but they shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die.”
Parallel Translations
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but they shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die.”
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But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.
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but they shall not go in to see the holy things as they are being covered, lest they die.'
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Numbers 4:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Samuel 6:19 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 people mourned, because Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter.
- Exodus 19:21 Yahweh said to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to Yahweh to gaze, and many of them perish.
- Leviticus 10:2 Fire came out from before Yahweh, and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh.
- Numbers 4:15 “When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp moves forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to carry it; but they shall not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. The sons of Kohath shall carry these things belonging to the Tent of Meeting.
- Numbers 4:19 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;
- Hebrews 10:19-20 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 living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,
- Revelation 11:19 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 earthquake, and great hail followed.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 4:20 But they shall not go in to…
Num 4:20 But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.
Ver. 20. But they shall not go in to see.] The men of Bethshemesh paid for their peeping. {1Sa 6:9} Search not into God’s secrets: hic oportet mirari, non rimari {Deu 29:29} Remember that saying of Xenocrates the philosopher: Nihil interesse, pedesne quisquam, an oculos in aliena domo ponat, {a} It is as great unmannerliness to pry into another man’s house as to press into it.
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{a} Plutarch, De Curiosit.
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.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon,....…
Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon,.... As well as of the sons of Kohath; for though Gershon was Levi's eldest son, yet his posterity were not excused from the service of the tabernacle, and bearing things of it in journeying:
throughout the houses of their fathers, by their families; all in their several houses, and in the several families in those houses, that were of the age next mentioned, were to be numbered.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain 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.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain 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 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 20. They shall not… see… lest they die —…
20. They shall not… see… lest they die — There is here a very expressive Hebrew word, כבלע, as a gulp, a swallowing. “They shall not see for a single instant the holy things.” Dr. A. Clarke’s reference of this word to the enveloping of the holy things is hardly admissible. The Authorized Version makes the same mistake by rendering it, when they are covered. While we shrink from announcing all the reasons for hanging so many terrors about the abode of Jehovah on the earth, we may say that nothing could more deeply impress upon all the Hebrew people the majesty, power, and holiness of their God in contrast with the divinities of all the surrounding nations. It is in mercy that God withholds from our eager eyes those revelations of his glory which our spiritual stupidity and littleness of faith so often crave. It was after the awful manifestation of Jehovah on the summit of Horeb that the people said to Moses, “Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak, lest we die.” Exo_20:19.
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 (20) But they shall not go in to see…
(20) But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered.—Better, But they shall not go in to see the holy things (or, the sanctuary) for a moment. The Levites were not per-mitted to enter the holy place in which the priests ministered, much less the Holy of Holies. Whether this rule was or was not relaxed at the time of the removal of the Tabernacle, as the prohibition against entrance into the Holy of Holies must have been in regard to the priests, the Levites were not permitted in any case to look upon the Ark and the other holy things until they were covered.
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 They shall not go in to see when the…
They shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered. This translation is disputed. The word rendered "are covered" is the Piel infinitive from bala, to swallow, and so to destroy. It may signify the extreme rapidity with which the most holy things were hidden from sight and removed from touch, so as to become, as it were, non-existent for the time. So the Syriac, Arabic, Samaritan, and the Targums of Onkelos and Palestine. On the other hand, it may be a proverbial expression, "in a swallow, at a gulp," i.e., " for an instant," as in Job_7:19. And so the Septuagint, exapina , and most modern scholars. Whichever way, however, we take it, the phrase, "they shall not go in to see," seems to limit the prohibition under pain of death to the deliberate act of entering the tabernacle out of curiosity during the process of packing up the holy things. The case of the men of Bethshemesh, therefore, (1Sa_6:19) does not fall within the letter of this law, although it does within its spirit. The command, thus limited, is no doubt an addition to the previous command not to touch, but it is altogether in keeping with it. If it was the will of God to hedge about these sacred symbols of his presence and his worship with an awful sanctity, it is obvious that he was as much bound to defend them against the irreverent prying of the eye as against the irreverent touch of the hand; and the prying here prohibited would have been distinctly willful and inexcusable.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.