What Does Numbers 20:13 Mean?
These are the waters of Meribah, the waters of striving, because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was set apart in them.
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
This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.THE KEY
The verse names the water for the people’s contention, then locates the LORD’s set-apartness among those who contend.
THE MEANING
Your contention with the LORD is named plainly here; in that same encounter, the LORD is set apart among the people. The verse holds both together: conflict is real, and it does not erase the LORD’s distinctness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the LORD’s set-apartness can be seen only after conflict disappears; here, it is disclosed amid contention.
THE ROOT
רָבוּ
rāḇû
GROWS FROM
ריב
r-y-b
To contend, strive, or bring a dispute.
“strove / Meribah” in this verse is rāḇû. The verse repeats one root: the people רָבוּ (rāḇû, they contended), and the water is named מְרִיבָה (Merivah, contention). What English separates into an action and a place name remains joined in Hebrew, keeping the conflict audible in the name.
ALSO GROWS
rāḇû: They disputed or strove.
רָבוּ
This is the people’s action in the verse, from the same root as the place name.
Merivah: A name meaning contention or dispute.
מְרִיבָה
The place carries the people’s conflict in its name.
וַיִּקָּדֵשׁ
vayyiqqādēš
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
To be set apart, distinct, or sacred.
The verb comes from קדש (q-d-sh, to be set apart): the LORD is shown as distinct among the people. The verse leaves the contention visible while locating that set-apartness within the same encounter.
ALSO GROWS
qādôš: Set apart, distinct, sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
It names the quality expressed when the LORD is sanctified among the people.
qōdeš: Holiness or what is set apart.
קֹדֶשׁ
It shows that the verse’s “sanctified” belongs to a family of words about distinctness.
miqdāš: A sanctuary or set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary is another branch of the same root, joining set-apartness to a place where it is encountered.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s set-apartness becomes visible in relationship with people, including amid conflict and pressure.
And he called the name of the place Massah, the testing, and Meribah, the striving, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, Is the LORD in our midst, or not?I will be pleased with you in your restful fragrance, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the lands where you have been scattered. And I will be set apart in you before the nations.But set apart the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for a word about the hope within you, with gentleness and fear.THE THREAD
And he called the name of the place Massah, the testing, and Meribah, the striving, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, Is the LORD in our midst, or not?The name מְרִיבָה (Merivah, contention) comes from ריב (rîḇ, to contend), the same root heard in Numbers’ רָבוּ (rāḇû, they contended). Exodus records the question “Is the LORD among us, or not?”; Numbers says he is set apart among them within that very conflict.
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