“Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!”
- KJV Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.
- NKJV “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.”
- NASB “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, so that I may consume them instantly.”
- NLT “Get away from all these people so that I may instantly destroy them!”
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
God told Moses and Aaron to separate from the congregation so he might consume them at once. The whole assembly stood under threat of judgment.
Overview
The LORD's command to stand apart signals imminent, total judgment on the rebellious community. God's holiness cannot tolerate such defiance, and the people are in mortal danger. Yet the call to separate also opens the door for intercession, foreshadowing the mediator who stands between God's wrath and the people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Exod 32:10Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
- Num 16:45“Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown.
- Rev 18:4Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues.
- Ps 73:19How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!
- Exod 33:5For the LORD had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I should go with you for a single moment, I would destroy you. Now take off your jewelry, and I will decide what to do with you.’”
- Num 14:12I will strike them with a plague and destroy them—and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.”
- Gen 19:15–22At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
- Jer 5:16Their quivers are like open graves; they are all mighty men.
- Isa 37:36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
- Num 14:15If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say,
- Heb 12:28–29Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
- Acts 2:40With many other words he testified, and he urged them, “Be saved from this corrupt generation.”
- 2 Cor 6:17“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
- Eph 5:6–7Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 16:21 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.