With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see Yahweh’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”
Parallel Translations
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With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see Yahweh’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”
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With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
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with him do I speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD doth he behold; wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?'
Cross-references (31)
Passages linked to Numbers 12:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 34:10 Since then, there has not arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face,
- 1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.
- Exodus 33:11 Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart from the Tent.
- Exodus 24:10-11 They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness. He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.
- Exodus 33:23 then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”
- Luke 10:16 Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
- John 14:7-10 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
- John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
- 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them. For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake, seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- 2 Peter 2:10 but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries;
- Psalms 17:15 As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.
- John 15:24 If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father.
- 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:8 Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.
- 1 Timothy 6:16 He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.
- Hebrews 1:3 His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,
- Jude 1:8 Yet in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings.
- Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
- Exodus 34:5-7 Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed Yahweh’s name. Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”
- Deuteronomy 4:15 Be very careful, for you saw no kind of form on the day that Yahweh spoke to you in Horeb out of the middle of the fire,
- Psalms 49:4 I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle on the harp.
- Isaiah 40:18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
- Isaiah 46:5 “To whom will you compare me, and consider my equal, and compare me, as if we were the same?
- Ezekiel 17:2 “Son of man, tell a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel;
- Ezekiel 20:49 Then I said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! They say of me, ‘Isn’t he a speaker of parables?’ ”
- Matthew 13:35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”
- John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.
- Exodus 33:19 He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim Yahweh’s name before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
- Exodus 34:30 When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.
- Numbers 14:14 They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are among this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
- Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain So far as any man was able to comprehend,…
So far as any man was able to comprehend, which he calleth his back parts, Exod. 33:23.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 12:8 With him will I speak mouth to…
Num 12:8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
Ver. 8. And the similitude.] {See Trapp on "Exo 33:20"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Mouth to mouth, i.e. distinctly, by an articulate voice;…
Mouth to mouth, i.e. distinctly, by an articulate voice; immediately, not by an interpreter, nor by shadows and representations in his fancy, as it is in visions and dreams; and familiarly. This is called speaking face to face, 2Jo 1:12; 3Jo 1:14.
Apparently; plainly and certainly. Not in dark speeches; not in parables, similitudes, riddles, dark resemblances; as by showing a boiling pot, an almond tree, &c. to Jeremiah, a chariot with wheels, &c. to Ezekiel.
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The similitude of the Lord; not the face or essence of God, which no man can see and live, Exo 33:20; it being invisible, Col 1:15, and never seen by man, Joh 1:18; but some singular manifestation of his glorious presence, as Exo 33:11,20, &c.; Exo 34:5, &c.; Deu 34:10. Yea, the Son of God appeared to him in a human shape, which he took up for a time, that he might give him a foretaste of his future incarnation.
My servant; who is so in such an eminent and extraordinary manner.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain With him will I speak mouth to mouth,.... And…
With him will I speak mouth to mouth,.... And face to face, as he had done, Exo 33:11; in a free, friendly, and familiar manner, as one friend speaks to another, without injecting any fear or dread, and consternation of mind, which was sometimes the case of the prophets; or without a middle person, a mediator, as Aben Ezra, not by means of an angel, as in some cases, but the Lord himself spake to him:
even apparently, and not in dark speeches; the word "apparently", or "vision", being opposed to "dark speeches", shows that this is not to be understood of the appearance or vision of an object presented to the sight, or to the mind, which is denied of Moses, though usual with other prophets; but of the vision, or plain sense and meaning of words, which are so plainly expressed, that the sense is easily seen and understood; it was not under figures and allegories, and parables and dark representations of things, that the law of the decalogue, and other laws, statutes, and ordinances, and the proclamation the Lord made of himself, as the Lord gracious, merciful, &c. were delivered unto Moses, but in plain words and clear expressions; not in such enigmatical, parabolical, and allegorical terms as many of the visions and prophecies of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Amos, and Zechariah, were exhibited to them; See Gill on Num 12:6,
