Numbers 12:9

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The anger of Yahweh was kindled against them; and he departed.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וַיִּֽחַר

chârâh

H2734

“and · to be angry”

Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 90× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 4:5

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root [compare H2787 ]

TWOT: 736

to be hot, furious, burn, become angry, be kindled - (Qal) to burn, kindle (anger) - (Niphal) to be angry with, be incensed - (Hiphil) to burn, kindle - (Hithpael) to heat oneself in vexation

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

5: words
4: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
1 noun
1 preposition
1 particle

Verb forms

וַיִּֽחַר Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיֵּלַֽךְ Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 11 words from the Hebrew and 13 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 5 Hebrew tokens and 8 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Numbers 12:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 17:22 When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
Numbers 11:1 The people were as murmurers, [speaking] evil in the ears of Yahweh: and when Yahweh heard it, his anger was kindled; and the fire of Yahweh burnt among them, and devoured in the uttermost part of the camp.
Hosea 5:15 I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, And seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly."

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Numbers 12:9 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיִּֽחַר אַ֧ף יְהוָ֛ה בָּ֖ם וַיֵּלַֽךְ

The anger of Yahweh was kindled against them; and he departed.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 12:9 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὀργή θυμός κύριος ἐπί αὐτός καί ἀποἔρχομαι

And the great anger of the Lord was upon them, and he departed.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּתְקֵיף רוּגְזָא דַיְיָ בְּהוֹן וְאִסְתַּלֵק

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְאִסְתַּלֵק אִיקַר שְׁכִינְתָּא דַיְיָ מִנְהוֹן וְאָזִיל

And the glory of the Lord's Shekinah ascended, and went.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Numbers 12:9 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Num 12:9 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.

Ver. 9. And he departed.] Yea, woe also to them when I depart from them; {Hos 9:12} then all evils come in as by a sluice. The final absence of God is hell itself.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Num 12:9. He departed — From the door of the tabernacle, in token of his great displeasure; not waiting for their answer. The removal of God’s presence from us is the saddest token of his displeasure. And he never departs till we, by our sin and folly, drive him from us.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

MIRIAM PUNISHED, Num_12:9-15.

9. He departed — Phraseology importing that the Lord withdrew all manifestation of his presence when the cloud departed from the tabernacle.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

12:9-16 Miriam bore the brunt of God’s wrath (see study note on 12:1-2). Once Aaron saw what had happened to her, he admitted his error and sought Moses’ intercession (cp. 11:2). Both Moses and the Lord accepted Aaron’s confession.

John Gill's Exposition

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them,.... Which might be visible by some outward token, as by lightning from the cloud, or, however, what follows was sufficient to show it:

and he departed; from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, where he had stood in the pillar of cloud for some time; but as soon as he had given his testimony of Moses, and expressed his displeasure at Aaron and Miriam, he went away directly from them; not staying to hear what they had to say for themselves, which was a plain indication of his anger against them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

From the door of the tabernacle, in token of his great displeasure, not waiting for their answer, and judging them unworthy of any further discourse.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

And he departed. As a judge departs from his judgment-seat after trying and convicting evil-doers.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

He departed - From the door of the tabernacle, in token of his great displeasure, not waiting for their answer. The removal of God~s presence from us, is the saddest token of his displeasure. And he never departs, till we by our sin and folly drive him from us.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

Yahweh's anger burned against them

Yahweh's anger is spoken of as if it were a fire. AT: "Yahweh became very angry with them" (See: Metaphor)

was as white as snow

Leprosy turned Miriam's skin white. AT: "became very white" (See: Simile)

translationWords

Yahweh

anger

Miriam

leper

Aaron

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ויחר אף ה’ בם וילך AND THE WRATH OF THE LORD GLOWED AGAINST THEM; AND HE WENT AWAY — Only after He had informed them of their offence did He decree “excommunication’ against them. All the more so should a human being not display anger against his fellow before he informs him of his offense (Sifrei Bamidbar 104).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 5 words (4 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is chârâh (“to be angry”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word chârâh carries the sense “to be angry.” How does it shape the verse?
Genesis 17:22 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «וַיִּֽחַר» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 5 Hebrew ↔ 8 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 8 words in this verse.
4 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 5 words in this verse.