“On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread shall be on it.
Parallel Translations
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“On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread shall be on it.
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And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon:
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And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the pans, and the bowls, and the jars wherewith to pour out; and the continual bread shall remain thereon.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Numbers 4:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 24:5-8 “You shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it: two tenths of an ephah shall be in one cake. You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before Yahweh. You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to Yahweh. Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before Yahweh continually. It is an everlasting covenant on the behalf of the children of Israel.
- Exodus 25:23-30 “You shall make a table of acacia wood. Its length shall be two cubits, and its width a cubit, and its height one and a half cubits. You shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. You shall make a rim of a hand width around it. You shall make a golden molding on its rim around it. You shall make four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that are on its four feet. the rings shall be close to the rim, for places for the poles to carry the table. You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them. You shall make its dishes, its spoons, its ladles, and its bowls to pour out offerings with. You shall make them of pure gold. You shall set bread of the presence on the table before me always.
- Exodus 37:10-16 He made the table of acacia wood. Its length was two cubits, and its width was a cubit, and its height was a cubit and a half. He overlaid it with pure gold, and made a gold molding around it. He made a border of a hand’s width around it, and made a golden molding on its border around it. He cast four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that were on its four feet. The rings were close by the border, the places for the poles to carry the table. He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, to carry the table. He made the vessels which were on the table, its dishes, its spoons, its bowls, and its pitchers with which to pour out, of pure gold.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, to cover the bread.
Meaning, to cover the bread.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Of shew-bread, Heb. of faces or presence, for of…
Of shew-bread, Heb. of faces or presence, for of the bread of faces or presence, i.e. of the bread which was continually standing in the presence of the Lord.
The dishes, upon which the shew-bread was put.
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The continual bread, i.e. shew-bread; so called because it was continually to be there, even in the wilderness; where though they had only manna for themselves, yet they reserved corn for the weekly making of these loaves, which they might with no great difficulty procure from some of the people bordering upon the wilderness in the innermost parts whereof they were.
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 upon the table of shewbread they shall spread…
And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue,.... That that also might not be seen nor touched by the Levites:
and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and the covers to cover withal: all which belonged to the shewbread table; the use of which; see Gill on Exo 25:29; these seem to be put not immediately upon the table, but upon the blue cloth spread over the table:
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and the continual bread shall be thereon: the shewbread is called "continual", because it was always on the table; for while the one was removing by a set of priests, which had stood a week, new loaves were placed by another set of priests: this bread seems at this time to be placed also upon the table, spread with the blue cloth; and from hence it appears, that the Israelites had the shewbread in the wilderness; for the making of which they might be supplied with corn from the neighbouring countries, though they themselves needed not any, being daily fed with manna.
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 dishes - Upon which the shew-bread was put.…
The dishes - Upon which the shew-bread was put. Continual bread - So called because it was continually to be there, even in the wilderness; where though they had only manna for themselves, yet they reserved corn for the weekly making of these loaves, which they might with no great difficulty procure from some of the people bordering upon the wilderness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 4:7. The dishes — Upon which the show-bread…
Num 4:7. The dishes — Upon which the show-bread was put. Continual bread — So called because it was continually to be there, even in the wilderness; where, though they had only manna for themselves, yet they reserved corn for the weekly making of these loaves.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Loaves. Some imagine this precept was not observed in…
Loaves. Some imagine this precept was not observed in the desert, as the people fed on manna. But might not they procure some flour of the neighbouring nations? and do not the princes offer flour, chap. vii.? See Deuteronomy xii. 7. (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 continual showbread--Though the people were in the wilderness fed…
continual showbread--Though the people were in the wilderness fed upon manna, the sacred loaves were constantly made of corn, which was probably raised in small quantities from the verdant patches of the desert.
