So Moses brought their case before the Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB Moses brought their cause before Yahweh.
- KJV And Moses brought their cause before the LORD.
- BSB So Moses brought their case before the LORD,
- NKJV So Moses brought their case before the Lord.
- NASB So Moses brought their case before the Lord.
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
Moses does not decide on his own but brings their case before Yahweh.
Overview
Rather than ruling by his own judgment, Moses seeks the Lord's direction, modeling humble dependence on God for justice. This pattern shows that true authority submits to God's word, and it assures the reader that the resulting verdict carries divine, not merely human, sanction.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Lev 24:12–13They put him in custody, until Yahweh’s will should be declared to them.
- Prov 3:5–6Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.
- Exod 25:22There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, all that I command you for the children of Israel.
- Job 23:4I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
- Num 9:8Moses answered them, “Wait, that I may hear what Yahweh will command concerning you.”
- Num 15:34They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him.
- Exod 18:15–19Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 27:5 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.