Numbers 16:9

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

[seems it but] a small thing to you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the tent of Yahweh, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them;

World English Bible · Public Domain

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הִבְדִּיל֩

bâdal

H914

“to separate”

Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 42× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 1:4

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 203

to divide, separate - (Hiphil) - to divide, separate, sever - to separate, set apart - to make a distinction, difference - to divide into parts - (Niphal) - to separate oneself from (reflexive of 1a2) - to withdraw from - to separate oneself unto - to be separated - to be excluded - to be 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 →

21: words
17: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

הִבְדִּיל֩ to separate H914 occurs in 40 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

5 verbs
10 nouns
2 prepositions
1 conjunction
3 particles

Verb forms

הִבְדִּיל֩ Hiphil · Perfect
לְהַקְרִ֥יב Hiphil · Infinitive Construct
לַעֲבֹ֗ד Qal · Infinitive Construct
וְלַעֲמֹ֛ד Qal · Infinitive Construct
לְשָׁרְתָֽם Piel · Infinitive Construct

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

יִשְׂרָאֵ֤ל Israel H3478 ×2
מֵעֲדַ֣ת congregation H5712 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 46 words from the Hebrew and 47 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 21 Hebrew tokens and 32 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 16:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Deuteronomy 10:8 At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day.
Isaiah 7:13 He said, "Listen now, house of David: Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?
Ezekiel 44:10–11 But the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.
Numbers 1:53 But the Levites shall encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony."
Numbers 3:6 "Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.
Numbers 16:13 is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must needs make yourself also a prince over us?
1 Samuel 18:23 Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, Seems it to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
Nehemiah 12:44 On that day were men appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the heave-offerings, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites who waited.

Genesis 30:15 She said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes, also?" Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."
Numbers 3:41–45 You shall take the Levites for me (I am Yahweh) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the children of Israel."
Numbers 8:14–16 Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
Numbers 18:2–6 Your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring you near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you: but you and your sons with you shall be before the tent of the testimony.
2 Samuel 7:19 This was yet a small thing in your eyes, Lord Yahweh; but you have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come; and this [too] after the manner of men, Lord Yahweh!
2 Chronicles 35:3 He said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to Yahweh, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; there shall no more be a burden on your shoulders: now serve Yahweh your God, and his people Israel.
Ezekiel 34:18 Seems it a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? and to have drunk of the clear waters, but you must foul the residue with your feet?
Acts 13:2 As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them."

1 Corinthians 4:3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man's judgment. Yes, I don't judge my own self.

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 16:9 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

הַמְעַ֣ט מִכֶּ֗ם כִּֽי הִבְדִּיל֩ אֱלֹהֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֤ל אֶתְכֶם֙ מֵעֲדַ֣ת יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לְהַקְרִ֥יב אֶתְכֶ֖ם אֵלָ֑יו לַעֲבֹ֗ד אֶת עֲבֹדַת֙ מִשְׁכַּ֣ן יְהוָ֔ה וְלַעֲמֹ֛ד לִפְנֵ֥י הָעֵדָ֖ה לְשָׁרְתָֽם

[seems it but] a small thing to you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the tent of Yahweh, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 16:9 Septuagint · lemma form

μή μικρός εἰμί οὗτος σύ ὅτι διαστέλλω ὁ θεός ἰσραήλ σύ ἐκ συναγωγή ἰσραήλ καί προςἄγω σύ πρός ἑαυτοῦ λειτουργέω ὁ λειτουργία ὁ σκηνή κύριος καί παραἵστημι ἔναντι ὁ συναγωγή λατρεύω αὐτός

Is it a little thing for you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, and brought you near to himself to minister in the services of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the tabernacle to minister for them?

