What Does Numbers 20:27 Mean in the King James?

And Moses did as the LORD commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.

Numbers 20:27 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The commanded response takes bodily form as a shared ascent, visible to the whole congregation.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s direction takes bodily form: Moses acts, and his ascent with Aaron unfolds in view of the gathered people. Your response, too, takes shape through what you do and where you go, where others can see it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that obedience can remain only an inward intention; here, the response is carried out in a visible, embodied step.

THE ROOT

וַיַּעֲלוּ

wayyaʿalu

GROWS FROM

עלה

ʿ-l-h

go up, ascend, rise

The verb comes from a root of rising and ascent. Its branch ⁨עֹלָה⁩ (ʿolah, ascending offering) names an offering by the direction of its movement, so “went up” carries the wider image of what rises; here that rising is embodied in two people climbing before the congregation.

ALSO GROWS

ʿaliyyah: ascent, going up

עֲלִיָּה

This noun keeps the verb’s upward movement visible in the verse’s climb toward Mount Hor.

ʿolah: ascending offering, burnt offering

עֹלָה

This branch shares the idea of rising, showing how the root can describe movement upward in different forms.

THE PATTERN

Across Scripture, ascent marks a decisive passage through visible movement before witnesses.

Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:

Exodus 24:9 · KJVMoses, Aaron, and the elders ascend together, making the upward movement a shared act.

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

Matthew 17:1 · KJVJesus leads three disciples up a mountain, where the ascent opens into a moment of disclosure.

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

Acts 1:9 · KJVThe witnesses see Jesus taken up, making the ascent visible to those gathered around him.

THE THREAD

Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:

Exodus 24:9 · KJV

The same root ⁨עלה⁩ (ʿ-l-h, to ascend) forms “went up” in both verses. In Exodus, Moses and Aaron ascend with the elders; the shared root lets this public ascent echo a wider pattern of rising together.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us