Bible Strands
Numbers 9:5
and they did so in the Wilderness of Sinai, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. The Israelites did everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative reports the Israelites' compliance with Moses' command to keep the Passover while camped in the Wilderness of Sinai. This occurs at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month, immediately following Moses' instruction in Numbers 9:4.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיַּעֲשׂוּ (va.ya‘asu) translates literally as "and they did" or "and they observed," denoting the execution of the commanded ritual. The noun הַפֶּסַח (ha.Pesach) identifies the specific observance as "the Passover."
The thread — The precise dating of the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month reappears in Joshua 5:10 at Gilgal, while the pattern of exact compliance with divine commands echoes the Noah narratives in Genesis 6:22 and Genesis 7:5.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of covenantal obedience as a concrete, timed action rather than a vague intention. It requires the reader to measure faithfulness against the explicit timing and details of the command.
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 they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.
Cross-references
- Joshua 5:10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover.
- Genesis 6:22 So Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him.
- Genesis 7:5 And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
- Exodus 12:1 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
- Exodus 39:32 So all the work for the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, was completed. The Israelites did everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
- Exodus 39:42 The Israelites had done all the work just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
- Numbers 8:20 So Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel did with the Levites everything that the LORD had commanded Moses they should do.
- Numbers 29:40 So Moses spoke all this to the Israelites just as the LORD had commanded him.
- Deuteronomy 1:3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them.
- Deuteronomy 4:5 See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land that you are about to enter and possess.