The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Restrictions for Priests
Leviticus 10:8–20 — Restrictions for Priests. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
8Then the LORD said to Aaron,
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Yah·weh way·ḏab·bêr ’el- ’a·hă·rōn lê·mōr
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying:
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as well as to restore the prestige of this sacred office in the eyes of the people, who had witnessed the disobedience and punishment of the spiritual functionaries, the Lord, who hitherto made all such communications to Moses, now honours Aaron with speaking to him immediately.Ellicott marks the singular dignity of the verse: God speaks to Aaron directly, restoring the priesthood's standing before the people who had just seen its sin punished.
but it rather seems that he spoke to Aaron immediately: according to Jarchi, this order was delivered to him as a reward for his silence, and to do honour to him on that accountGill, citing Jarchi, reads the direct address as Aaron's reward for his silence under the loss of his sons (v. 3).
Jehovah still further commanded Aaron and his sons not to drink wine and strong drink when they entered the tabernacle to perform service there, on pain of death, as a perpetual statute for their generationsK&D frames the unit's opening law: a perpetual death-sanctioned statute against priestly intoxication during service.
The holy oil, as the symbol of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Life and immortality and joy, was the sign of the priests being brought near to Yahweh.Barnes connects the direct address to the priests' anointing — the holy oil that, as sign of the Spirit, had brought them near to Yahweh.
9“You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink when you enter the Tent of Meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute for the generations to come.
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’at·tāh ū·ḇā·ne·ḵā ’it·tāḵ ’al- tê·šət ya·yin wə·šê·ḵār bə·ḇō·’ă·ḵem ’el- ’ō·hel mō·w·‘êḏ wə·lō ṯā·mu·ṯū ‘ō·w·lām ḥuq·qaṯ lə·ḏō·rō·ṯê·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Wine and strong drink do not drink, you and your sons with you, when you go in to the Tent of Meeting, that you may not die — a statute of eternity for your generations.
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The injunction that on these particular occasions the priests are to abstain from taking it clearly implies that, ordinarily, when not going into the tent of meeting—that is, when not performing their sacred functions in the sanctuary—they were not forbidden to use it if required.Ellicott reads the scope precisely: the prohibition binds the priest in service, not the man at all times — sobriety is tied to the threshold of the Tent.
But if not, yet drunkenness is so odious a sin in itself, especially in a minister, and most of all at the time of his administration of sacred things, that God saw fit to prevent all occasions of it.Benson grants the law its own weight apart from the Nadab-and-Abihu question: intoxication is most odious in a minister at the very hour of sacred service.
It is required of gospel ministers, that they be not given to wine, 1Ti 3:3. It is, Lest ye die; die when ye are in drink. The danger of death, to which we are continually exposed, should engage all to be sober.Henry hears the death-clause literally — "die when ye are in drink" — and carries the demand forward to the gospel minister (1 Tim 3:3).
has given rise to an opinion entertained by many, that the two disobedient priests were under the influence of intoxication when they committed the offense which was expiated only by their lives. But such an idea, though the presumption is in its favor, is nothing more than conjecture.JFB weighs the old guess that Nadab and Abihu were drunk and refuses to over-claim: the placement makes it likely, but it remains conjecture.
10You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,
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ū·lă·haḇ·dîl bên haq·qō·ḏeš ū·ḇên ha·ḥōl ū·ḇên haṭ·ṭā·hō·wr haṭ·ṭā·mê ū·ḇên
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and to make a separation between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean,
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Everything was common (profane) which was not fitted for the sanctuary, even what was allowable for daily use and enjoyment, and therefore was to be regarded as clean.K&D parses the wider category: the "common" (chôl) embraces all that is simply not consecrated — even the clean and lawful — distinct from the narrower "unclean."
The motive here assigned for their abstinence from intoxicating liquor is, that by keeping sober they might be able to discriminate between the legal and illegal points in the prescribed observances, which required the greatest care.Ellicott binds v. 10 to v. 9: sobriety exists for the sake of discernment — the priest must be clear-headed to draw the boundaries the law requires.
Unholy ... unclean - Common, as not consecrated; and what would occasion defilement by being touched or eaten. Compare Acts 10:14 .Barnes glosses the two pairs and reaches forward to Peter's vision (Acts 10:14), where the clean/unclean line is itself transformed.
Persons and things, which Nadab and Abihu did not, mistaking unholy or common fire for that which was sacred and appointed by God for their use.Poole names the failed discernment behind the whole unit: Nadab and Abihu confused common fire with sacred — the very distinction this verse commands.
11so that you may teach the Israelites all the statutes that the LORD has given them through Moses.”
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ū·lə·hō·w·rōṯ ’eṯ- bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl ’êṯ kāl- ha·ḥuq·qîm ’ă·šer Yah·weh dib·ber ’ă·lê·hem bə·yaḏ- mō·šeh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes that the LORD has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.
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For neglecting these duties, the prophet charges them :—“Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed difference [i.e., taught the people the difference] between the unclean and the clean” ( Ezekiel 22:26 ).Ellicott reaches to Ezekiel 22:26, where the very vocabulary of vv. 10–11 returns as an indictment: the priests who failed to teach the difference between holy and profane.
And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes,.... Laws, precepts, ordinances, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, which was the business of the priests to do, Malachi 2:7 but one inebriated with liquor would be incapable of giving instructions about any of those thingsGill names teaching as the priests' proper business (Mal 2:7) and ties it back to v. 9: drink unfits a man for the work of instruction.
That ye may teach the children of Israel . This shows that one part of the priest's office was teaching the Law (cf. Deuteronomy 24:8 ; Malachi 2:7 ).The Pulpit Commentary states the office plainly: teaching the Law was an essential part of priesthood, cross-referenced to Deuteronomy and Malachi.
