Numbers 17 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 17:4, 17:13
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Numbers 17
The Sign of Aaron’s Staff
The Twelve Staffs
Verse 17:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
17:1 (MT 17:16) YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
17:1 (LXX 17:16) The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
Classification & Notes
Same
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.
Verse 17:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Same
Both prescribe twelve named staffs drawn from the ancestral leaders.
Verse 17:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Different
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.
Verse 17:4 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
17:4 (MT 17:19) Place them in the Tent of Meeting before the testimony, where I will meet with you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
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.
Verse 17:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.”
Classification & Notes
Similar
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
Verse 17:6 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Same
The stated number and inclusion of Aaron’s staff among the staffs correspond.
Verse 17:7 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
17:7 (MT 17:22) Moses placed the staffs before YHWH in the Tent of Testimony.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
17:7 (LXX 17:22) Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the Tent of Testimony.
Classification & Notes
Same
Hebrew itself uses Tent of Testimony here, agreeing with Greek’s title.
Verse 17:8 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
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.
Verse 17:9 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Same
The public display and return of the staffs correspond.
Verse 17:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.”
Classification & Notes
Different
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
Verse 17:11 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
17:11 (MT 17:26) Moses did so. Just as YHWH commanded him, so he did.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
17:11 (LXX 17:26) Moses and Aaron did so. Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so they did.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Greek adds Aaron to the action and names Moses explicitly as the command’s recipient.
Verse 17:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
17:12 (LXX 17:27) The Israelites said to Moses, “Look, we are consumed! We are lost! We are utterly spent!
Classification & Notes
Different
Hebrew repeats lost and explicitly says all of us; Greek varies the verbs of destruction and exhaustion.
Verse 17:13 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
17:13 (MT 17:28) Everyone who approaches, who approaches YHWH’s Dwelling, dies. Are we all to perish?”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
17:13 (LXX 17:28) Everyone who touches the Lord’s tent dies. Must we die to the very end?”
Classification & Notes
Disparate
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.