Numbers 11:29
But he said: Why hast thou emulation for me? O that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give them his spirit!
Open Numbers 11:29 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →In the palace
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- At ille : Quid, inquit æmularis pro me ? quis tribuat ut omnis populus prophetet, et det eis Dominus spiritum suum ?
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Μωυσῆς Μὴ ζηλοῖς σὺ ἐμέ; καὶ τίς δῴη πάντα τὸν λαὸν Κυρίου προφήτας, ὅταν δῷ Κύριος τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ ἐπ᾽ αὐτούς;
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֤אמֶר לוֹ֙ מֹשֶׁ֔ה הַֽמְקַנֵּ֥א אַתָּ֖ה לִ֑י וּמִ֨י יִתֵּ֜ן כָּל עַ֤ם יְהוָה֙ נְבִיאִ֔ים כִּי יִתֵּ֧ן יְהוָ֛ה אֶת רוּח֖וֹ עֲלֵיהֶֽם
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, 1 Timothy 1:12-14
None of us would fail to relieve a friend who was hungering, but when Christ comes to us from day to day, and asks no great matter, but only bread, we do not even regard him, yea though we are nauseously over full, and swollen with gluttony: though our breath betrays the wine of yesterday, and we live in luxury, and waste our substance on harlots and parasites and flatterers, and even on monsters, idiots, and dwarfs; for men convert the natural defects of such into matter for amusement. Again, friends, that are truly such, we do not envy, nor are mortified at their success, yet we feel this toward (the minister of) Christ, and our friendship for men is seen to be more powerful than the fear of God, for the envious and the insincere plainly respect men more than God. …
St Cyril of Jerusalem On the Article, And in One Holy Ghost, the Comforter, Which Spake in the Prophets
26. Jesus the Son of Nun, the successor of Moses, was amazed; and came to him and said, “Hast thou heard that Eldad and Modad are prophesying? They were called, and they came not; my lord Moses, forbid them .” “I cannot forbid them,” he says, “for this grace is from Heaven; nay, so far am I from forbidding them, that I myself am thankful for it. I think not, however, that thou hast said this in envy; art thou jealous for my sake , because that they prophesy, and thou prophesiest not yet? Wait for the proper season; and oh that all the Lord’s people may be prophets, whenever the Lord shall give His Spirit upon them !” saying this also prophetically, whenever the Lord shall give ; “For as yet then He has not given it; so thou hast it not yet.”, Had not then Abraham this, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph? And they of old, had they it not? Nay, but the words, “ whenever the Lord shall give ” …
St Gregory Nazianzen In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office
8. I was influenced besides by another feeling, whether base or noble I do not know, but I will speak out to you all my secrets. I was ashamed of all those others, who, without being better than ordinary people, nay, it is a great thing if they be not worse, with unwashen hands, as the saying runs, and uninitiated souls, intrude into the most sacred offices; and, before becoming worthy to approach the temples, they lay claim to the sanctuary, and they push and thrust around the holy table, as if they thought this order to be a means of livelihood, instead of a pattern of virtue, or an absolute authority, instead of a ministry of which we must give account. …