That is, "that you may, by your example in your ministrations, preserve the minds of the Israelites from confusion in regard to the distinctions made by the divine Law."Barnes adds that the teaching is by example as well as word — the priest's own ministrations keep Israel's mind clear about the Law's distinctions.
12And Moses said to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering that remains from the food offerings to the LORD and eat it without leaven beside the altar, because it is most holy.
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mō·šeh way·ḏab·bêr ’el- ’a·hă·rōn wə·’el han·nō·w·ṯā·rîm bā·nāw ’el·‘ā·zār wə·’el- ’î·ṯā·mār qə·ḥū ’eṯ- ham·min·ḥāh han·nō·w·ṯe·reṯ mê·’iš·šê Yah·weh wə·’iḵ·lū·hā maṣ·ṣō·wṯ ’ê·ṣel ham·miz·bê·aḥ kî hî qō·ḏeš qā·ḏā·šîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his remaining sons: "Take the grain offering that remains from the fire-offerings of the LORD and eat it as unleavened bread beside the altar, for it is most holy.
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Moses repeateth and re-enforceth the former command, partly lest their great loss and grief should cause them to forget or neglect their meat prescribed them by God, which abstinence would have been both a signification of their sorrow, which God had forbidden them, and a new transgression of a Divine precept; and partly to encourage them to go on in their holy services, and not to be dejected for the late severity, as if God would no more accept them or their sacrifices.Poole reads Moses' pastoral motive: he re-enforces the command so grief will not make the survivors forget their duty, and to assure them God still accepts them.
As Aaron lost his two eldest sons in consequence of their having violated the sacrificial regulations, Moses is most anxious to guard him and his two younger sons against transgressing any other part of the ritual connected with the same sacrifices, lest they also should incur a similar punishment.Ellicott sees the urgency: having lost two sons to ritual violation, Aaron must now be guarded clause by clause against any further misstep.
This was a timely and considerate rehearsal of the laws that regulated the conduct of the priests. Amid the distractions of their family bereavement, Aaron and his surviving sons might have forgotten or overlooked some of their duties.JFB calls the instruction timely and considerate — a rehearsal of duty offered precisely because bereavement might have blurred it.
his sons that were left,.... Of the burning, as the Targum of Jonathan; who survived his other two sons that were burnt, who remained alive, not being concerned with them in their sin, and so shared not in their punishmentGill glosses "that were left" with the Targum — left of the burning; the surviving sons who had no part in their brothers' sin or its punishment.
13You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your share and your sons’ share of the food offerings to the LORD; for this is what I have been commanded.
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wa·’ă·ḵal·tem ’ō·ṯāh qā·ḏōš bə·mā·qō·wm kî hî ḥā·qə·ḵā wə·ḥāq- bā·ne·ḵā mê·’iš·šê Yah·weh kî- ḵên ṣuw·wê·ṯî
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And you shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your portion and your sons' portion from the fire-offerings of the LORD; for so I have been commanded.
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In the holy place; in the court, near the altar of burntofferings. See Leviticus 6:26 . Because it is thy due. See Leviticus 2:3 6:16,17 .Poole fixes the place (the court, by the altar) and names the ground: the offering is the priest's due, a settled right grounded in the earlier law.
And ye shall eat it in the holy place. —Better, and ye shall eat it in a holy place, that is, in any part of the holy court; it was not to be taken out of the precincts of the sanctuary.Ellicott refines the article: "a holy place" — anywhere in the court — yet never beyond the sanctuary's bounds. The most holy offering is fenced by place.
for so I am commanded; to make known and declare this as the will of God.Gill reads the passive verb as Moses' disclaimer of authorship: he only makes known and declares what is the will of God.
14And you and your sons and daughters may eat the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution in a ceremonially clean place, because these portions have been assigned to you and your children from the peace offerings of the sons of Israel.
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wə·’êṯ ’at·tāh ū·ḇā·ne·ḵā ū·ḇə·nō·ṯe·ḵā ’it·tāḵ tō·ḵə·lū ḥă·zêh hat·tə·nū·p̄āh wə·’êṯ šō·wq hat·tə·rū·māh ṭā·hō·wr bə·mā·qō·wm kî- ḥā·qə·ḵā wə·ḥāq- nit·tə·nū bā·ne·ḵā miz·ziḇ·ḥê šal·mê bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you; for as your portion and your sons' portion they have been given from the peace-offering sacrifices of the sons of Israel.
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In any place where the women as well as the men might come, for the daughters of the priests might eat these as well as their sons, as it here follows. And thy daughters, to wit, if they were maids, or widows, or divorced, Leviticus 22:11-13 .Poole draws the contrast with v. 13: this portion, being clean rather than most-holy, may be eaten in the dwellings and by the priests' daughters as well as their sons.
That is, of the peace offering which was offered by the nation. (See Leviticus 9:18-21 .) As they were given to the priests for the maintenance of their families (see Leviticus 7:34 ), these portions might be eaten anywhere within the camp, provided the place was not defiled by ceremonial uncleanness.Ellicott identifies the source (the nation's peace offering of Lev 9) and the purpose: family maintenance, eaten anywhere clean within the camp.
these were not restrained to him and his sons only, as the meat offerings, and the flesh of the sin offerings were, but were common to the whole familyGill marks the widening: unlike the grain and sin offerings restricted to the priests, the wave-breast and heave-thigh belonged to the whole priestly family.
