“I will not go,” Hobab replied. “Instead, I am going back to my own land and my own people.”
Parallel translations
- WEB He said to him, “I will not go; but I will depart to my own land, and to my relatives.”
- KJV And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred.
- NKJV And he said to him, “I will not go, but I will depart to my own land and to my relatives.”
- NASB But he said to him, “I will not come, but rather will go to my own land and relatives.”
- NLT But Hobab replied, “No, I will not go. I must return to my own land and family.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hobab declines, wishing to return to his own land and kindred. He is reluctant to leave home behind.
Overview
Hobab initially refuses Moses' invitation, preferring his own country and relatives. His hesitation reflects the natural pull of home and the cost of joining God's pilgrim people, a tension every disciple faces when called to follow the Lord into the unknown.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ruth 1:15–17“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; follow her back home.”
- Luke 14:26“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.
- 2 Cor 5:16So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
- Heb 11:13All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
- Heb 11:8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.
- Gen 12:1Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you.
- Gen 31:30Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”
- Ps 45:10Listen, O daughter! Consider and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house,
- Matt 21:29‘I will not,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went.
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 10:30 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.