Back to Numbers 9

Numbers 9:6-14

There were certain men, who were unclean because of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season among the children of Israel?”

Moses answered them, “Wait, that I may hear what Yahweh will command concerning you.”

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘If any man of you or of your generations is unclean by reason of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, he shall still keep the Passover to Yahweh. In the second month, on the fourteenth day at evening they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of the Passover they shall keep it. But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Because he didn’t offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.

“ ‘If a foreigner lives among you, and desires to keep the Passover to Yahweh, then he shall do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its ordinance. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner, and for him who is born in the land.’ ”

World English Bible · Public Domain
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Numbers 9:6-14 sits inside this longer paragraph.

Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. They kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did. There were certain men, who were unclean because of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season among the children of Israel?”

Moses answered them, “Wait, that I may hear what Yahweh will command concerning you.”

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘If any man of you or of your generations is unclean by reason of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, he shall still keep the Passover to Yahweh. In the second month, on the fourteenth day at evening they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of the Passover they shall keep it. But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Because he didn’t offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.

“ ‘If a foreigner lives among you, and desires to keep the Passover to Yahweh, then he shall do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its ordinance. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner, and for him who is born in the land.’ ”

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    There were certain men, who were unclean because of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day.

    Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season among the children of Israel?”

    Moses answered them, “Wait, that I may hear what Yahweh will command concerning you.”

    Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

    “Say to the children of Israel, ‘If any man of you or of your generations is unclean by reason of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, he shall still keep the Passover to Yahweh.

    In the second month, on the fourteenth day at evening they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

    They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of the Passover they shall keep it.

    But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Because he didn’t offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.

    “ ‘If a foreigner lives among you, and desires to keep the Passover to Yahweh, then he shall do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its ordinance. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner, and for him who is born in the land.’ ”

  • KJV King James Version

    And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day:

    And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season among the children of Israel?

    And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you.

    And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

    Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD.

    The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

    They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.

    But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the LORD in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.

    And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    But there were certain men, who were unclean by the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the passover on that day; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.

    And those men said unto him: 'We are unclean by the dead body of a man; wherefore are we to be kept back, so as not to bring the offering of the LORD in its appointed season among the children of Israel?'

    And Moses said unto them: 'Stay ye, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning you.'

    And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:

    'Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: If any man of you or of your generations shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD;

    in the second month on the fourteenth day at dusk they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;

    they shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break a bone thereof; according to all the statute of the passover they shall keep it.

    But the man that is clean, and is not on a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people; because he brought not the offering of the LORD in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.

    And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the LORD: according to the statute of the passover, and according to the ordinance thereof, so shall he do; ye shall have one statute, both for the stranger, and for him that is born in the land.'

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Examined in Scripture Analysis

Cross-references (81)