This burning (as opposed to eating by the priests) should only have taken place, if (as was not done in this case) the blood had been brought into the ‘tent of meeting.’ Moses is angry with Aaron’s sons, but they acted under direction, and Aaron acknowledges his responsibility by replying.Cambridge previews the coming dispute (vv. 16–20): the goat should have been eaten, not burned, since the blood never entered the Tent — and Aaron will own the responsibility his sons bore under his direction.
15They are to bring the thigh of the contribution and the breast of the wave offering, together with the fat portions of the food offerings, to wave as a wave offering before the LORD. It will belong permanently to you and your children, as the LORD has commanded.”
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yā·ḇî·’ū šō·wq hat·tə·rū·māh wa·ḥă·zêh hat·tə·nū·p̄āh ‘al ha·ḥă·lā·ḇîm ’iš·šê lə·hā·nîp̄ tə·nū·p̄āh lip̄·nê Yah·weh ‘ō·w·lām wə·hā·yāh lə·ḵā ū·lə·ḇā·ne·ḵā ’it·tə·ḵā lə·ḥāq- ka·’ă·šer Yah·weh ṣiw·wāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
The thigh of the contribution and the breast of the wave offering they shall bring upon the fire-offering fat portions, to wave as a wave offering before the LORD; and it shall be for you and your sons with you as a statute of eternity, as the LORD has commanded."
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That is, the offerers who devoted these portions of the peace offering to the Lord, are to bring them to the officiating priests. (See Leviticus 7:29-30 .)Ellicott clarifies who brings what: the offerers themselves present the wave-breast and heave-thigh to the priests, per the earlier law of Leviticus 7.
the shoulder was lifted up, and the breast waved to and fro before the Lord of the whole earth, and towards the several parts of it, to show and own his right to all they had, and then they were given to the priests as a token of itGill reads the gesture's meaning: the lifting and waving confess God's right to all, after which the portion is given back to the priests as His token.
to wave it for a wave offering before the LORD; and it shall be thine, and thy sons' with thee, by a statute for ever; as the LORD hath commanded.The Geneva text carries the verse's own seal: the wave offering is the priests' portion "by a statute for ever," grounded in the LORD's command.
Wave breast and heave shoulder - See Leviticus 7:30 note.Barnes' terse cross-reference anchors the wave-breast and heave-thigh to their defining law in Leviticus 7.
16Later, Moses searched carefully for the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it had been burned up. He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, and asked,
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wə·’êṯ mō·šeh dā·rōš dā·raš śə·‘îr ha·ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ wə·hin·nêh śō·rāp̄ way·yiq·ṣōp̄ ‘al- ’el·‘ā·zār wə·‘al- ’î·ṯā·mār ’a·hă·rōn han·nō·w·ṯā·rim bə·nê lê·mōr
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the goat of the sin offering Moses diligently sought — and behold, it was burned up! And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the remaining sons of Aaron, saying:
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Hence, Moses explains that the appropriation of the flesh by the priests is an essential part of the act of atonement Leviticus 10:17 . It was burnt - It was consumed by fire in an ordinary way, not; in the fire of the altar. See Leviticus 1:9 .Barnes draws the precise distinction: the goat was burned with common fire, not altar fire — and the priests' eating of it was an essential part of the atonement they omitted.
He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar — Moses, not willing to aggravate the sorrows of his brother Aaron, says nothing to him, but expostulates with his sons for their neglect. He knew, however, that the reproof, though directed to them, would concern him too.Benson reads the mercy in Moses' aim: he spares the grieving Aaron and rebukes the sons, though both knew the reproof reached the father as well.
it was the duty of the priests, as typically representing them and bearing their sins, to have eaten the flesh after the blood had been sprinkled upon the altar. Instead of using it, however, for a sacred feast, they had burnt it without the campJFB names the omitted duty: the priests, typically bearing the people's sins, should have eaten the sin offering; instead they burned it outside the camp.
and he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron which were {f} left alive , saying, (f) And not consumed as Nadab and Abihu.The Geneva gloss sharpens "left alive": these two were not consumed as their brothers were — a survival that made their lapse the more weighty.
17“Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the holy place? For it is most holy; it was given to you to take away the guilt of the congregation by making atonement for them before the LORD.
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mad·dū·a‘ lō- ’ă·ḵal·tem ’eṯ- ha·ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ haq·qō·ḏeš bim·qō·wm kî hî wə·’ō·ṯāh qō·ḏeš qā·ḏā·šîm nā·ṯan lā·ḵem lā·śêṯ ’eṯ- ‘ă·wōn hā·‘ê·ḏāh lə·ḵap·pêr ‘ă·lê·hem lip̄·nê Yah·weh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, since it is most holy, and He gave it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD?
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The phrase “to bear iniquity” often signifies “to bear away, to remove, to forgive iniquity.” (Comp. Genesis 1:17 ; Exodus 32:32 ; Psalm 32:1 ; Psalm 32:5 , &c.) Hence the most ancient Versions translate it here, “that ye may take away or remove ” (LXX., the Chaldee, the Syriac, &c.).Ellicott marshals the ancient versions for the "remove" reading: the priest, by eating, takes the iniquity away — the LXX, Chaldee, and Syriac all render it so.
As a reward of your service and function, whereby you do expiate, bear, and take away their sins, by offering those sacrifices, and performing those rites, by which God through Christ is reconciled to the penitent and believing offerers.Poole reads the bearing christologically: the priest expiates and takes away sins by rites through which God, in Christ, is reconciled to penitent believers.
for by eating the sin offering, or sin itself, as it is in the original text, see Hosea 4:8 they made the sins of the people, for whom the offering was, in some sense their own; and they bore them, and made a typical atonement for them; in which they were types of Christ, who was made sin for his people, took their sins upon himGill notes the original literally reads "eat the sin" (cf. Hos 4:8): the priests took the people's sin in some sense upon themselves — a type of Christ made sin for His own.
