What Does Numbers 27:13 Mean in the King James?
And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered.
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 verse names death with the verb of gathering: Moses is gathered to his people just as Aaron was.
THE MEANING
The verse lets you face the boundary between seeing and entering: sight does not guarantee possession. Moses’ death is named as being gathered to his people, with Aaron as the parallel; the language holds mortality and belonging together without explaining what lies beyond.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that seeing a promise guarantees you will enter it: Moses sees the land, yet the sentence still names his death.
THE ROOT
נֶאֱסַפְתָּ
ne’esaf-ta
GROWS FROM
אסף
Gather, collect, bring in.
A harvest is gathered in, and here a person is gathered to their people: the same root gives death the image of being brought in. The verse does not explain what follows; its verb names an ending as gathering rather than simply disappearance.
ALSO GROWS
asif: Harvest or ingathering.
אָסִיף
This branch uses the same root for a harvest brought in; here the one gathered is Moses, and the destination named is his people.
vayye’asef: A form of the verb meaning “and he was gathered.”
וַיֵּאָסֵף
This form describes Abraham’s death in Genesis 25:8, showing the same root can name a person’s ending as gathering.
THE PATTERN
Scripture speaks of death as a boundary every mortal life reaches, sometimes naming it as a gathering to one’s people.
Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:THE THREAD
And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:The same Hebrew root אסף (asaph, gather) names the deaths of both Moses and Aaron. Deuteronomy makes explicit the parallel carried by “thou also” here: Moses is gathered as Aaron was.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us