Numbers 15:39

These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God instructs Moses to tell the Israelites to make tassels with blue cords, establishing a perpetual visual reminder. This directive functions within the wilderness legislation as a generational practice.

The words — The Hebrew צִיצִת (tzi.Tzit) denotes the tassels themselves, while רְאִיתֶם (re.'i.Tem) and זְכַרְתֶּם (ze.khar.Tem) link the physical act of seeing to the mental act of remembering. These terms frame the garment detail as a deliberate trigger for cognitive recall.

The thread — The prohibition against following "your own heart and your own eyes" parallels the spiritual adultery warning in Psalms 106:39 and the self-reliance caution in Proverbs 28:26. The imperative to remember and obey aligns with the holiness mandate in Numbers 15:40 and the separation from unfaithfulness in Psalms 73:27.

Why it lands — The text commands the Israelites to use the tassels as a visual cue to recall and keep every divine commandment. It explicitly forbids moral deviation driven by internal desire or external temptation.

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

וְהָיָ֣הve./ha.Yahand/ it will becomeלָכֶם֮la./Khemfor <the>/ youלְצִיצִת֒le./tzi.Tzit<into>/ tassel[s]וּרְאִיתֶ֣םu./re.'i.Temand/ you will see אֹת֗וֹ'o.T/o<obj.>/ it וּזְכַרְתֶּם֙u./ze.khar.Temand/ you will remember אֶת־'et-<obj.>כָּל־kol-all מִצְוֹ֣תmitz.Vot[the] commandments of יְהוָ֔הYah.wehYahweh וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖םva./'a.si.Temand/ you will observe אֹתָ֑ם'o.Ta/m<obj.>/ them וְלֹֽא־ve./lo'-and/ not תָתֻ֜רוּta.Tu.ruyou will go about אַחֲרֵ֤י'a.cha.Reiafter לְבַבְכֶם֙le.vav./Khemown heart/ your וְאַחֲרֵ֣יve./'a.cha.Reiand/ after עֵֽינֵיכֶ֔ם'ei.nei./Khemown eyes/ your אֲשֶׁר־'a.Sher-which אַתֶּ֥ם'a.Temyou זֹנִ֖יםzo.Nim[are] acting as prostitutes אַחֲרֵיהֶֽם׃'a.cha.rei./Hemafter/ them

King James Version

And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:

Cross-references

Psalms 73:27 Those far from You will surely perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You.
Psalms 106:39 They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.
Proverbs 28:26 He who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.
Ezekiel 6:9 Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols. So they will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their abominations.
Proverbs 3:1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;
Exodus 13:9 It shall be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the Law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For with a mighty hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 4:23 Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you.
Deuteronomy 29:19 because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
Job 31:7 If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,
Ecclesiastes 11:9 Rejoice, O young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.