What Does Numbers 27:14 Mean in the King James?
For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
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
At Meribah, the place of strife, Kadesh’s root of “set apart” echoes the question of whether God’s distinct nature is visible before everyone’s eyes.
THE MEANING
The verse exposes how resistance to God’s spoken word and conflict in a community can blur God’s distinct character in public view. It holds the reader inside that tension now: what happens amid strife shapes what others can see. The waters become the place where God’s nature is either set apart or obscured.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that rebellion is only a private break with a rule; the verse names its effect in the eyes of the congregation.
THE ROOT
לְהַקְדִּישֵׁנִי
lehaqdisheni
GROWS FROM
ק־ד־שׁ
To set apart, make distinct.
“sanctify” in this verse is lehaqdisheni. The phrase means “to set me apart” before their eyes, and the closing place-name Kadesh carries the same root. Kadesh and Meribah, set apart and strife, stand side by side, turning the names into the verse’s hidden contrast.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; distinct.
קָדוֹשׁ
It names the quality the verse says must be visible.
qodesh: Set-apartness; what is set apart.
קֹדֶשׁ
It shows that the root describes a state of distinction, not merely a label.
Qadesh: Set apart.
קָדֵשׁ
The place-name at the end of the verse repeats the root in the setting where the community’s strife unfolds.
מְרִיבַת
merivat
GROWS FROM
ר־י־ב
To contend, dispute, or bring a case.
The word for strife and the name Meribah repeat the same root: the place is named through contention. Strife is not just scenery here; it is where the community’s view of God is at stake.
ALSO GROWS
rîb: To contend; a dispute or case.
רִיב
It reveals the force of “strife” as active contention.
Merivah: Strife or contention.
מְרִיבָה
The place-name repeats the conflict word, binding the waters to the dispute.
מְרִיתֶם
meritem
GROWS FROM
מ־ר־ה
To resist or rebel.
“rebelled” in this verse is meritem. The phrase KJV renders “my commandment” is פִּי (pî, “my mouth”), framing the rebellion as resistance to a spoken voice rather than an abstract rule. The verse places that resistance amid the congregation’s strife, where its consequences are visible.
ALSO GROWS
marah: To rebel or resist.
מָרָה
This is the verb whose form appears in the verse.
meri: Rebellion.
מְרִי
The noun makes explicit the resistance contained in “rebelled.”
morim: Rebellious ones.
מֹרִים
This form appears in the related phrase “ye rebels” at Numbers 20:10.
THE PATTERN
Public conflict exposes whether a community’s actions make God’s distinct character visible or blur it.
And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:THE THREAD
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.Numbers 20:12 repeats לְהַקְדִּישֵׁנִי (lehaqdisheni, “to set me apart”), the same verb and phrase. It joins trust to what the community sees, opening this verse’s contrast between strife and Kadesh as a question of whether God’s nature remains distinct in public view.
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