The acceptance of a sacrifice depends on the due observance of the whole appointed ritual, and each action as contributing towards the acceptance of the whole may be said to have an atoning value.Cambridge holds the question open with care: the eating has atoning value not in itself but as a constituent of the whole ritual whose completeness secures acceptance.
18Since its blood was not brought inside the holy place, you should have eaten it in the sanctuary area, as I commanded.”
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hên dā·māh ’el- lō- hū·ḇā ’eṯ- pə·nî·māh haq·qō·ḏeš ’ā·ḵō·wl tō·ḵə·lū ’ō·ṯāh baq·qō·ḏeš ka·’ă·šer ṣiw·wê·ṯî
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Behold, its blood was not brought inside the holy place; eating you should have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded.
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According to the sacrificial law, the flesh of the sin offerings ( the blood of which was not carried into the sanctuary) had to be eaten by the priests alone, in a holy place, as a part of the expiatory rites.Ellicott states the governing rule: when the blood stays outside the sanctuary, the flesh must be eaten by the priests as part of the expiation — exactly the case here.
Behold the blood was not brought within the holy place — And consequently it was not one of those sacrifices ordered to be burned, ( Leviticus 6:30 ,) but should have been eaten in the court of the tabernacle, Leviticus 6:26 .Benson reads the logic crisply: since the blood stayed out, the burning rule of Lev 6:30 did not apply; the flesh was to have been eaten per Lev 6:26.
the reason whereof was, because Aaron was not yet admitted into the holy place, whither that blood should have been brought, till he had prepared the way by the sacrifices which were to be offered in the court.Poole supplies the reason the blood stayed outside: Aaron had not yet entered the holy place, the way to which the court-sacrifices were meant first to prepare.
the precinct in which the flesh of the sin-offering was eaten is generally called in full the holy place, the substantive being expressed Leviticus 10:13 .Barnes untangles a verbal ambiguity: "the holy" (inner sanctuary, where the blood goes) versus "the holy place" (the court, where the flesh is eaten).
19But Aaron replied to Moses, “Behold, this very day they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD. Since these things have happened to me, if I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been acceptable in the sight of the LORD?”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’a·hă·rōn way·ḏab·bêr ’el- mō·šeh hên hay·yō·wm hiq·rî·ḇū ’eṯ- ḥaṭ·ṭā·ṯām wə·’eṯ- ‘ō·lā·ṯām lip̄·nê Yah·weh kā·’êl·leh wat·tiq·re·nāh ’ō·ṯî wə·’ā·ḵal·tî ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ hay·yō·wm hay·yî·ṭaḇ bə·‘ê·nê Yah·weh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And Aaron spoke to Moses: "Behold, today they brought near their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, and such things as these have befallen me; had I eaten a sin offering today, would it have been good in the eyes of the LORD?"
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the judgment in question was so solemn a warning, as to the sin which still adhered to them even after the presentation of their sin-offering, that they might properly feel "that they had not so strong and overpowering a holiness as was required for eating the general sin-offering"K&D locates the real ground of Aaron's restraint not in grief but in holiness: the death of his sons warned him that the sin still clinging to them unfitted him for so holy a meal.
Aaron submits that, unfitted as they thus were by mourning and the sense of their own sinfulness, if they had partaken of this solemn meal it would not have been acceptable to the Lord.Ellicott summarizes the plea: mourning and a sharpened sense of sin had unfitted Aaron and his sons; to have eaten in that state would not have pleased the LORD.
they have done the substance of the thing, though they have mistaken this one circumstance. Such things have befallen me ; whereby, having been oppressed with grief, and almost bereft of my reason, it is not strange nor unpardonable if I have mistaken.Poole frames the defense as substance kept though a circumstance was missed — and pleads grief that had nearly bereft Aaron of reason as making the lapse pardonable.
Could it have been well-pleasing to the Lord if those who have been so humbled as I and my sons have been by the sin of our relations and the divine judgment, had feasted on the most holy flesh of the sin-offering?Barnes phrases Aaron's question in the first person: could the LORD have been pleased to see men so humbled by sin and judgment feasting that same day on the most holy flesh?
20And when Moses heard this explanation, he was satisfied.
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mō·šeh way·yiš·ma‘ way·yî·ṭaḇ bə·‘ê·nāw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And Moses heard, and it was good in his eyes.
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He acknowledged Aaron’s plea to be just, and that he had himself spoken hastily. This is a remarkable instance of Moses’ humility, and of the human side of his nature as a lawgiver.Ellicott reads the verse as a window onto Moses the man: the lawgiver concedes he spoke hastily and yields to a just plea — a remarkable instance of his humility.
He rested satisfied with his answer, either because he thought it reasonable, seeing the letter of the law ofttimes yields to necessities or great accidents, 2 Chronicles 30:18 Matthew 12:3 ,4 ; or at least because the things alleged were mitigations of his faultPoole names the principle Moses honors: the letter of the law yields to necessity and great accident — citing Hezekiah's Passover (2 Chr 30:18) and Christ on David (Matt 12:3–4).
He rested satisfied with Aaron’s answer, who, it appeared, had sincerely aimed at pleasing God; and those who do so, will find he is not extreme to mark what is amiss.Benson draws the consolation: a heart sincerely aiming at God's pleasure finds Him not extreme to mark what is amiss — the grace beneath the satisfied verdict.
