“Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it pour out its water. You shall bring water to them out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink.”
Parallel Translations
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“Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it pour out its water. You shall bring water to them out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink.”
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Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
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'Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock; so thou shalt give the congregation and their cattle drink.'
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (3)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (30)
Passages linked to Numbers 20:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 4:17 You shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”
- Isaiah 43:20 The animals of the field, the jackals and the ostriches, shall honor me, because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen,
- John 16:24 Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.
- Acts 2:1-4 Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place. Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.
- Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.
- Genesis 18:14 Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”
- Exodus 4:2 Yahweh said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”
- Exodus 4:20 Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God’s rod in his hand.
- Exodus 7:20 Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
- Exodus 14:16 Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. Then the children of Israel shall go into the middle of the sea on dry ground.
- Exodus 17:5-6 Yahweh said to Moses, “Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
- Exodus 17:9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s rod in my hand.”
- Numbers 20:11 Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank.
- Numbers 21:15 the slope of the valleys that incline toward the dwelling of Ar, leans on the border of Moab.”
- Numbers 21:18 the well, which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter, and with their poles.” From the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah;
- Joshua 6:5 It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the city wall shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every man straight in front of him.”
- Joshua 6:20 So the people shouted and the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight in front of him, and they took the city.
- Nehemiah 9:15 and gave them bread from the sky for their hunger, and brought water out of the rock for them for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them.
- Psalms 33:9 For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood firm.
- Psalms 78:15-16 He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
- Psalms 105:41 He opened the rock, and waters gushed out. They ran as a river in the dry places.
- Psalms 114:8 who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters.
- Isaiah 41:17-18 The poor and needy seek water, and there is none. Their tongue fails for thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the middle of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
- Isaiah 48:21 They didn’t thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He also split the rock and the waters gushed out.
- Mark 11:22-24 Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. For most certainly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and doesn’t doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he shall have whatever he says. Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them.
- Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
- John 4:10-14 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his children and his livestock?” Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Revelation 22:1 He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
- Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done.
- Acts 1:14 All these with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer and supplication, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Wherewith thou diddest miracles in Egypt, and didst divide…
Wherewith thou diddest miracles in Egypt, and didst divide the sea.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 20:8 Take the rod, and gather thou the…
Num 20:8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
Ver. 8. Take the rod.] God puts off their rebellion, and satisfies their thirst by a miracle.
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Speak unto the rock.] He is not bidden now to smite it; as once in Exo 17:6, which because he did unbidden, God was deeply displeased, as some are of opinion.
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 The rod; that rod which was laid up before…
The rod; that rod which was laid up before the Lord in the tabernacle, as appears from Num 20:9. But whether it was Aaron’s rod, which was undoubtedly laid up there, Num 17:10, or Moses’s rod, by which he wrought so many miracles, it is not considerable; or whether it was not one and the same rod, which was commonly called Moses’s rod, as here, Num 20:11, and elsewhere, and sometimes Aaron’s rod, as Exo 7:12, which may seem most probable. For it is likely, though not related elsewhere in Scripture, that wonder-working rod, called the rod of God, Exo 4:20, was laid up in some part of the tabernacle, though not in or near the ark, where Aaron’s blossoming rod for a particular reason was put. Speak ye unto the rock, which will sooner hear and obey my commands than these sottish and stubborn people.
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 And Moses took the rod from before the Lord.....…
And Moses took the rod from before the Lord..... Which was laid up somewhere in the sanctuary, as well as the rod of Aaron, Num 17:7,
as he commanded him; being always faithful and obedient to him that appointed him.
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 The rod - That which was laid up before…
The rod - That which was laid up before the Lord in the tabernacle; whether it was Aaron's rod, which was laid up there, chap. xvii, 10, or Moses's rod by which he wrought so many miracles. For it is likely, that wonder-working rod, was laid up in some part of the tabernacle, though not in or near the ark, where Aaron's blossoming rod was put.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 20:8-9. Take the rod — That which was…
Num 20:8-9. Take the rod — That which was laid up before the Lord in the tabernacle; whether it was Aaron’s rod, which was laid up there, (Num 17:10,) or Moses’s rod, by which he wrought so many miracles. For it is likely that wonder-working rod was laid up in some part of the tabernacle, though not in or near the ark, where Aaron’s blossoming rod was put. From before the Lord — Out of the tabernacle.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Take the rod - That with which the miracles…
Take the rod - That with which the miracles in Egypt had been performed (Exo 7:8 ff; Exo 7:19 ff; Exo 8:5 ff, etc.), and which had been used on a similar occasion at Rephidim (Exo 17:5 following). This rod, as the memorial of so many divine interpositions, was naturally laid up in the tabernacle, and is accordingly Num 20:9 described now as taken by Moses “from before the Lord.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The rod, with which Moses had wrought so many…
The rod, with which Moses had wrought so many miracles, and which was placed in the tabernacle, ver. 9. It is called his rod, in the Hebrews v. 11. We do not find that the rod of Aaron, which budded, was used to work miracles. --- Thou. Septuagint, "you." Both Moses and Aaron concurred in the action, (ver. 12,) but Moses was the chief agent. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Take the rod--which had been deposited in the tabernacle…
Take the rod--which had been deposited in the tabernacle (Num 17:10), the wonder-working rod by which so many miracles had been performed, sometimes called "the rod of God" (Exo 4:20), sometimes Moses' (Num 20:11) or Aaron's rod (Exo 7:12).
