Numbers 17:7
in Numbers 17Then Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Moses laid up the rods before Jehovah in the tent of the testimony.
KJV
And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness.
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This verse in Numbers 17
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Aaron’s staff was among them
on Numbers 17:6-7
Each leader hands in a staff and Aaron’s staff was among them, twelve dry sticks alike when the door shuts. Calvin holds that the twelve include Levi, with Joseph counted as one tribe since no land is divided here, while others make Aaron's a thirteenth.
This site's exposition
in the Tent of the Testimony
Moses alone lays the staffs down, and they stay the night where no other man could enter. John Gill reports Aben Ezra's view that each prince wrote his own name, so every man knew his staff when it came out. No one could claim a switch.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But, since God will have it so, he did his part, and lodged the case before the Lord, to whom the appeal was made by consent, and left it with him. 8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:39w-of-70
And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. In that part of the tabernacle where the testimony or witness was, that is, the law, which was in the ark, over which was the mercy seat, with the cherubim between which Jehovah dwelt, and this was the most holy place; and the rods being laid here, might be said to be laid before the Lord, who, by making a difference in one of those rods from the rest, would decide the controversy about the priesthood, which was the end of their being laid before him.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּנַּ֥ח | vaiyanach | and he deposited | H5117 → | 142 times |
| מֹשֶׁ֛ה | mosheh | Moses | H4872 → | 765 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַמַּטֹּ֖ת | hamatot | the rods | H4294 → | 252 times |
| לִפְנֵ֣י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בְּאֹ֖הֶל | beohel | in [the] tent of | H168 → | 345 times |
| הָעֵדֻֽת׃ | haedut | the testimony | H5715 → | 59 times |
וַיַּנַּ֥חand he deposited
vaiyanachH5117 →142 times
מֹשֶׁ֛הMoses
moshehH4872 →765 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַמַּטֹּ֖תthe rods
hamatotH4294 →252 times
לִפְנֵ֣י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
בְּאֹ֖הֶלin [the] tent of
beohelH168 →345 times
הָעֵדֻֽת׃the testimony
haedutH5715 →59 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
Acts 7:44Our 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.
it leads to
- Exodus 25:40
See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
- 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.
- 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…
- Exodus 25:40
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
- 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 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 9:15
On the day that the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it and appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning.
- 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…
- 2 Chronicles 24:6
So the king called Jehoiada the high priest and said, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the LORD and…
- Acts 7:44
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.