  • John 19:36 (vv11–12) For these things happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “A bone of him will not be broken.”
  • Exodus 12:46 (v12) It must be eaten in one house. You shall not carry any of the meat outside of the house. Do not break any of its bones.
  • Exodus 12:10 (v12) You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.
  • Exodus 18:15 (vv6, 8) Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.
  • Genesis 17:14 (v13) The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my…
Show all 77 cross-references
  • Exodus 12:15 (v13) “ ‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened…
  • Exodus 12:43 (v12) Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it,
  • Exodus 12:48-49 (v14) When a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, and would like to keep the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then…
  • Numbers 27:2 (v6) They stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, at the door of the Tent of Meeting,…
  • Numbers 27:5 (vv6, 8) Moses brought their cause before Yahweh.
  • Exodus 18:19 (v6) Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You represent the people before God, and bring the causes to God.
  • Numbers 5:2 (v6) “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is unclean by a corpse.
  • Numbers 19:11 (v6) “He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
  • Numbers 19:16 (v6) “Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven…
  • 2 Chronicles 30:2-15 (v11) For the king had taken counsel with his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month. For they could…
  • Psalms 85:8 (v8) I will hear what God, Yahweh, will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, his saints; but let them not turn again to folly.
  • Numbers 9:3 (vv11–12) On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you shall keep it in its appointed season. You shall keep it according to all its statutes…
  • Exodus 12:2-14 (v11) “This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of…
  • Exodus 12:43-49 (v11) Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it, but every man’s servant who is bought…
  • Exodus 18:26 (v6) They judged the people at all times. They brought the hard cases to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
  • Leviticus 24:22 (v14) You shall have one kind of law for the foreigner as well as the native-born; for I am Yahweh your God.’ ”
  • Numbers 9:7 (v13) Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the offering of…
  • Numbers 15:30-31 (v13) “ ‘But the soul who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native-born or a foreigner, blasphemes Yahweh. That soul shall be cut off…
  • Numbers 19:18 (v6) A clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, and…
  • Deuteronomy 16:3 (v11) You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction (for you came out…
  • Isaiah 56:3-7 (v14) Let no foreigner who has joined himself to Yahweh speak, saying, “Yahweh will surely separate me from his people.” Do not let the eunuch…
  • John 18:28 (v6) They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they…
  • Ephesians 2:19-22 (v14) So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, being built on…
  • Exodus 12:27 (v7) that you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Yahweh’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he…
  • Exodus 14:13 (v8) Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will work for you today; for you will…
  • Leviticus 17:4 (v13) and hasn’t brought it to the door of the Tent of Meeting to offer it as an offering to Yahweh before Yahweh’s tabernacle: blood shall be…
  • Leviticus 17:10 (v13) “ ‘Any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who eats any kind of blood, I will set my face…
  • Leviticus 17:14-16 (v13) For as to the life of all flesh, its blood is with its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, “You shall not eat the blood of…
  • Leviticus 19:10 (v14) You shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for…
  • Leviticus 20:20 (v13) If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin. They shall die childless.
  • Leviticus 21:11 (v6) He must not go in to any dead body, or defile himself for his father or for his mother.
  • Leviticus 22:25 (v14) You must not offer any of these as the bread of your God from the hand of a foreigner, because their corruption is in them. There is a…
  • Leviticus 24:11 (v6) The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the…
  • Leviticus 25:15 (v14) According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall…
  • Numbers 5:31 (v13) The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’ ”
  • Numbers 6:6-7 (v6) “ ‘All the days that he separates himself to Yahweh he shall not go near a dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or…
  • Numbers 9:2 (v7) “Let the children of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season.
  • Numbers 9:2-3 (v13) “Let the children of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season. On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you shall keep it…
  • Numbers 9:6-7 (v10) There were certain men, who were unclean because of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they…
  • Numbers 15:33 (v6) Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation.
  • Numbers 19:13 (v13) Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn’t purify himself, defiles Yahweh’s tabernacle; and that soul shall…
  • Deuteronomy 16:2 (v7) You shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose to cause his name to…
  • Deuteronomy 29:11 (v14) your little ones, your wives, and the foreigners who are in the middle of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws…
  • Deuteronomy 31:12 (v14) Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and the foreigners who are within your gates, that they may hear, learn,…
  • 2 Chronicles 20:17 (v8) You will not need to fight this battle. Set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Don’t…
  • 2 Chronicles 30:17-19 (v7) For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves: therefore the Levites were in charge of killing the Passovers for…
  • Psalms 25:14 (v8) The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.
  • Proverbs 3:5-6 (v8) Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your…
  • Ezekiel 2:7 (v8) You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse; for they are most rebellious.
  • Ezekiel 3:17 (v8) “Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me.
  • Ezekiel 23:49 (v13) They will recompense your lewdness on you, and you will bear the sins of your idols. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.’ ”
  • Matthew 5:24 (v10) leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
  • John 7:17 (v8) If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself.
  • John 17:8 (v8) for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have…
  • Acts 20:27 (v8) for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
  • Romans 15:8-19 (v10) Now I say that Christ has been made a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given to the…
  • Romans 16:25-26 (v10)
  • 1 Corinthians 4:4 (v8) For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord.
  • 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 (v7) Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in…
  • 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (v10) Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor…
  • 1 Corinthians 11:23 (v8) For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.
  • 1 Corinthians 11:28 (v10) But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.
  • Ephesians 2:1-2 (v10) You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world,…
  • Ephesians 2:12-13 (v10) that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the…
  • Ephesians 3:6-9 (v10) that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good…
  • Hebrews 2:3 (v13) how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation—which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those…
  • Hebrews 3:5-6 (v8) Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken, but Christ is…
  • Hebrews 6:6 (v13) and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put…
  • Hebrews 9:28 (v13) so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting…
  • Hebrews 10:26-29 (v13) For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain…
  • Hebrews 12:25 (v13) See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we…
  • Leviticus 22:9 (v13) “ ‘They shall therefore follow my commandment, lest they bear sin for it and die in it, if they profane it. I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.

77 distinct cross-references across this passage (81 total citations).

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (18 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 10, 11, 13 By touching a corpse, or being at the burial.

By touching a corpse, or being at the burial.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 Num 9:6 And there were certain men, who were…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14 By the dead body of a man; by the…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv6–14 And those men said unto him,.... To Moses, who…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 10, 14 They came - For resolution of their difficulty.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v7 Verse 7. We are defiled by the dead body…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 10, 14 Num 9:6. They came before Moses — For resolution…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv6, 11, 12 Certain men - Probably Mishael and Elizaphan, who buried…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv6, 10, 14 Some. Hebrew, "and there was men," a solecism, rejected…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv6, 8, 14 A SECOND PASSOVER ALLOWED. (Num 9:6-14)
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14 THE SUPPLEMENTAL PASSOVER, Num_9:6-14.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv6, 10, 12, 13, 14 6. Uncleanness prevented any share in a sacrificial feast…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14 (6) And there were certain men . . .…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 There were certain men. It has been supposed by…
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v11 second month
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v6 The Substitute Festival, or Little Passover
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 9, 11, 13 became unclean by the body of a dead man
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8, 9, 12, 13, 14 9:8 Moses agreed to inquire of the Lord regarding…
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