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and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: as he had at the burning bush, and at Mount Sinai, with the elders of Israel, and when the Lord proclaimed his name before him; at which several times it is highly probable he beheld the Lord, even the Lord Christ, in an human form, as a presage of his future incarnation, and as he might also after this: the Targum of Jonathan is,"the similitude which is after my Shechinah (or divine Majesty) he saw;''that is, his back parts, as Jarchi, and other Jewish writers, interpret it; but Bishop Patrick thinks the word not should be repeated from the preceding clause, and that the sense is, that he did not behold him in similitudes, nor did the Lord speak to him by them, as to other prophets, see Hos 12:10,
wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? or against my servant, against Moses; against any servant of mine, but especially against Moses, so faithful in my house, so much approved of and honoured by me, and so superior to all other prophets.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Mouth to mouth - That is, distinctly, by an…
Mouth to mouth - That is, distinctly, by an articulate voice; immediately, not by an interpreter, nor by shadows and representations in his fancy, as it is in visions and dreams; and familiarly. Apparently - Plainly and certainly. Dark speeches - Not in parables, similitudes, dark resemblances; as by shewing a boiling pot, an almond tree, &c. to Jeremiah, a chariot with wheels, &c. to Ezekiel. The similitude - Not the face or essence of God, which no man can see and live, Exod. xxxiii, 20, but some singular manifestation of his glorious presence, as Exod. xxxiii, 11, 20. Yea the Son of God appeared to him in an human shape, which he took up for a time, that he might give him a foretaste of his future incarnation. My servant - Who is so in such an eminent and extraordinary manner.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 12:8. Mouth to mouth — In a most…
Num 12:8. Mouth to mouth — In a most familiar manner, distinctly, and by an articulate voice, as one friend discourses with another, or as two friends in conversation hear and answer each other by turns. Moses enjoyed this singular privilege, which was vouchsafed to no other of the prophets, that God spoke to him immediately, and not by an interpreter, nor by shadows, and representations in his fancy, as in visions and dreams, but by a distinct audible voice, and that upon all occasions. Even apparently — Plainly and certainly, so that there was no difficulty to apprehend his meaning. Not in dark speeches — Not in parables, similitudes, dark resemblances; as by showing a boiling pot and an almond-tree to Jeremiah; a basket of summer fruits to Amos; a chariot with wheels, &c., to Ezekiel. The similitude — Not the face or essence of God, which no man can see and live, (Exo 33:20,) but some singular manifestation of his glorious presence, as that spoken of Exo 33:11-23. Yea, the Son of God, it seems, appeared to him in a human shape, which he assumed for a time, that he might give Moses a fore-token of his future incarnation. Against my servant Moses — Who is such in so eminent and extraordinary a manner and degree.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain with him will I speak mouth to mouth--immediately, not…
with him will I speak mouth to mouth--immediately, not by an interpreter, nor by visionary symbols presented to his fancy.
apparently--plainly and surely.
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not in dark speeches--parables or similitudes.
the similitude of the Lord shall he behold--not the face or essence of God, who is invisible (Exo 33:20; Col 1:15; Joh 1:18); but some unmistakable evidence of His glorious presence (Exo 33:2; Exo 34:5). The latter clause should have been conjoined with the preceding one, thus: "not in dark speeches, and in a figure shall he behold the Lord." The slight change in the punctuation removes all appearance of contradiction to Deu 4:15.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. Mouth to mouth — This answers to “face…
8. Mouth to mouth — This answers to “face to face” in Exo_33:11. It implies great familiarity, mutual confidence and esteem, and the absence of all reserve and of any mediation. Such converse is the highest honour bestowed upon man under the Old Testament dispensation.
Even apparently — Literally, as an appearance; R.V., “manifestly,” implying sight, or rather insight, and not vision. Dreams and visions are subjective; that is, pertain to the internal perception of the thinking subject. But the phenomena attending the intercourse of Jehovah with Moses were not intuitive and subjective, but objective; that is, outward and addressing the senses.
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Dark speeches — Riddles or enigmas. These are a test to one on probation who is not yet approved and taken into the fullest confidence. Moses was treated as a man of fixed fidelity who had passed his probation.
The similitude of the Lord — The form of Jehovah was not the essential nature of God, his unveiled glory, for this no mortal can see, (Exo_33:18-20,) “but some unmistakable evidence of his glorious presence.” — Bible Commentary. He talked with Moses without figure, addressing his spiritual intuitions in such a way as to give to him infallible certainty. Thus since the day of Pentecost, Jesus manifests himself to the advanced believer. Joh_14:21, note. “Here (in Num_12:2-8) we have, as it were, in epitome, the mystery of the prophetic gift and function; and in such a manner as to exhibit the strength of this credential most impressively. It is the voice of Jehovah, jealous of his own honour and of the honour of his servants, at once describing and defending the prophetic law of revelation.” — W.B. Pope.