(h) Moses bore with his infirmity, considering his great sorrow, but does not leave an example to forgive them that maliciously transgress the commandment of God.Geneva guards the verse from misuse: Moses bore with Aaron's grief-born infirmity, but this is no license for those who transgress God's command maliciously.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
For the only time in the book, the LORD addresses Aaron directly (v. 8). Every voice marks the singularity. Charles Ellicott: "the Lord, who hitherto made all such communications to Moses, now honours Aaron with speaking to him immediately," both to comfort the bereaved high priest and "to restore the prestige of this sacred office in the eyes of the people." John Gill, citing Jarchi, hears it as Aaron's reward "for his silence" under the death of his sons (v. 3). And the first word of this honored, direct address is a prohibition: "Wine and strong drink do not drink ... when you go in to the Tent of Meeting, that you may not die" (v. 9). The negated death-verb tā·mu·ṯū (H4191) lands three verses after Nadab and Abihu did die. The commentators are honestly divided on whether the two sons were drunk. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown weighs the old guess and refuses to over-claim: "such an idea, though the presumption is in its favor, is nothing more than conjecture." Joseph Benson grants the law its own weight regardless: "drunkenness is so odious a sin in itself, especially in a minister, and most of all at the time of his administration of sacred things, that God saw fit to prevent all occasions of it." The statute is sealed as ḥuqqaṯ ‘ōlām — a perpetual ordinance, not an emergency measure.
The prohibition is not an end but a means; vv. 10–11 give its two purposes, both governed by Hifil infinitives. First, ū·lă·haḇ·dîl (H914) — "to make a separation between the holy and the common" — the creation-verb of Genesis 1, now the priest's calling. Keil & Delitzsch draws the careful gradation: "chôl, profanus, common, is a wider or more comprehensive notion than tâmêʼ, unclean. Everything was common (profane) which was not fitted for the sanctuary." The word for "common" (chôl) is rare enough — only seven verses in all Scripture — to become a verbal fingerprint linking this command to Ezekiel's later indictment. Second, ū·lə·hō·w·rōṯ (H3384) — "to teach" — the root of tôrâh itself, "to point, to aim, to direct." The Pulpit Commentary: "one part of the priest's office was teaching the Law." Ellicott reaches to Ezekiel 22:26, where the very vocabulary returns as a charge against priests who "have put no difference between the holy and the profane." Sobriety serves discernment; discernment serves instruction. The drunken priest can do neither (Benson: "Which drunken persons are very unfit to do").
Now Moses speaks (vv. 12–15), gathering the scattered laws of the priestly portions and pressing them on the grieving survivors. Matthew Poole reads the pastoral motive: Moses "repeateth and re-enforceth the former command, partly lest their great loss and grief should cause them to forget or neglect their meat prescribed them by God ... and partly to encourage them to go on in their holy services ... as if God would no more accept them." Jamieson, Fausset & Brown calls it "a timely and considerate rehearsal." The text itself draws a careful gradation of holiness by place: the grain offering is qō·ḏeš qā·ḏā·šîm — "holy of holies" — and so confined to the priests' sons "beside the altar" (v. 12); but the wave-breast and heave-thigh, merely holy, are eaten "in a clean place" by "thy sons, and thy daughters with thee" (v. 14). John Gill marks the widening: these "were not restrained to him and his sons only ... but were common to the whole family." The Verifier confirms the dense verbal weave to the ordination texts — châzeh (breast, 12 vv), shôwq (thigh, 19 vv), tᵉnûphâh (wave offering, 28 vv) all shared with Exodus 29 and Numbers 18. Even in mourning, the priest is fed by statute; his very bread is a chôq, a decreed portion.
The unit's drama turns at v. 16: "the goat of the sin offering Moses diligently sought (dā·rōš dā·raš, the doubled root of emphasis) — and behold, it was burned up!" The flesh that should have been eaten was consumed by common fire (Barnes: "in an ordinary way, not in the fire of the altar"). Moses "was angry" — and, every voice notes, with Eleazar and Ithamar, not Aaron. Joseph Benson: "Moses, not willing to aggravate the sorrows of his brother Aaron, says nothing to him." The rebuke (vv. 17–18) opens the unit's theological center: God gave the flesh to the priests "to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them." Here the voices divide honestly on lā·śêṯ ‘ă·wōn (H5375 + H5771). Ellicott assembles the ancient versions for "to take away, remove": "the LXX., the Chaldee, the Syriac" all so render. But K&D, Poole, and Gill read "to bear upon oneself": Gill notes the original literally says they "eat the sin" (cf. Hos 4:8), so that "they made the sins of the people ... in some sense their own ... in which they were types of Christ, who was made sin." Cambridge holds the question open with care: the eating has atoning value "not in itself" but "as contributing towards the acceptance of the whole." The charge against the sons is that, by not eating, they left the atonement incomplete.
Aaron breaks his silence (v. 19) — and answers not with excuse but with a question. He affirms the substance was done ("today they brought near their sin offering"), then gestures, unable to name it plainly, at the wound: "such things as these have befallen me" (wat·tiq·re·nāh, the verb of being struck by hostile event). And he asks: "had I eaten a sin offering today, would it have been good in the eyes of the LORD?" The voices split on the ground of his restraint. K&D insists it was holiness, not mere sorrow: the judgment warned him "that they had not so strong and overpowering a holiness as was required for eating the general sin-offering." Ellicott and Poole emphasize the grief — "oppressed with grief, and almost bereft of my reason." Either way, Aaron appeals past the letter to God's pleasure. And Moses yields: "he heard, and it was good in his eyes" (v. 20) — the narrative answering Aaron's question with Aaron's own word, yâṭab. Charles Ellicott calls it "a remarkable instance of Moses' humility ... the human side of his nature as a lawgiver." Poole names the principle: "the letter of the law ofttimes yields to necessities or great accidents" — citing Hezekiah's irregular Passover (2 Chr 30:18) and the Lord's own appeal to David eating the showbread (Matt 12:3–4). Yet Geneva guards against misuse: Moses "bore with his infirmity, considering his great sorrow, but does not leave an example to forgive them that maliciously transgress."
