Bible Strands
Numbers 21:18
The princes dug the well; the nobles of the people hollowed it out with their scepters and with their staffs.” From the wilderness the Israelites went on to Mattanah,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator reports Israel's princes and nobles excavating a well following Moses' song, then notes the camp's departure from the wilderness to Mattanah.
The words — The Hebrew שָׂרִים (śārîm, "leaders") and נְדִיבֵי הָעָם (nĕḏîḇê hā‘ām, "nobles of the people") specify the exact groups who performed the digging.
The thread — The structural authority exercised in securing water aligns with the lawgiver and king motif found in Isaiah 33:22 and the statutory framework of Deuteronomy 5:31 and 33:4.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition of organized human action under divine provision, requiring the reader to track how leadership tools translate into physical sustenance before the narrative moves to the next station.
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
The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah:
Cross-references
- Isaiah 33:22 For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our King. It is He who will save us.
- Deuteronomy 5:31 But you stand here with Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and statutes and ordinances you are to teach them to follow in the land that I am giving them to possess.”
- Deuteronomy 33:4 the law that Moses gave us, the possession of the assembly of Jacob.
- 2 Chronicles 17:7 In the third year of his reign, Jehoshaphat sent his officials Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah,
- John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
- 1 Timothy 6:17 Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.
- James 4:12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
- Numbers 33:45 They set out from Iyim and camped at Dibon-gad.
- Nehemiah 3:1 At the Sheep Gate, Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests began rebuilding. They dedicated it and installed its doors. After building as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel, they dedicated the wall.
- Nehemiah 3:5 Next to him, the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.