward.

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This verse in Numbers 3

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites

on Numbers 3:21-24

The Gershonites number seven thousand five hundred and pitch behind the tabernacle on the west. Their chief is Eliasaph the son of Lael, a name that occurs here and nowhere else in Scripture, and Gill remarks that neither the text nor the Jewish writers say which of the two families he belonged to. Three sides of the tent are filled in turn through this chapter and the fourth is held back until verse 38.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

The families of the Gershonites,.... The two before mentioned, the Libnites and Shimites: shall pitch behind the tabernacle westward; this was their situation when encamped; they were placed in the rear of the camp of the Levites, between the tabernacle and the camp of Ephraim, which was westward also, Num 1:18.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Number the children of Levi--They were numbered as well as the other tribes; but the enumeration was made on a different principle--for while in the other tribes the number of males was calculated from twenty years and upward [Nu 1:3], in that of Levi they were counted "from a month old and upward." The reason for the distinction is obvious.

The words behind it

6 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.

  • מִשְׁפְּחֹ֖ת[the] clans of

    mishpechotH4940 →303 times

  • הַגֵּרְשֻׁנִּ֑יthe Gershonite[s]

    hagereshuniH1649 →13 times

  • אַחֲרֵ֧יbehind

    ʾachareiH310 →715 times

  • הַמִּשְׁכָּ֛ןthe tabernacle

    hamishkanH4908 →139 times

  • יַחֲנ֖וּthey will encamp

    yachanuH2583 →143 times

  • יָֽמָּה׃west -ward

    yamahH3220 →396 times

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

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Numbers 1:53But the Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony and watch over it, so that no wrath will fall on the congregation of Israel. So the Levites are responsible for the tabernacle of the Testimony.”3 worksNumbers 2:17In the middle of the camps, the Tent of Meeting is to travel with the camp of the Levites. They are to set out in the order they encamped, each in his own place under his standard.2 worksNumbers 3:29The clans of the Kohathites were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle,2 worksNumbers 3:38Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, before the Tent of Meeting. They were to perform the duties of the sanctuary as a service on behalf of the Israelites; but any outsider who approached the sanctuary was to be put to death.2 works

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

    Numbers 1:53

    But the Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony and watch over it, so that no wrath will fall on the congregation of Israel. So the Levites are responsible for the…

    it leads to

    • Numbers 16:46

      Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the…

    • 1 Chronicles 23:32

      So the Levites were to carry out the responsibilities for the Tent of Meeting and the Holy Place, and, under their brothers the descendants of Aaron, the service of the house of the LORD.

    • Leviticus 10:6

      Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become disheveled and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the LORD will be…

    • Numbers 8:24–26

      “This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years of age or older shall enter to perform the service in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

    • Numbers 31:30

      From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep, or other animals, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.”

  • Through

    Numbers 2:17

    In the middle of the camps, the Tent of Meeting is to travel with the camp of the Levites. They are to set out in the order they encamped, each in his own place…

    it leads to

    • Numbers 10:21

      Then the Kohathites set out, transporting the holy objects; the tabernacle was to be set up before their arrival.

    • Numbers 10:17

      Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites set out, transporting it.

    • Colossians 2:5

      For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ.

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 3 →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.

Read on in Numbers 3 →