Numbers 16:20

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

World English Bible · Public Domain

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אַהֲרֹ֖ן

ʼAhărôwn

H175

“Aaron”

Noun, Proper

Appears 346× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 4:14

Full BDB Definition

Origin: of uncertain derivation

TWOT: 35

Aaron = "light bringer" - brother of Moses, a Levite and the first high priest

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 →

7: words
6: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
3 nouns
2 prepositions

Verb forms

וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר Piel · Sequential Imperfect
לֵאמֹֽר Qal · Infinitive Construct

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

אֶל to H413 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 8 words from the Hebrew and 9 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 7 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.

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 16:20 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה אֶל מֹשֶׁ֥ה וְאֶֽל אַהֲרֹ֖ן לֵאמֹֽר

Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 16:20 Septuagint · lemma form

καί λαλέω κύριος πρός μωυσῆς καί ἀαρών λέγω

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

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)

וּמַלֵיל יְיָ עִם משֶׁה וְעִם אַהֲרֹן לְמֵימָר

(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)

וּמַלֵיל יְיָ עִם משֶׁה וְעִם אַהֲרן לְמֵימָר

And the Lord spake with Mosheh and Aharon, saying:

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 16:20 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 →

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation--Curiosity to witness the exciting spectacle attracted a vast concourse of the people, and it would seem that the popular mind had been incited to evil by the clamors of the mutineers against Moses and Aaron. There was something in their behavior very offensive to God; for after His glory had appeared--as at the installation of Aaron (Lev 9:23), so now for his confirmation in the sacred office--He bade Moses and Aaron withdraw from the assembly "that He might consume them in a moment."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

20–24. Jehovah threatens to destroy the whole congregation; but at Moses’ intercession He relents, and commands them to depart from the Tabernacle, leaving Korah and his company to be destroyed.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron,.... Out of the cloud:

saying; as follows.

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

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

that I may consume them

Destroying them is spoken of as if God were to eat them. AT: "that I may destroy them" or "and I will destroy them" (See: Metaphor)

lay facedown

This shows that Moses and Aaron were humbling themselves before God. (See: Symbolic Action)

the God of the spirits of all humanity

Here "spirits" represents the ability to live. AT: "the God who gives life to all humanity" (See: Metonymy)

if one man sins, must you be angry with all the community?

Moses and Aaron use this question to plead with God for the people. It can be translated as a statement. AT: "please do not be angry with all the community because one man sins" (See: Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

consume

God

spirit

sin

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

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 7 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʼAhărôwn (“Aaron”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “Aaron” (ʼAhărôwn) shape what this verse is saying?
What does the repetition of “to” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר» is a Piel Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Jamieson, Fausset & Brown and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 7 Hebrew ↔ 8 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 4 words in this verse.
“to” occurs 2× in this single verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.