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. Take the rod — The wonder-working staff with…
8. Take the rod — The wonder-working staff with which the miracles in Egypt were wrought. There is no doubt that the fabled thyrsus of Bacchus, and the caduceus of Mercury, the instrument of his mythic marvels, are distorted traditions of this rod of Moses.
Speak ye unto the rock — There is no command to strike. The only human action which is authorized is, that Moses take the rod, and, probably, stretch it out toward the rock, and that both the brothers speak to it. It is remarkable that the Hebrew for rock is sela, or cliff, and not tzur, as the rock at Rephidim is called. Exo_17:6. From this Stanley argues that Kadesh is ancient Petra, or Sela, the wonderful rock city, “the basin of which is known by the Arabs by no other name than the Valley of Moses.” — Sinai and Pal., p. 95.
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Before their eyes — These words indicate some conspicuous rock, such as Dr. Robinson sought for but did not find at Ain-el-Weibeh, which he supposes to be Kadesh.
Thou shalt bring forth… water — As the agent, and not the efficient cause. Did not the fault of Moses, in part, consist in forgetting this distinction?
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. Take the staff] Moses here receives no directions…
8. Take the staff] Moses here receives no directions as to what he is to do with the staff: perhaps some clauses which originally contained them have been lost. ‘The staff’ is spoken of as a definite well-known object. In E Moses is represented as using a staff given him by God (Exo_4:17; Exo_4:20); but in P the staff is always Aaron’s (Exo_7:9; Exo_7:12; Exo_7:19-20 &c.). In Num_20:11 (below), according to the Heb. text, Moses struck the rock with ‘his rod’; but LXX. has ‘the rod.’ במטהו is probably a late scribal error for במטה.
the rock] There is at Kadesh (the modern ‘Ain-el-Ḳadîs) a ‘large single mass, or a small hill, of solid rock’ described by Trumbull (Kadesh-Barnea, 272–4), who established the identity of the place.
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) Take the rod.—It has been supposed by some,…
(8) Take the rod.—It has been supposed by some, from the fact that the rod is represented as being taken “from before the Lord” (Num_20:9), that the reference is to the rod of Aaron which was kept “before the testimony” (Num_17:10). On the other hand, the natural presumption that the rod was the same as that with which some of the previous miracles in Egypt and those at the Red Sea and at Rephidim had been wrought is confirmed by the facts that the name of Aaron is not mentioned in this verse until after the mention of the rod, and that Moses is said, in Num_20:11, to have smitten the rock “with his rod.”
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 Take the rod. The rabdov , or staff of…
Take the rod. The rabdov , or staff of office, with which Moses and Aaron had worked wonders before Pharaoh, (Exo_7:9 sq. ) and with which Moses had smitten the rock in Rephidim. (Exo_17:6) This rod had not been mentioned, nor perhaps used, since then; but we might certainly have supposed that the instrument of so many miracles would be reverently laid up in the tabernacle "before the Lord," and, this we find from the next verse to have been the case. Gather thou the assembly together, i.e., by their representatives. Speak ye unto the rock before their eyes. The word used for the rock in this narrative is lSh instead of rWXh, as in Ex 17. It does not seem that any certain distinction of meaning can be drawn between the words, which are obviously interchanged in Jud_1:6:20, 21, and are both translated petra by the Septuagint; but the careful use of different terms in the two narratives serves to distinguish them, just as the use of kofinouv and spuridav by St. Mark (Mar_6:43 8:8 19, 20) helps to distinguish the two miracles of feeding the multitude.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain speak ye unto the rock before their eyes
speak ye unto the rock before their eyes
See Exo 17:5. (See Scofield "Exo 17:5").
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The rock (Christ) 1Co 10:4 once smitten, needs not to be smitten (crucified) again. Moses’ act exalted himself Num 20:10 and implied (in type) that the one sacrifice was ineffectual, thus denying the eternal efficacy of the blood; Heb 9:25; Heb 9:26; Heb 10:3; Heb 10:11; Heb 10:12. The abundant water (grace reaching the need of the people, despite the error of their leader) tells of refreshing and power through the Spirit.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 20:8-9 The staff was kept before the Ark of…
20:8-9 The staff was kept before the Ark of the Covenant to prevent the Israelites from complaining (cp. 17:10); it represented God’s authority in the hands of Moses and Aaron. The instructions that God gives his representatives are very precise and must be followed exactly (cp. Jas 3:1; see also 2 Tim 2:24-26).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.