Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Numbers 9:14 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 14. 14And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Numbers 9:14 within “A Delayed Passover Makes Room for Impurity and Distance,” states this ritual-status case, procedure, risk, or route of restoration; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover to the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.
Read It With
- Numbers 9:6–14
Read Numbers 9:14 with 9:6–14. It within “A Delayed Passover Makes Room for Impurity and Distance,” states this ritual-status case, procedure, risk, or route of restoration; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover to the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land. The complete unit establishes this contextual meaning: Men blocked by corpse impurity ask why they should be excluded; Moses waits for instruction, and the LORD provides a second-month Passover for impurity or distant travel while maintaining accountability for an eligible person who refuses.
Why This Verse Appears Here
A Delayed Passover Makes Room for Impurity and Distance advances Numbers from Sinai's ordered camp through wilderness failure and generational death toward Moab, succession, and land-facing law. Its particular movement is this: Men blocked by corpse impurity ask why they should be excluded; Moses waits for instruction, and the LORD provides a second-month Passover for impurity or distant travel while maintaining accountability for an eligible person who refuses. At 9:14, the verse within “A Delayed Passover Makes Room for Impurity and Distance,” states this ritual-status case, procedure, risk, or route of restoration; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover to the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.
Follow the Context
- Affected men bring a concrete exclusion question to Moses.
- A new rule preserves participation through delayed observance and includes the resident outsider.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Passover / unclean”
In plain language: The delayed Passover case holds commanded time together with a route for people blocked by corpse impurity or distance.
The delayed Passover case holds commanded time together with a route for people blocked by corpse impurity or distance. Within Numbers 9:6–14, it helps interpret this verse's role: within “A Delayed Passover Makes Room for Impurity and Distance,” states this ritual-status case, procedure, risk, or route of restoration; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover to the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.
Why it matters: Interpreters debate ritual logic, compositional history, actual practice, gendered power, symbolic meaning, medical analogies, and later reception. No source permits a modern diagnosis or a claim that the vulnerable person deserved exclusion. For “A Delayed Passover Makes Room for Impurity and Distance,” confidence is strongest in the received unit's stated sequence and literary function; source, date, demography, geography, mechanism, archaeology, and historical reconstruction remain probable, plausible, or uncertain as the evidence warrants.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Accommodation does not shame bodily status, excuse arbitrary exclusion, or require a vulnerable person to disclose private health details beyond necessity.
What Remains True
Because Numbers 9:14 within “A Delayed Passover Makes Room for Impurity and Distance,” states this ritual-status case, procedure, risk, or route of restoration; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover to the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land, its proportionate enduring truth is this: Communities must distinguish ritual language, medical evidence, moral responsibility, privacy, consent, and equal dignity instead of turning bodily difference into blame. This unit also keeps the following boundary explicit: Accommodation does not shame bodily status, excuse arbitrary exclusion, or require a vulnerable person to disclose private health details beyond necessity.
How It Can Shape Life
- Verse role: Numbers 9:14 within “A Delayed Passover Makes Room for Impurity and Distance,” states this ritual-status case, procedure, risk, or route of restoration; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover to the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land. Contextual meaning: Men blocked by corpse impurity ask why they should be excluded; Moses waits for instruction, and the LORD provides a second-month Passover for impurity or distant travel while maintaining accountability for an eligible person who refuses. Proportionate enduring truth: Communities must distinguish ritual language, medical evidence, moral responsibility, privacy, consent, and equal dignity instead of turning bodily difference into blame. This unit also keeps the following boundary explicit: Accommodation does not shame bodily status, excuse arbitrary exclusion, or require a vulnerable person to disclose private health details beyond necessity. Application: Use precise nonstigmatizing language, qualified medical care, consent-based safeguards, time-bounded restrictions when genuinely necessary, and independent protection for anyone subject to another person's accusation. For “A Delayed Passover Makes Room for Impurity and Distance,” begin with the actors, power differences, and consequences named in this exact unit rather than borrowing a slogan from a neighboring verse.
Teach It Back
Explain why Numbers 9:14 within “A Delayed Passover Makes Room for Impurity and Distance,” states this ritual-status case, procedure, risk, or route of restoration; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover to the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land. Use 9:6–14, state one Hebrew, textual, legal, historical, or compositional limit, identify one person or group at risk, and reject one conclusion the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Numbers 9:6–14 — A Delayed Passover Makes Room for Impurity and DistanceSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Numbers 9:14 remains within this thought-unit limit: Interpreters debate ritual logic, compositional history, actual practice, gendered power, symbolic meaning, medical analogies, and later reception. No source permits a modern diagnosis or a claim that the vulnerable person deserved exclusion. For “A Delayed Passover Makes Room for Impurity and Distance,” confidence is strongest in the received unit's stated sequence and literary function; source, date, demography, geography, mechanism, archaeology, and historical reconstruction remain probable, plausible, or uncertain as the evidence warrants.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Numbers 9:6–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Numbers
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, release 2.2, 2021
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, numbers, speeches, poems, legal clauses, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Num.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 9:6–14
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Numbers with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, source files dated 2026-08-08
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, ritual, legal, number, name, poetic, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Numbers PDF, complete 134-page PDF, translation and translator notes attached to 9:6–14
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Numbers Part 1
Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Final-form movement, wilderness setting, census and camp, complaint, leadership, composition, and ethical framing.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Numbers Part 1, complete study guide sections “Introduction,” “At Sinai (1:1–10:10),” “From Sinai to Moab (10:11–22:1),” and “Composition,” applied to Numbers 9:6–14
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open literary study
The Message of the Non-Chronological Opening of Numbers
TheTorah.com named scholarly contributor
TheTorah.com, 2017
Supports: Nonchronological placement of Numbers 1 and 9, sanctuary-centered opening, and source-critical alternatives.
Exact location: TheTorah, “The Message of the Non-Chronological Opening of Numbers,” complete sections “Tabernacle Chronology,” “Why Doesn't Numbers Begin with Passover?,” and proposed source-order discussion, applied to Numbers 9:6–14
Open source ↗