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that you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.
Numbers 15:40 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.
  • BSB Then you will remember and obey all My commandments, and you will be holy to your God.
  • NKJV and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God.
  • NASB so that you will remember and do all My commandments and be holy to your God.
  • NLT The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God.

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

The purpose was that they would remember and do all God's commandments and be holy to him. Remembrance was meant to produce obedient holiness.

Overview

The aim of the tassels was a life consecrated to God, marked by remembering and doing his will. Holiness is the goal of God's commands and the calling of his people. This call to be holy is echoed for the church, set apart in Christ and summoned to holiness because God is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 7

  • Rom 12:1Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
  • Lev 11:44–45For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.
  • 1 Th 4:7For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification.
  • 1 Pet 1:15–16but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;
  • Col 1:2to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Lev 19:2“Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘You shall be holy; for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.
  • Eph 1:4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love;

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Numbers videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Numbers 15:40YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on NumbersMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 15:40 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.