Bible Strands
Numbers 11:16
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Bring Me seventy of the elders of Israel known to you as leaders and officers of the people. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting and have them stand there with you.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses Moses immediately after Moses' despair in Numbers 11:15. He instructs Moses to assemble specific officials at the Tent of Meeting.
The words — אֶסְפָ/ה־ ('esfa/h-) literally means "gather," and שִׁבְעִ֣ים (shiv'im) means "seventy." The text directly commands the collection of seventy men from the established elders.
The thread — The number seventy appears in Exodus 24:1 and Exodus 24:9 when Moses leads the elders upward, and in Genesis 46:27 counting Jacob's household. These passages show seventy functioning as a fixed representative body.
Why it lands — The text demands Moses execute a precise administrative order to relocate leaders. A reader must accept that divine structure replaces individual exhaustion through delegated authority.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.
Cross-references
- Exodus 24:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD—you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders—and you are to worship at a distance.
- Exodus 24:9 Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,
- Genesis 46:27 And with the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt were seventy in all.
- Deuteronomy 1:15 So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them as leaders over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and as officers for your tribes.
- Deuteronomy 16:18 You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.
- Luke 10:1 After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place He was about to visit.
- Luke 10:17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.”
- Exodus 4:29 Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites,
- Ezekiel 8:11 Before them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.
- Deuteronomy 31:28 Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officers so that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them.