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Numbers 17:4

in Numbers 17

Place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And thou shalt lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.

KJV

And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you.

This verse in Numbers 17

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

These rods were to be laid in the tabernacle close to the ark (compare Nu 17:10 and Heb 9:4), where a divine token was promised that would for all time terminate the dispute.

This site's exposition

Place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting

on Numbers 17:4-5

The staffs lie before the Testimony, and the sign is announced before it happens, so the outcome cannot be read back into the promise. God names the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you as grumbling He will rid Himself of. Moses had read it the same way at 16:11.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Before the testimony - That is, before the ark of the testimony, close by the ark. I will meet with you - And manifest my mind to you, for the ending of this dispute.
And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Before the testimony - See Num 17:10 note.

The words behind it

9 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.

  • וְהִנַּחְתָּ֖םand you will deposit them

    vehinachtamH5117 →142 times

  • בְּאֹ֣הֶלin [the] tent of

    beohelH168 →345 times

  • מוֹעֵ֑דmeeting

    moedH4150 →223 times

  • לִפְנֵי֙<to> before

    lifneiH6440 →2123 times

  • הָֽעֵד֔וּתthe testimony

    haedutH5715 →59 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֛רwhere

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • אִוָּעֵ֥דI meet

    ʾivaedH3259 →29 times

  • לָכֶ֖ם<to> <the> you

    lakhem

  • שָֽׁמָּה׃there <towards>

    shamahH8033 →834 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

    Exodus 30:36

    Grind some of it into fine powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 25:22

      And I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony; I will speak with you about all that I command you…

    • Leviticus 16:2

      And the LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter freely into the Most Holy Place behind the veil in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he…

  • Through

    Exodus 30:6

    Place the altar in front of the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony—before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony—where I will meet with you.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 25:21–22

      Set the mercy seat atop the ark, and put the Testimony that I will give you into the ark.

    • Exodus 40:26

      Moses placed the gold altar in the Tent of Meeting, in front of the veil,

    • 1 Chronicles 28:11

      Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, storehouses, upper rooms, inner rooms, and the room for the mercy seat.

  • Through

    Numbers 17:7

    Then Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 38:21

      This 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.

    • 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.

    • Numbers 18:2

      But bring with you also your brothers from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and assist you and your sons before the Tent of the Testimony.

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.
The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.

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 Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.