And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
Parallel translations
- WEB He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
- BSB He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted.
- NKJV And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped.
- NASB And he took his stand between the dead and the living, so that the plague was brought to a halt.
- NLT He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague stopped.
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
Aaron stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped, vividly picturing the priest as mediator who halts judgment.
Overview
This striking image of Aaron standing between the dead and the living captures the essence of priestly intercession: the mediator absorbs the boundary between wrath and life. The plague ceased because atonement was made. It is a powerful type of Christ, who stands between sinners and death, bringing life through His atoning mediation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 2 Sam 24:25And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.
- Ps 106:30Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.
- 1 Tim 2:5–6For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
- 1 Th 1:10And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
- Num 25:8–11And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
- Num 16:35And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
- Jas 5:16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
- 1 Chr 21:26–27And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.
- Num 16:18And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron.
- John 5:14Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
- Heb 7:24–25But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
- 2 Sam 24:16–17And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.
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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 16:48 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
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