Held under the rule that Scripture alone is final — and offered as a reading to be tested, not a verdict to be trusted — three things press out of these thirteen verses, set as they are between two deaths and a satisfied silence. First, the priesthood is built on a chain of discernment that begins in the body. Sobriety (v. 9) exists for separation (v. 10), and separation for teaching (v. 11): a clear head, a drawn boundary, an aimed instruction. The order is downward and concrete — keep the mind unclouded, so you can tell holy from common, so you can point Israel along the way. Nadab and Abihu inverted it; they confused common fire with sacred (Poole), and died. The whole unit is God re-laying the foundation the brothers cracked. Second, the priest's atoning work is not only at the altar but at the table. The hardest sentence in the unit is v. 17: the flesh was given "to bear the iniquity of the congregation." Whether the priest removes the guilt (Ellicott, the ancient versions) or takes it upon himself (K&D, Poole, Gill), the eating is part of the atonement, not its leftover — which is precisely why its omission drew anger. The priest who will not take the people's sin into himself leaves the covering unfinished. Gill's literal note — they "eat the sin" — opens a door the New Testament walks through: One who was "made sin for us" (2 Cor 5:21). Third, the letter of a holy law can bow to the heart God reads. Aaron broke the rule of v. 18; Moses, hearing his grief and his reach for God's pleasure, was satisfied (v. 20). This is not antinomian — Geneva is right that it grants nothing to malicious transgression — but it is the same mercy the Lord Himself invokes when He says "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" (Hos 6:6; Matt 12:7). The Berean test applies even to this: weigh it against the text, including where the voices leave the matter genuinely unsettled — whether "bear iniquity" means remove or carry (the versions divide), and whether Aaron's ground was grief or insufficient holiness (Ellicott and K&D divide).
The priest who will not eat the people's sin leaves the atonement unfinished — and the God who reads the heart can be satisfied where the letter was broken (a reading offered for testing, not a verse).
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The priest's charge to "make a separation between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean" (v. 10) is built on an unusually rare word: chôl ("common, profane," H2455), which the Verifier finds in only 7 verses of all Scripture. That scarcity makes its reappearance a near-fingerprint. Centuries later, Ezekiel turns the very vocabulary of Leviticus 10:10 into an indictment: "Her priests have done violence to My law ... they have made no distinction between the holy and the common (chôl) ... and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths" (Ezek 22:26), and again in the temple vision, "they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean" (Ezek 44:23). Charles Ellicott draws the line himself at v. 11, quoting Ezekiel 22:26 as the prophetic charge for the neglected duty. The Verifier confirms a genuinely verbal dependence: the priestly distinction-vocabulary, anchored by the rare chôl, is shared across all four passages.
Leviticus 10:10 · Ezekiel 22:26 · Ezekiel 44:23 · Ezekiel 42:20
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes: H2455 chôl (in only 7 vv), H2931 ṭâmêʼ (78 vv), H2889 ṭâhôwr (87 vv), H914 bâdal (40 vv), H996 bêyn (247 vv), H6944 qôdesh (382 vv) for Lev 10:10 ↔ Ezek 22:26 / 44:23 / 42:20. The 7-verse rarity of chôl — confined to the priestly holy/common distinction — makes the verbal link certain; Ellicott cites Ezek 22:26 directly.
The portions Moses rehearses to the grieving priests (vv. 14–15) — "the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution" — are named by two of the rarest words in the sacrificial vocabulary: châzeh (breast, H2373, just 12 verses) and shôwq (thigh, H7785, just 19). Their scarcity binds this unit tightly to the texts that institute the priestly dues. The Verifier finds the breast-thigh-wave cluster shared with Exodus 29:27 (the ordination charge), Numbers 18:18 (the priests' perpetual portion), and Leviticus 7:30–34 (the law of the peace offering). Ellicott, Barnes, and Gill all cross-reference Leviticus 7:30–34 by name as the governing statute. The same gesture-word, tᵉnûphâh (wave offering, 28 vv), runs through all of them. Leviticus 10:14–15 is not new legislation but the application of an existing, rare-worded body of priestly-portion law to one bereaved family on one hard day.
Leviticus 10:14 · Leviticus 10:15 · Exodus 29:27 · Numbers 18:18 · Leviticus 7:30
basis: Verifier-computed rare shared lexemes: H2373 châzeh (12 vv), H7785 shôwq (19 vv), H8573 tᵉnûphâh (28 vv), H8641 tᵉrûwmâh (63 vv) for Lev 10:14 ↔ Ex 29:27 / Num 18:18; H801 ʼishshâh (64 vv) + châzeh for Lev 10:14 ↔ Lev 7:30. The 12- and 19-verse frequencies of châzeh and shôwq make the dependence verbal, not merely thematic.
The gesture commanded in v. 15 — "to wave as a wave offering before the LORD" (lə·hā·nîp̄ tə·nū·p̄āh) — repeats the climactic act of the priests' own ordination just two chapters earlier. At Leviticus 8:29 Moses "took the breast (châzeh) and waved it (nûph) as a wave offering (tᵉnûphâh) before the LORD." The Verifier confirms the verbal tie: châzeh (12 vv), tᵉnûphâh (28 vv), and the verb nûph (35 vv) are shared between Leviticus 10:15 and 8:29. The same to-and-fro motion that consecrated Aaron's house now governs the portion that perpetually feeds it — "a statute of eternity for your generations." The ordination's defining gesture becomes the family's standing provision. Gill reads the wave itself as a confession of God's right "to all they had," the portion "then given to the priests as a token of it."
