“Don’t cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites; but thus do to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint everyone to his service and to his burden; but they shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die.”
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Numbers 4:18-20 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “Don’t cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites; but thus do to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint everyone to his service and to his burden; but they shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die.”
Parallel Translations
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“Don’t cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites;
but thus do to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint everyone to his service and to his burden;
but they shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die.”
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Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites:
But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden:
But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.
Show all 3 translations
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'Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites;
but thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden;
but they shall not go in to see the holy things as they are being covered, lest they die.'
Cross-references (16)
- 1 Samuel 6:19 (vv18, 20) He struck of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into Yahweh’s ark, he struck fifty thousand seventy of the men. Then the…
- Exodus 19:21 (vv18, 20) Yahweh said to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to Yahweh to gaze, and many of them perish.
- Numbers 4:15 (vv19–20) “When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp moves forward; after…
- Leviticus 10:2 (v20) Fire came out from before Yahweh, and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh.
- Numbers 4:19 (v20) but thus do to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint…
Show all 13 cross-references
- Leviticus 10:1-2 (v18) Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before…
- Numbers 16:32 (v18) The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all of Korah’s men, and all their goods.
- Numbers 17:10 (v18) Yahweh said to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion; that you…
- Numbers 18:5 (v18) “You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary and the duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel.
- 2 Samuel 6:6-7 (v18) When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached for God’s ark, and took hold of it; for the cattle stumbled. Yahweh’s anger…
- Jeremiah 38:23 (v18) They will bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans. You won’t escape out of their hand, but will be taken by the hand of…
- Hebrews 10:19-20 (v20) Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and…
- Revelation 11:19 (v20) God’s temple that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant was seen in his temple. Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an…
13 distinct cross-references across this passage (16 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv18–19 Committing by your negligence that the holy things be…
Committing by your negligence that the holy things be not well wrapped, and so they by touching thereof perish.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv18, 20 Num 4:18 Cut ye not off the tribe of…
Num 4:18 Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites:
Ver. 18. Cut ye not off,] i.e., Cause them not, by your default, to be cut off. Heed must be taken, that we neither give offence carelessly, nor take offence causelessly.
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 On vv18–19 i.e. Do not by your neglect provoke God to…
i.e. Do not by your neglect provoke God to cut them off for touching the holy things.
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 On vv18–20 But they shall not go in to see when…
But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered,.... They were not to be present while they were packing up, test they should see any of them with their eyes; they were not to go in until they were quite covered out of sight; which may signify the hiding of the mysteries of grace in those things under the former dispensation, when even the Levites themselves were not admitted to a sight of them; see Eph 3:4,
lest they die; by the immediate hand of God.
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 On vv18–19 Cut not off - Do not by your neglect…
Cut not off - Do not by your neglect provoke God to cut them off for touching the holy things.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v20 Verse 20. When the holy things are covered] Literally,…
Verse 20. When the holy things are covered] Literally, כבלע keballa, when they are swallowed down; which shows the promptitude with which every thing belonging to the holy of holies was put out of sight, for these mysteries must ever be treated with the deepest reverence; and indeed without this they could not have been to them the representatives of heavenly realities. See the concluding note.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v18 Num 4:18-19. Cut not off — Do not by…
Num 4:18-19. Cut not off — Do not by your neglect, provoke God to cut them off for touching the holy things. Every one to his service — To that which is peculiarly allotted to him, the services and burdens being equally distributed among them.
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 On v20 to see when the holy things are covered -…
to see when the holy things are covered - Render: to see the holy things for an instant. The expression means Iiterally” as a gulp,” i. e. for the instant it takes to swallow.
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 On v20 Curiosity. Septuagint, "suddenly." Let them not rush in before…
Curiosity. Septuagint, "suddenly." Let them not rush in before all the vessels be properly covered. The priests folded them up with all haste, that they might see them as little as possible themselves. (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).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv18, 20 18. Cut ye not off… the Kohathites — Hebrews,…
18. Cut ye not off… the Kohathites — Hebrews, Cause ye not to cut off, etc. This admonition signifies that the priests charged with the duty of enveloping the sacred furniture should not be the occasion of the death of any Levite through their inattention to the commandment to cover the holy things from the sight or touch of the bearers. If it is objected that it is unreasonable to suppose that the just God would cut off one through another’s carelessness in handling sacred things, we would call attention to that very constitution and course of nature in which we daily move. We are every day exposed to sudden death through the absent-mindedness of the apothecary, the thoughtlessness of the switch-tender, the sleepiness of the engineer, or the unskilfulness of the pilot. God does not miraculously interpose to prevent the evil results of inadvertence in dealing with physical forces. We should expect the same to be true when we enter the realm of spiritual powers. The death-stroke that flashed from the Shekinah upon some curious Levite who approached unwarned the uncovered ark of the covenant might have been as natural as the death-shock from an accidental contact with an unguarded electrical battery. For aught that we know it would require a miracle to prevent a fatal result of carelessness in the first case as much as in the second. What a lesson is here taught to all Christians, especially to all ministers of the Gospel, not to withhold from the wicked the proclamation of the terrors of the Lord God, who is a consuming fire. “Those who do not what they can to keep others from sin, do what they can to cut them off.” This remark of the sententious Henry is based on the word of God. Pro_24:11-12; Eze_33:6.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv18, 20 (18) Cut ye not off the tribe . .…
(18) Cut ye not off the tribe . . . —The word shebet (tribe) is here used in a very peculiar sense, and denotes one division only of the tribe of Levi. In this and the following verses the injunction already given (Num_5:15) is renewed, and Moses and Aaron are charged not to be guilty of such negligence in respect of it as might expose the Kohathites to death in consequence of their unlawful treatment of the holy things. Moses and Aaron might be said to do that which would be the result of their negligence. In like manner St. Paul enjoins the Roman Christians in these words: “Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died” (Rom_14:15).
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 On vv18–20 Cut ye not off the tribe of the families…
Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites. The word tribe (shebet) is used in an unusual way here, not in the sense of tribus, but of stirps. Perhaps as Levi was himself a microcosm of all Israel, so his families ranked as tribes; and no doubt they remained more distinct than the families of any other tribe. The meaning of the command is plainly this, "Take care that the Kohathites are not cut off through any negligence or want of consideration on your part; and the form of the command, "cut ye not off," conveyed most emphatically the warning, that if any mischief befell the Kohathites which the priests could have prevented, they would be responsible for it in the sight of God. No doubt, as a fact, the Kohathites would take their cue from the conduct of the priests: if they were irreverent and careless, the Levites would be the same, and would sooner or later presume, and, presuming, would die.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.