Numbers 11:17
That I may come down and speak with thee: and I will take of thy spirit, and will give to them, that they may bear with thee the burden of the people, and thou mayest not be burthened alone.
Open Numbers 11:17 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- ut descendam et loquar tibi : et auferam de spiritu tuo, tradamque eis, ut sustentent tecum onus populi, et non tu solus graveris.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ καταβήσομαι καὶ λαλήσω ἐκεῖ μετὰ σοῦ, καὶ ἀφελῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἐπὶ σοὶ καὶ ἐπιθήσω ἐπ᾽ αὐτούς· καὶ συναντιλήμψονται μετὰ σοῦ τὴν ὁρμὴν τοῦ λαοῦ, καὶ οὐκ οἴσεις αὐτοὺς σὺ μόνος.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְיָרַדְתִּ֗י וְדִבַּרְתִּ֣י עִמְּךָ֮ שָׁם֒ וְאָצַלְתִּ֗י מִן הָר֛וּחַ אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָלֶ֖יךָ וְשַׂמְתִּ֣י עֲלֵיהֶ֑ם וְנָשְׂא֤וּ אִתְּךָ֙ בְּמַשָּׂ֣א הָעָ֔ם וְלֹא תִשָּׂ֥א אַתָּ֖ה לְבַדֶּֽךָ
Haydock's commentary
Thy spirit. St. Augustine (q. 18,) reads "of the spirit which is on thee;" (Septuagint) referring it to the indivisible spirit of God, so that these ancients received what was sufficient for them, while Moses suffered no diminution. Thus one lamp communicates light to another, without being impaired. (Origen, hom. vi.) Theodoret (q. 18,) also adds, that a person confers baptism on thousands, and yet loses no part of the grace himself. Selden (Syn. ii. 4,) shews that the Jews explain this spirit of a certain emanation of divine light, or inspiration, which causes the prophets to speak. They have not in general, a distinct belief of the blessed Trinity. "I will make an increase of the spirit, which is upon thee, and will place it upon them." (Chaldean; ver. 25.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine On the Holy Trinity, The Father and the Son the Only Beginning (Principium) of the Holy Spirit
15. But in their mutual relation to one another in the Trinity itself, if the begetter is a beginning in relation to that which he begets, the Father is a beginning in relation to the Son, because He begets Him; but whether the Father is also a beginning in relation to the Holy Spirit, since it is said, “He proceeds from the Father,” is no small question. Because, if it is so, He will not only be a beginning to that thing which He begets or makes, but also to that which He gives. And here, too, that question comes to light, as it can, which is wont to trouble many, Why the Holy Spirit is not also a son, since He, too, comes forth from the Father, as it is read in the Gospel. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm LXXVIII
10. “And they forgat His benefits, and the wonderful works of Him which He showed to them; before their fathers the wonderful things which He did” ( ver. 11 ). What this is, is not a question to be negligently passed over. Concerning those very fathers he was speaking a little before, that they had been a generation crooked and embittering.…What fathers, inasmuch as these are the very fathers, whom he would not have posterity to be like? If we shall take them to be those out of whom the others had derived their being, for example, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, by this time they had long since fallen asleep, when God showed wonderful things in Egypt. For there followeth, “in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Thanis” ( ver. 12 ): where it is said that God showed to them wonderful things before their fathers. …
Aphrahat Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations, Of Monks
12. Again I will remind thee, my beloved, also of that which is written. For thus it is written, that when it was a grievous burden to Moses to lead the camp alone, the Lord said to him: Lo! will take away of the Spirit that is upon thee, and will put it upon seventy men, elders of Israel . But when He took away some of the Spirit of Moses, and the seventy men were filled with it, Moses nothing lacked, nor could it be known that anything was taken away from his Spirit. Moreover the blessed apostle also said: God divided of the Spirit of Christ and sent it into the Prophets . And Christ was in nothing injured, for it was not by measure that His Father gave unto Him the Spirit . By this reflection thou canst comprehend that Christ dwells in faithful men; yet Christ suffers no loss though He is divided among many. …