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 7, 9. The table of show-bread — This is…
7, 9. The table of show-bread — This is minutely described in Exo_25:23-30. The literal Hebrew here is show table, or, more exactly, table of faces or face, referring to the presence of Jehovah, not of the people, for they were not permitted to see it. It sets forth in a sensible manner the great truth that the unseen Jesus is the bread of life for the believing soul. It, with all its furniture, and the continual bread, was to be prepared for removal. The bread was called “continual” or perpetual, because loaves were always to be on the table, the new always taking the place of the old. The table was to be spread with a cloth of blue, or purple blue, and then, after all the furniture and show-bread were put upon it, was to be covered with a scarlet cloth. Could we authoritatively interpret the significance of this colour, as some assume to do, we should not hesitate to enlighten the reader. In this case the coloured cloth is not for ornament, since it is covered with the tachash skin. The same may be said of the golden candlestick, and all the utensils appertaining to it. This was the symbol of that illumination which is afforded by the Holy Spirit, dispelling doubts, and giving to the believer a sense of the reality of spiritual truth. Hence the Holy Ghost is called by Jesus the Spirit of Truth, or the Spirit of Reality, because he makes real to our spiritual intuition the truth which is dark to our reason.
Snuffdishes — The same word is elsewhere rendered censer.
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Lev_10:1; Num_16:6. The one was used for trimming the lamps, and the other for carrying live coals for the purpose of burning incense.
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 7. shewbread] Presence-bread, i.e. bread that is placed in…
7. shewbread] Presence-bread, i.e. bread that is placed in the divine Presence. 1Sa_21:6 is evidence that the practice was observed in early times. It was probably a relic of the primitive heathen notion that gods actually partook of bread that was offered to them.
the continual bread] The expression is not found elsewhere. Cf. ‘continual meal-offering’ (Num_4:16, Neh_10:33 only), ‘continual [R.V. perpetual] incense’ (Exo_30:8 (P )), and frequently ‘continual burnt-offering’ (Numbers 28, 29). It connotes the regularity with which a ritual act is performed at stated intervals.
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The bread also came to be known as pile bread (R.V. ‘shewbread,’ 1Ch_9:32; 1Ch_23:29, Neh_10:33) owing to the arrangement of the loaves in two piles (Lev_24:6, R.V. marg.). And since the root of the word מֲערֶכֶת (‘pile’) denotes to ‘set out’ or ‘arrange’ [a meal], the name appears in the N.T. as ἄρτοι τῆς προθέσεως (lit. ‘bread of the setting out,’ Mat_12:4, Mar_2:26, Luk_6:4) and ἡ πρόθεσις τῶν ἄρτων (lit. ‘the setting out of the loaves,’ Heb_9:2).
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 (7) And covers to cover withal.—Better, and the cups…
(7) And covers to cover withal.—Better, and the cups for the drink-offering (or libation).
And the continual bread.—The shew-bread is so called because it was renewed every Sabbath day, and was continually before the face of the Lord even (as it appears from this verse) during the marches of the Israelites through the desert (Exo_25:30; Lev_24:5).
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 The dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and…
The dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal. Rather, "the plates, the bowls, the wine pitchers, and the chalices for pouring out," i.e., the drink offerings. The two first seem to have been used in the meat offering, the two last in the drink offering.
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 (See Scofield "Exo 25:30").
shewbread
(See Scofield "Exo 25:30").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the bread of the presence
the bread of the presence
This bread represents the presence of Yahweh. AT: "the bread of Yahweh's presence" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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On it they must put
Here "it" refers to the blue cloth.
bowls, and jars for pouring
The full meaning of this statement can be made explicit. AT: "bowls and jars used to pour out drink offerings" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
They must cover them
Here them refers to "the dishes, spoons, bowls, and jars."
Bread must always continue to be
There must always be bread"
scarlet cloth
"red cloth"
insert poles
The poles were inserted into rings on the corners of the table so that the poles could be used to carry the table. This can be stated clearly. AT: "insert poles into the rings at the corners of the table" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
bread
sea cow
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.