Leviticus 10:15 · Leviticus 8:29 · Leviticus 9:21
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes: H2373 châzeh (12 vv), H8573 tᵉnûphâh (28 vv), H5130 nûwph (35 vv) for Lev 10:15 ↔ Lev 8:29; châzeh again for Lev 10:15 ↔ Lev 9:21. The rarity of châzeh (12 vv) anchors a verbal, not merely thematic, link between the ordination wave and the perpetual priestly portion.
The unit's theological crux is v. 17: the sin offering was given to the priests "to bear the iniquity of the congregation" (lā·śêṯ ʼeṯ-‘ă·wōn, H5375 + H5771). The same construction governs the high priest's golden plate in Exodus 28:38, where Aaron "shall bear the iniquity of the holy things," and the prophet's symbolic act in Ezekiel 4:4–6, where he is to "bear the iniquity" of Israel. K&D reads Leviticus 10:17 directly through Exodus 28:38: "as the high priest was to ... cancel ... the sin which adhered to the holy gifts of the nation, so here ... they were thereby to bear the sin of the congregation." Ellicott cites the same Exodus 28:38 parallel. The Verifier confirms the link is real but structural, not a rare-word quotation: Lev 10:17 and Ex 28:38 share ‘âvôn (iniquity, 215 vv), nâsâʼ (bear, 612 vv), qôdesh, and pânîym — a shared formula and motif, but built of common words. Gill and Poole press it forward typologically to "Christ, who was made sin" — a reading we record but, being a leap to a New Testament Greek text, tier separately below.
Leviticus 10:17 · Exodus 28:38 · Ezekiel 4:4-6 · Numbers 18:1
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes: H5771 ʻâvôn (215 vv), H5375 nâsâʼ (612 vv), H6944 qôdesh (382 vv), H6440 pânîym (1892 vv) for Lev 10:17 ↔ Ex 28:38. The link is the shared 'bear the iniquity' formula and motif — argued by K&D and Ellicott from Ex 28:38 — built of common (not rare) words, so tiered structural/thematic, not verbal.
The opening law — "Wine and strong drink do not drink ... when you go in to the Tent of Meeting" (v. 9) — is carried forward by nearly every voice to the New Testament's requirement for ministers. Matthew Henry: "It is required of gospel ministers, that they be not given to wine, 1 Tim 3:3." Benson: "it is required of the ministers of the gospel, that they be sober, not given to wine." The Pulpit Commentary even traces the Hebrew shêkâr ("strong drink," v. 9) into the Greek síkera of Luke 1:13, spoken over John the Baptist. Honestly held: the connection to 1 Timothy 3:3 and Titus 1:7 is doctrinal and pastoral, drawn by the commentators — but it crosses from a Hebrew text to a Greek one, and the Verifier confirms they share no original-language lexeme (Hebrew and Greek cannot share a Strong's number). It is a real and ancient application, argued by Henry and Benson, not a verbal quotation — and so it is flagged for the reader to weigh.
Leviticus 10:9 · 1 Timothy 3:3 · Titus 1:7 · Ezekiel 44:21
basis: Greek↔Hebrew: the Verifier reports no shared original-language lexeme between Lev 10:9 and 1 Tim 3:3 (Greek and Hebrew cannot share Strong's numbers). The minister-sobriety link is the doctrinal application drawn by Henry, Benson, and Pulpit — argued, not asserted. (The Lev 10:9 ↔ Ezek 44:21 tie, by contrast, is Hebrew↔Hebrew and shares H3196 yayin, H8354 shâthâh — structural/thematic.)
The exact prohibition laid on the priest entering the Tent — "yayin (wine) and shêkâr (strong drink) do not drink" (v. 9) — is the very pairing that defines the Nazirite's vow: "he shall abstain from wine (yayin) and strong drink (shêkâr) ... and shall drink no grape juice" (Num 6:3). The Verifier finds the two laws share the prohibition-cluster shêkâr (strong drink, rare at 20 verses), yayin, and shâthâh ("to drink"). The link is genuine but structural, not a quotation: the words are joined wherever Scripture marks a state of consecration, and the same Nazirite chapter closes with a wave offering of the breast (tᵉnûphâh, Num 6:20) that ties it again to vv. 14–15. Two complementary modes of holiness stand side by side — the priest separated by office, abstaining only "when you enter" (Ellicott's careful scope), and the Nazirite separated by a temporary vow, abstaining throughout. Both teach that nearness to the holy demands an unclouded mind. This thread is drawn by the machine layer from the shared lexemes; no commentator in our set names the Nazirite, so it is offered as a verbal-field observation for testing, tiered structural.
Leviticus 10:9 · Numbers 6:3 · Numbers 6:20
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes: H7941 shêkâr (in 20 vv), H3196 yayin (in 134 vv), H8354 shâthâh (in 193 vv) for Lev 10:9 ↔ Num 6:3 — the wine/strong-drink prohibition-cluster of consecration; Num 6:20 adds H8573 tᵉnûphâh, the wave-breast (cf. Lev 10:14). Both Hebrew↔Hebrew. shêkâr at 20 vv is uncommon, but yayin and shâthâh are common, so the shared motif of consecrated abstinence is structural/thematic, not a rare-word quotation.
