Numbers 4:32
in Numbers 4and the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs, and ropes, including all their equipment and everything related to their use. You shall assign by name the items that they are responsible to carry.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service: and by name ye shall appoint the instruments of the charge of their burden.
KJV
And the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service: and by name ye shall reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden.
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This verse in Numbers 4
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
As for the sons of Merari
on Numbers 4:29-33
Merari carries the frame of the tent: the frames, crossbars, posts, bases, tent pegs and ropes. Verse 32 says “You shall assign by name the items that they are responsible to carry”, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown draw from it that God disregards nothing belonging to his service. It is the heaviest load, with bases of a hundred talents of silver at Exodus 38:27.
This site's exposition
You shall assign by name the items
Matthew Henry and John Wesley read the tent taken down as a picture of a believer's death, the figure Paul uses at 2 Corinthians 5:1. In their reading the pegs and ropes listed by name stand for the body, kept safe until it is raised. Nothing on the list was to be lost.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
None of these shall be lost. Commandment is given concerning the bones, a covenant made with the dust. They are in safe custody, and shall be produced in the great day, when this tabernacle shall be set up again, and these vile bodies made like the glorious body of Jesus Christ.
And the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords,....
The least of the tribes had almost four times as many able men as the Levites, and some of them more than eight times as many; for those that are engaged in the service of this world, and war after the flesh, are many more than those that are devoted to the service of God, and fight the good fight of faith.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
It was a useful lesson, showing that God disregards nothing pertaining to His service, and that even in the least and most trivial matters, He requires the duty of faithful obedience.
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעַמּוּדֵי֩ | veamudei | and [the] pillars of | H5982 → | 111 times |
| הֶחָצֵ֨ר | hechatzer | the courtyard | H2691 → | 191 times |
| סָבִ֜יב | saviv | all around | H5439 → | 336 times |
| וְאַדְנֵיהֶ֗ם | veadneihem | and bases their | H134 → | 57 times |
| וִֽיתֵדֹתָם֙ | vitedotam | and tent pegs their | H3489 → | |
| וּמֵ֣יתְרֵיהֶ֔ם | umeitreihem | and ropes their | H4340 → | 9 times |
| לְכָל־ | lekhol | to all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| כְּלֵיהֶ֔ם | keleihem | articles their | H3627 → | 325 times |
| וּלְכֹ֖ל | ulekhol | and to all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֲבֹדָתָ֑ם | ʾavodatam | service their | H5656 → | 145 times |
| וּבְשֵׁמֹ֣ת | uveshemot | and by names | H8034 → | 864 times |
| תִּפְקְד֔וּ | tifkedu | you will assign | H6485 → | 303 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כְּלֵ֖י | kelei | [the] equipment<s> of | H3627 → | 325 times |
| מִשְׁמֶ֥רֶת | mishmeret | [the] duty of | H4931 → | 78 times |
| מַשָּׂאָֽם׃ | masaam | carrying their | H4853 → | 66 times |
וְעַמּוּדֵי֩and [the] pillars of
veamudeiH5982 →111 times
הֶחָצֵ֨רthe courtyard
hechatzerH2691 →191 times
סָבִ֜יבall around
savivH5439 →336 times
וְאַדְנֵיהֶ֗םand bases their
veadneihemH134 →57 times
וִֽיתֵדֹתָם֙and tent pegs their
vitedotamH3489 →
וּמֵ֣יתְרֵיהֶ֔םand ropes their
umeitreihemH4340 →9 times
לְכָל־to all
lekholH3605 →5413 times
כְּלֵיהֶ֔םarticles their
keleihemH3627 →325 times
וּלְכֹ֖לand to all
ulekholH3605 →5413 times
עֲבֹדָתָ֑םservice their
ʾavodatamH5656 →145 times
וּבְשֵׁמֹ֣תand by names
uveshemotH8034 →864 times
תִּפְקְד֔וּyou will assign
tifkeduH6485 →303 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כְּלֵ֖י[the] equipment<s> of
keleiH3627 →325 times
מִשְׁמֶ֥רֶת[the] duty of
mishmeretH4931 →78 times
מַשָּׂאָֽם׃carrying their
masaamH4853 →66 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Exodus 25:9You must make the tabernacle and design all its furnishings according to the pattern I show you.
it leads to
- Acts 7:44
Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 25:40
See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
- Hebrews 8:5
The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you…
- Hebrews 9:9
It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper.
- Acts 7:44
Through
Numbers 7:1On the day Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed and consecrated it and all its furnishings, along with the altar and all its utensils.
it leads to
- Leviticus 8:10–11
Next, Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it; and so he consecrated them.
- Numbers 7:84
So these were the offerings from the leaders of Israel for the dedication of the altar when it was anointed: twelve silver platters, twelve silver bowls, and twelve gold dishes.
- Leviticus 8:10–11
Through
Exodus 38:21This is the inventory for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, as recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
it leads to
- Numbers 10:11
On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud was lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony,
- 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…
- Numbers 10:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Numbers

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