Numbers 15:40

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

that you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Download a study sheet

One document with this verse’s original text, its word-by-word gloss line, the meaning frame, cross-references with their text, attributed commentary, and full source and license credits — printable, and it pastes into notes with its structure intact.

This verse Autodidact and up

Study sheet (.html) Plain text (.txt)

A passage Seminary Student

Up to 50 verses in one chapter. A passage sheet keeps up to 6 commentary sources and 12 cross-references per verse, in the order this page ranks them, and says so on the sheet whenever that leaves anything out. Ask for a single verse and you get the Autodidact verse sheet above.

Everything on this page stays free to read, with no account — the sheet is a download of what is already on screen, not access to it.

Want to remove ads? Support Godless Engineer

Word by word

More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →

Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →

קְדֹשִׁ֖ים

qâdôwsh

H6918

“holy”

Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Plural, Absolute

Appears 119× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 19:6

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6942

TWOT: 1990b

sacred, holy, Holy One, saint, set apart

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 →

9: words
9: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
3 nouns
1 adjective
1 preposition
1 particle

Verb forms

תִּזְכְּר֔וּ Qal · Imperfect
וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם Qal · Sequential Perfect
וִהְיִיתֶ֥ם Qal · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 17 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 9 Hebrew tokens and 15 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 15:40 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
Leviticus 11:44–45 For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy: neither shall you defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.
1 Thessalonians 4:7 For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification.
Colossians 1:2 to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:15–16 but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;
Leviticus 19:2 "Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and tell them, 'You shall be holy; for I Yahweh your God am holy.
Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without blemish before him in love;

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 15:40 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

לְמַ֣עַן תִּזְכְּר֔וּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם אֶת כָּל מִצְוֺתָ֑י וִהְיִיתֶ֥ם קְדֹשִׁ֖ים לֵֽאלֹהֵיכֶֽם

that you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 15:40 Septuagint · lemma form

ὅπως ἄν μιμνήσκω καί ποιέω πᾶς ὁ ἐντολή ἐγώ καί εἰμί ἅγιος ὁ θεός σύ

that you⌃ may remember and perform all my commands, and you⌃ shall be holy to your God.

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)

בְּדִיל דְתִדְכְּרוּן וְתַעְבְּדוּן יָת כָּל פִּקוּדָי וּתְהוֹן קַדִישִׁין קֳדָם אֱלָּהָכוֹן

(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)

מִן בִּגְלַל דְתִדְכְּרוּן וְתַעַבְדוּן יַת כָּל פִּקוּדַי וְתֶהֱווֹן קַדִישִׁין הֵי כְמַלְאָכַיָא דִמְשַׁמְשִׁין קֳדָם יְיָ אֱלָהָכוֹן

To the end that you may remember and perform all My precepts, and be holy, like the angels who minister before the Lord your God.

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 15:40 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 15:40 That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.

Ver. 40. That ye may remember.] Our memories are like strainers, nets, grates, that let the pure water run away, but retain mud, trash, &c. It is with us as with those in Psa 106:13, "they soon forgat his works," &c., and therefore we have need of all good helps.

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 15:40. That ye may remember — They were not to mistake the wearing of these fringes or borderings, as if they had real sanctity or religion in themselves, but to consider them as helps to their memories, and means of awakening them to a sense of their special relation to God, as the only object of their worship, their Governor and Judge. But although this, and many other memorial signs among the Jews, seem to have been admirably fitted to keep up in their minds the remembrance of their duty, and one would have imagined that, with such helps, they could scarce ever have omitted the practice of it; yet their example proves to us that all methods are insufficient to affect thoroughly the hearts of men, till God, according to his promise, to be fulfilled especially under the New Testament dispensation, write his laws on their hearts by his Holy Spirit, Jer 31:31, and Eze 36:26. This we should look for, and seek with all our hearts. When this is obtained, and not before, we shall be holy unto God, as Israel were here exhorted to be, that is, purged from sin, and sincerely devoted to God in soul and body.

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

John Gill's Exposition

I am the Lord your God,.... Their Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor, their Lord and Sovereign, their covenant God and Father:

which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; to make it appear that he was their God in a special relation, and that he took the special care and government of them; and which was manifest by the system of laws he gave them to observe, as well as by his provision for them on all accounts, and by his protection of them:

I am the Lord your God; who had a right to enact laws, and enjoin the observance of them, as he was the Lord Jehovah; and they were under obligation to regard them, as he was not only their Creator but their covenant God and Father, who had bestowed his favours liberally on them.

Next: Numbers Chapter 16

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

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Be ye holy - Purged from sin and sincerely devoted to God.

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

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

Connecting Statement:

God continues telling Moses what to tell the people of Israel. The word "you" refers to the people.

call to mind

This is an idiom. AT: "remember" (See: Idiom)

I am Yahweh your God

This clause is repeated for emphasis.

translationWords

call

mind

obey

holy

God

Egypt

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

Sforno

Rabbi Ovadia Sforno

In order that you will remember. You should free yourself from thoughts without purpose, and in this way you will remember the greatness of Hashem and His kindness.

And perform all My commandments. This will enable you to perform all my commandments in love and fear of Hashem.

And you will be holy unto your God. You will be holy before Hashem for Eternal Life, as Hashem’s intention in the verse: “You will be to Me a kingdom of kohanim, and a holy nation.”.

Sforno on the Tanakh — English translation: “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Ibn Ezra

Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra

In order that you will remember. It already said, “And you will remember all of Hashem’s commandments.” This teaches that if you will remember you will be holy, and you will not become defiled by the heart’s desires, which pollute the intellect.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). 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 9 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is qâdôwsh (“holy”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “holy” (qâdôwsh) shape what this verse is saying?
Romans 12:1 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «תִּזְכְּר֔וּ» is Qal 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 9 Hebrew ↔ 15 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 3 words in this verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.