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The center of this unit — the flesh of the sin offering given to the priests "to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement" (v. 17) — is read by the older voices as a shadow of Christ. John Gill draws it out from the Hebrew itself: the priests "eat the sin" (he notes the literal idiom, cf. Hos 4:8), so that "they made the sins of the people ... in some sense their own ... in which they were types of Christ, who was made sin for his people, took their sins upon him, and ... bore them in his own body on the tree." Matthew Poole agrees: the priests "expiate, bear, and take away their sins ... by which God through Christ is reconciled." The New Testament makes the substance explicit: "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" (2 Cor 5:21), and "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree" (1 Pet 2:24). The priest who incorporates the sin-laden flesh prefigures the Priest who is Himself the sin offering. Honestly held: this is a Hebrew-to-Greek typological reading, argued by Gill and Poole from the text — the Hebrew and Greek share no Strong's lexeme — but it is ancient and widely held.
Leviticus 10:17 · 2 Corinthians 5:21 · 1 Peter 2:24
The goat whose flesh should have been eaten but was instead burned (v. 16) raises the very question the priests' duty answered: who bears the sin? Jamieson, Fausset & Brown states the type plainly — the priests, "typically representing them and bearing their sins," were to eat the flesh after the blood was applied. Where the sin offering's blood was carried into the sanctuary, its flesh was burned outside the camp (Lev 6:30; Lev 4:21) — and the letter to the Hebrews seizes exactly this distinction: "the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place ... are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood" (Heb 13:11–12). The two roles Leviticus 10 keeps separate — the priest who bears the sin and the victim that is burned — converge in Christ, who is at once the Priest who bears and the Sacrifice that is consumed. Honestly held: the Hebrews link is Greek↔Hebrew, sharing no Strong's lexeme; it is the typological argument Hebrews itself makes, ancient and widely held, not a verbal quotation.
Leviticus 10:16 · Leviticus 10:18 · Hebrews 13:11-12
The priest's first commissioned task is to "make a separation between the holy and the common" (v. 10) and to teach Israel that distinction (v. 11). Charles Ellicott hears in the priests' failure the seedbed of Ezekiel's complaint, and the offices of discernment and teaching point beyond Aaron's clouded, mortal house. The New Testament names a High Priest who does not merely draw the line between holy and common but is the holiness that consecrates — "such a high priest truly meets our need: one who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners" (Heb 7:26), the One in whom "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col 2:3), so that the teaching office finds its end in Him who is the Teacher. Where Aaron must be warned to stay sober enough to tell holy from common, Christ is the unmixed Holy One who makes His people holy. Honestly held: this is a conceptual and typological reading across Testaments — no shared Hebrew/Greek lexeme — offered as a fitting fulfillment rather than a verbal quotation; widely held in the tradition, and named here for testing.
Leviticus 10:10 · Leviticus 10:11 · Hebrews 7:26 · Colossians 2:3
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
This unit (Lev 10:8–20) divides cleanly into three movements with three speakers: God to Aaron (vv. 8–11, the sobriety-and-discernment law), Moses to the priests (vv. 12–15, the rehearsal of dues), and the dispute over the burned goat (vv. 16–20, with Moses, then Aaron, then Moses again). The public-domain commentary stream reflects this. Matthew Henry supplies a single section-comment ("10:8–11") repeated verbatim across vv. 8–11, and another ("10:12–20") repeated across vv. 12–20; we quote it only where it bears, and prefer voices with verse-specific comment elsewhere. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown and Keil & Delitzsch likewise carry long blocks repeated across multiple verses (JFB's "16–20" note; K&D's full unit-block); each is excerpted at the clause it actually explains. Matthew Poole has "No text ... on this verse" at vv. 8 and 15; he is quoted only where he genuinely comments. Three honest disagreements are surfaced rather than smoothed: (1) Were Nadab and Abihu drunk? JFB calls the presumption favorable but "nothing more than conjecture"; K&D agrees "we can hardly infer" it; Ellicott reports the ancient opinion that they were — we name the division. (2) lā·śêṯ ‘ă·wōn (v. 17, "bear the iniquity") — Ellicott and the ancient versions (LXX, Chaldee, Syriac) render "take away / remove"; the Vulgate, K&D, Poole, and Gill render "bear upon oneself / take the sin into oneself"; Cambridge holds the eating's atoning value "not in itself" but as part of the whole ritual. We record all three. (3) The ground of Aaron's restraint (v. 19) — K&D insists on insufficient holiness, not grief; Ellicott and Poole emphasize the grief; we present both. Cross-reference honesty: the three confirmed verbal threads — the holy/common distinction (Ezek 22:26; 44:23; 42:20), the wave-breast/heave-thigh dues (Ex 29:27; Num 18:18; Lev 7:30), and the ordination wave (Lev 8:29; 9:21) — are all Hebrew↔Hebrew, grounded in rare shared Strong's lexemes computed by the Verifier: chôl (7 vv), châzeh (12 vv), shôwq (19 vv). The "bear the iniquity" thread (Ex 28:38; Ezek 4:4–6) shares a real formula and motif but is built of common words, so it is tiered structural, not verbal — following the Verifier, not over-claiming. The priest/Nazirite wine thread (Num 6:3, 20) is likewise Hebrew↔Hebrew and structural: it shares the consecration prohibition-cluster shêkâr (20 vv) / yayin / shâthâh, but since two of the three are common words it is not over-claimed as verbal; it is the one thread here drawn by the machine layer rather than by a named commentator, and is marked as such. The minister-sobriety thread (1 Tim 3:3; Titus 1:7) and all three Christ-readings (2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 13:11–12; Heb 7:26) are Greek↔Hebrew and therefore cannot share a Strong's number — they are flagged or labeled typological/doctrinal, argued by the named voices and by the New Testament texts themselves, never asserted as verbal quotation. Frequencies in the bases are the Verifier's whole-Bible counts, and they are what make the rarest links "confirmed."
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)