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

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)

הַזְעֵר לְכוֹן אֲרֵי אַפְרֵשׁ אֱלָהָא דְיִשְׂרָאֵל יָתְכוֹן מִכְּנִשְׁתָּא דְיִשְׂרָאֵל לְקֳרָבָא יָתְכוֹן קֳדָמוֹהִי לְמִפְלַח יָת פּוּלְחַן מַשְׁכְּנָא דַיְיָ וּלְמֵקַם קֳדָם כְּנִשְׁתָּא לְשַׁמָשׁוּתְהוֹן

(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)

הַזְעֵירָא הִיא לְכוֹן אֲרוּם אַפְרֵישׁ אֱלָהָא דְיִשְרָאֵל יַתְכוֹן מִן כְּנִישְׁתָּא דְיִשְרָאֵל לְקָרָבָא יַתְכוֹן לְשִׁימוּשֵׁיהּ לְמִפְלַח יַת פּוּלְחַן מַשְׁכְּנָא דַיְיָ וּלְמֵיקוּם קֳדָם כְּנִישְׁתָּא לְשַׁמְשׁוּתְהוֹן

Is it too little For you that the God of Israel hath set you apart from the congregation of Israel to draw near to do His service to fulfil the ministry of the Lord's tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?

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 16:9 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 16:9 [Seemeth it but] a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them?

Ver. 9. Seemeth it but a small thing.] While these ambitious Levites would be looking up to the priests, Moses sends down their eyes to the people. The way not to repine at those above us, is to look at those below us.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

9. seemeth it but a small thing unto you] is it too small a thing for you. Korah’s company already possessed the great privilege of being separated from the other tribes for divine service; and with that they ought to be satisfied.

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

Seemeth it but a small thing unto you,.... It should not; for it was a great thing which the Lord had done for them, and with which they should have been satisfied, and for it thankful:

that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel: this was a special favour, and ought to have been esteemed such, that God, who was the God of the whole people of Israel in common, should separate the tribe of Levi from all the rest of the tribes of Israel:

to bring you near to himself; next to the priests their brethren of the same tribe, to be joined to them, and assist them in their service, and officiate in the court of the tabernacle, where the divine Majesty dwelt:

to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord; to watch it, and guard it, and keep out persons until to enter into it; to take it down and set it up, as occasion required, and bear and carry the holy things in it, and take care of them:

and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them? which Jarchi interprets of their singing in the desk songs of praise before them; but Aben Ezra, better, of the service they did for them, when they brought their offerings and sacrifices, which they took of them, and carried to the priests to offer for them.

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

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

“Seemeth” is not in the original. Render it as: Is it too little for you, i. e. “is it less than your dignity demands?”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

To him: Hebrew and Septuagint, "to them," or instead of the people. God had chosen them for that post of honour, to the exclusion of all the rest, so that they ought, the least of all, to have complained. But it often happens, that those who are the most exalted, take occasion to esteem themselves deserving of still higher honours; and thus, like Lucifer, fall into the bottomless pit! (Haydock) --- Core was perhaps the more irritated, because he was not at the head of the Caathites, though a descendant of the second son of Caath, while Elisaphan, sprung from a fourth son, was preferred to him, chap. iii. (Tirinus)

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).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Near to himself; nearer than the other tribes, though not so near as the priests.

Unto them, i.e. in their stead and for their good. So they were the servants both of God and of the church, which was a high dignity, though not sufficient for their ambitious minds.

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

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

9. Separated you — The Levites had been appointed over the tabernacle (Num_1:50) in the place of the firstborn sons. Num_3:11-13, note. Moses now appeals to their sense of gratitude for this mark of God’s favour.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

Seemeth it a small thing to you. Rather, "is it too little for you." fmj.

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

To minister to them - So they were the servants both of God and of the church, which was an high dignity, though not sufficient for their ambitious minds.

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ולעמד לפני העדה AND TO STAND BEFORE THE CONGREGATION to sing on the Duchan (the Platform).

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 21 words (17 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is bâdal (“to separate”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to separate” (bâdal) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Genesis 1:4 shares the word «to separate» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“Israel” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «הִבְדִּיל֩» is Hiphil Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 21 Hebrew ↔ 32 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 18 words in this verse.
“Israel” occurs 2× in this single verse.
17 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 21 words in this verse.