Numbers 17 — Hebrew and Greek compared
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Same 5 Similar 1 Different 3 Divergent 2 Disparate 2
Disparate in this chapter: 17:4, 17:13
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath records the source document’s comparison and attributed interpretation. Each column retains its own verse references where numbering differs.
The Twelve Staffs
17:1 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:1 (MT 17:16) YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,
Greek · Saints priority
17:1 (LXX 17:16) The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
This is Hebrew and Greek 17:16, corresponding to the companion’s conventional navigation at 17:1. The reading edition retains the actual Greek source reference.
17:2 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:2 (MT 17:17) “Speak to the Israelites and take from them one staff for each ancestral house, from all their leaders according to their ancestral houses—twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff.
Greek · Saints priority
17:2 (LXX 17:17) “Speak to the Israelites and take from them one staff for each ancestral house, from all their leaders according to their ancestral houses—twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff.
Both prescribe twelve named staffs drawn from the ancestral leaders.
17:3 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:3 (MT 17:18) Write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff, for there is one staff for the head of each ancestral house.
Greek · Saints priority
17:3 (LXX 17:18) Write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff, for they shall give one staff for each tribe of their ancestral houses.
Hebrew explains the allocation by each ancestral head; Greek explicitly says each tribe shall give one. Neither column silently changes the stated total to thirteen.
17:4 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:4 (MT 17:19) Place them in the Tent of Meeting before the testimony, where I will meet with you.
Greek · Saints priority
17:4 (LXX 17:19) Place them in the Tent of Testimony opposite the testimony, where I will make Myself known to you.
Hebrew promises to meet with you, plural; Greek promises self-disclosure to you, singular. The sanctuary’s meeting/testimony distinction accompanies a meaningful change in the description of revelation.
17:5 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:5 (MT 17:20) The staff of the man I choose shall blossom. I will quiet the Israelites’ complaints against Me, which they grumble against you.”
Greek · Saints priority
17:5 (LXX 17:20) The staff of the man I choose shall sprout. I will remove from Myself the Israelites’ grumbling, which they direct against you.”
The miraculous sign and its purpose correspond. Both distinguish complaint against God from its immediate direction against Moses and Aaron.
Saints reception: Clement of Rome retells the flowering-staff test as a divinely supplied means of ending priestly rivalry, then applies the pattern to disputes over Christian ministry.
Source: 1 Clement 43–44
17:6 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:6 (MT 17:21) Moses spoke to the Israelites, and all their leaders gave him staffs, one staff for each leader according to their ancestral houses—twelve staffs. Aaron’s staff was among their staffs.
Greek · Saints priority
17:6 (LXX 17:21) Moses spoke to the Israelites, and all their leaders gave him staffs, one staff for each leader according to their ancestral houses—twelve staffs. Aaron’s staff was among their staffs.
The stated number and inclusion of Aaron’s staff among the staffs correspond.
17:7 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:7 (MT 17:22) Moses placed the staffs before YHWH in the Tent of Testimony.
Greek · Saints priority
17:7 (LXX 17:22) Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the Tent of Testimony.
Hebrew itself uses Tent of Testimony here, agreeing with Greek’s title.
17:8 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:8 (MT 17:23) The next day Moses entered the Tent of Testimony, and there Aaron’s staff for the house of Levi had blossomed: it brought forth buds, produced flowers, and ripened almonds.
Greek · Saints priority
17:8 (LXX 17:23) The next day Moses and Aaron entered the Tent of Testimony, and there Aaron’s staff for the house of Levi had sprouted: it brought forth a shoot, flowered with blossoms, and produced nuts.
Greek adds Aaron as a witness entering the tent. Hebrew identifies almonds and ripening; Greek uses the broader nuts and a sprouting verb. The addition and botanical wording remain visible without claiming Greek excludes almonds.
Saints reception: Cyril of Jerusalem treats the dead staff’s flowering as an analogy supporting bodily resurrection: God who restored life to the wood can also raise Aaron.
Source: Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 18.12
17:9 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:9 (MT 17:24) Moses brought all the staffs out from before YHWH to all the Israelites. They looked, and each man took his staff.
Greek · Saints priority
17:9 (LXX 17:24) Moses brought all the staffs out from before the Lord to all the Israelites. They looked, and each man took his staff.
The public display and return of the staffs correspond.
17:10 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:10 (MT 17:25) YHWH said to Moses, “Return Aaron’s staff before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebellious. Bring their complaints against Me to an end, so that they do not die.”
Greek · Saints priority
17:10 (LXX 17:25) The Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff before the testimonies, to be kept as a sign for the sons of the disobedient. Let their grumbling against Me cease, and they shall certainly not die.”
Hebrew uses sons of rebellion as an idiom for the rebellious; Greek says sons of the disobedient and plural testimonies. Greek makes the cessation of complaint the grammatical subject rather than addressing Moses to end it.
Apostolic reception: Hebrews places Aaron’s sprouted staff among the ark’s contents. Numbers instructs its preservation before the testimony; the later sanctuary description is noted without inserting inside the ark into this verse.
Source: Hebrews 9:4
17:11 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:11 (MT 17:26) Moses did so. Just as YHWH commanded him, so he did.
Greek · Saints priority
17:11 (LXX 17:26) Moses and Aaron did so. Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so they did.
Greek adds Aaron to the action and names Moses explicitly as the command’s recipient.
17:12 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:12 (MT 17:27) The Israelites said to Moses, “Look, we are dying! We are lost! All of us are lost!
Greek · Saints priority
17:12 (LXX 17:27) The Israelites said to Moses, “Look, we are consumed! We are lost! We are utterly spent!
Hebrew repeats lost and explicitly says all of us; Greek varies the verbs of destruction and exhaustion.
17:13 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
17:13 (MT 17:28) Everyone who approaches, who approaches YHWH’s Dwelling, dies. Are we all to perish?”
Greek · Saints priority
17:13 (LXX 17:28) Everyone who touches the Lord’s tent dies. Must we die to the very end?”
Hebrew speaks of approaching the Dwelling, with emphatic repetition; Greek of touching the tent. The feared fatal boundary differs. Both statements are the frightened Israelites’ words, not an editorial expansion of the priestly law.
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Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.