Were ye not afraid — In view of the extraordinary honour which God had bestowed upon Moses they should have restrained all murmuring and envious words.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. even manifestly] This is not a translation of…
8. even manifestly] This is not a translation of the Heb., which is corrupt. It is the sort of meaning required, but no satisfactory emendation has been proposed. The versions suggest בְּמַרְאֶה (for וּמַרְאֶה), which could perhaps mean ‘in appearance,’ i.e. in a personal manifestation.
and not in riddles] A reference to the enigmatical utterances of oracles.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) With him will I speak.—Better, do I speak,…
(8) With him will I speak.—Better, do I speak, mouth to mouth. Comp. Exo_33:11.
Even apparently.—The noun mareh, which is here used, is cognate with that which occurs with the preposition in Num_12:6, and which is rendered “a vision.” It differs from it only in punctuation, and is sometimes identical in meaning. It appears, however, here to denote an objective reality, as in Exo_3:3, where it is rendered sight. The clause might be rendered, and (as) an appearance, and not in riddles (or, enigmas).
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And the similitude of the Lord . . . —Or, and the form of Jehovah doth he behold. The word which is here rendered similitude (temunah) is the same which occurs in Exo_20:4; Deu_4:15-16; Deu_4:23; Deu_4:25; Deu_5:8; Psa_17:15. It is sometimes rendered likeness, and sometimes similitude. The noun mareh, which is here rendered “apparently,” and that which is rendered similitude, are found in conjunction in Job_4:16 : “I could not discern the form (or appearance), mareh, thereof: an image (or form), temunah, was before mine eyes.” (Comp. Exo_33:20-23.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Mouth to mouth. Equivalent to face to face in…
Mouth to mouth. Equivalent to face to face in Exo_33:11. What the exact facts of the case were it is not possible to know, scarcely to imagine; but the words seem to imply a familiar speaking with an audible voice on the part of God, as distinguished from the internal voice, inaudible to the ear, with which he spake "in" the prophets. To assert that the revelations accorded to Moses were only subjective modifications of his own consciousness is to evacuate these strong words of any meaning whatever. Apparently. harm (Septuagint en eidei ) is an accusative in apposition to what goes before by way (apparently) of further definition. It is the same word translated "vision" in verse 6; but its meaning here must be determined by the expression "in riddles," which stands in antithesis to it. It was confessed]y the case with most prophetic utterances that the language in which they were couched was quite as much intended to conceal as to express their full meaning; but to Moses God spake without any such concealments. The similitude of the Lord shall he behold. harm. Not the essential nature of God, which no man can see, but a form (wholly unknown and unimaginable to us) in which it pleased him to veil his glory. The Septuagint has thxan Kuriou eide , referring, apparently, to the vision promised in Exo_33:22; and the Targum Palestine speaks here of the vision of the burning bush. The motive for this alteration is no doubt to be sought in a profound jealousy for the great truth declared in such texts as Deu_4:15 Isa_40:18, and afterwards in Joh_1:18 1Ti_6:16. But the statement in the text is a general one, and can only mean that Moses habitually in his intercourse with God had before his eyes some visible manifestation of the invisible God, which helped to make that intercourse at once more awfully real and more intensely blessed. Such manifestation to the sense of sight must be distinguished both from the visionary (or subjective) sight of God in human figure accorded to Ezekiel, (Eze_1:26) to Isaiah, (Isa_6:1) to St. John, (Rev_4:2, Rev_4:8) and perhaps to others, and also from such theophanies in angel guise as are recorded in Gen_32:30 Jud_1:13:9, 2, and elsewhere. On the other hand, the seventy elders seem to have seen the "Temunah" of the Lord upon that one occasion when they were called up into Mount Sinai. (Exo_24:10, Exo_24:11) Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses! No doubt it was the double fact of their relationship to Moses after the flesh, and of their sharing with him in certain spiritual gifts and prerogatives, which made them oblivious of the great distinction which lifted him above their rivalry, and should have lifted him above their contradiction. That contradiction, however, served to bring out in the clearest way the singular and unapproached position of the mediator of Israel; and it serves still to enable us to estimate aright the peculiar dignity of his legislation and his writings. The substance of prophetic teaching may be of deeper interest and of wider import titan "the law," but this latter will still rank higher in the scale of inspiration, as having been more directly communicated front on high. Thus "the law" (as the Jews rightly taught) remained the body of Divine revelation until "that Prophet" came who was "like unto" Moses in the fact that he enjoyed constant, open, and direct communication with the Godhead.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.