What Does Numbers 15:14 Mean?
And if a sojourner sojourns with you, or whoever is among you in your generations, and will make an offering of fire, a scent that settles to the LORD. As you do, so he shall do.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD; as ye do, so he shall do.THE KEY
The stranger remains named, but the offering follows the same pattern as yours.
THE MEANING
When a person from outside your people lives among you and brings an offering to the LORD, this verse gives them the same manner of offering you use. Their origin remains visible, but it does not change the practice of this act of approach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Someone who did not begin inside the community must remain at the edge of its worship.
THE ROOT
גֵּר
gēr
GROWS FROM
ג־ו־ר
g-w-r
To sojourn or reside among a people.
“sojourner” in this verse is gēr. English “stranger” can sound like a visitor or unknown person; גֵּר (gēr, a resident alien) names one who resides among another people. The verse’s “with you” fits that root sense: this is someone living within the community, and the same offering practice applies.
ALSO GROWS
gûr: To sojourn or reside as an alien.
גּוּר
This verb shares the root of “stranger” and emphasizes residence among the people.
megūrîm: Sojournings or dwellings.
מְגוּרִים
This related form ties the root to living somewhere, rather than simply being unfamiliar.
רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ
rēaḥ nîḥōaḥ
GROWS FROM
נוּחַ
n-w-ḥ
To rest, settle, or come to rest.
“scent that settles” in this verse is rēaḥ nîḥōaḥ. The Hebrew phrase behind “sweet savour” carries a word from the root of rest and settling. The offering is described as a pleasing aroma, with a resonance of repose beneath the sensory image.
ALSO GROWS
Nōaḥ: Noah; a name associated with rest.
נֹחַ
The name shares this root, making the link between the offering’s aroma and rest audible elsewhere in Scripture.
mĕnūḥāh: Rest or resting place.
מְנוּחָה
This form makes the root’s sense of settling explicit and deepens the phrase’s resonance.
THE PATTERN
When someone from outside the community joins its approach to God, the text gives them the same practice or access.
One instruction will be for the native of the land, and for the sojourner who sojourns among you.But the sojourner who sojourns with you shall be to you as one who springs up among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.For there is no drawing apart between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich toward all who call upon him.THE THREAD
And the LORD smelled the fragrance of rest, and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground for man's sake, for the shaping of man's heart is evil from his youth, and I will not again strike down every living thing, as I have done.Genesis 8:21 uses the same Hebrew phrase, רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ (rēaḥ nîḥōaḥ, a pleasing aroma), for Noah’s offering. Its root resonates with rest and settling, opening this verse’s shared offering as something received in a pleasing, settling way.
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