Numbers 12 12

Numbers 12:12 kjv

Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb.

Numbers 12:12 nkjv

Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb!"

Numbers 12:12 niv

Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away."

Numbers 12:12 esv

Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother's womb."

Numbers 12:12 nlt

Don't let her be like a stillborn baby, already decayed at birth."

Numbers 12 verses

Numbers 12 12 Meaning

Aaron's desperate plea expresses the horrific extent of Miriam's condition, describing her state as being akin to a stillborn infant or a child born with half its flesh already consumed. This vivid, ghastly imagery portrays tzara'at (often translated as leprosy) not merely as a severe skin disease, but as a "living death"—a state of utter helplessness, decay, defilement, and being cut off from life and community, signifying a severe divine judgment.

Numbers 12 12 Context

Numbers chapter 12 details the rebellion of Miriam and Aaron against Moses, challenging his authority and his Cushite wife. God's response is swift and decisive. He intervenes directly, defending Moses' unique relationship with Him, and immediately strikes Miriam with tzara'at (often translated as leprosy), a visible and physically devastating manifestation of divine displeasure and judgment. This condition renders her ritually unclean and necessitates her expulsion from the Israelite camp. Numbers 12:12 contains Aaron's plea to Moses on behalf of their sister Miriam. His use of this gruesome metaphor underscores the extreme horror and pity he feels for Miriam's state, acknowledging its severity as a living death inflicted by God and appealing for mercy. It shifts the tone from defiance to utter desperation and supplication.

Numbers 12 12 Word analysis

• "Let her not be": (Hebrew: אל־נא תהי, al-na tehi). "Al-na" is a strong negative combined with a plea ("please do not"), indicating an earnest and desperate supplication. "Tehi" is the jussive form of the verb "to be," functioning as a negative imperative or wish. This signifies Aaron's immediate recognition of the severity of God's judgment and his urgent prayer to avert Miriam's total ruin. It implies a condition to be averted at all costs.
• "as one dead": (Hebrew: כַּמֵּת, ka-met). "Ka-" is a comparative prefix ("as" or "like"). "Met" means "dead" or "corpse." This comparison immediately equates Miriam's leprous state to death itself. In ancient Israelite understanding, tzara'at made a person ritually and socially "as dead," alienated from God's presence in the tabernacle and from the community. It represents a state of being ostracized and physically deteriorating.
• "whose flesh": (Hebrew: בְשָׂרוֹ, b'saro). Literally "his flesh," but used impersonally or generally here to refer to the affected person's physical body. It points to the visible and decaying aspect of the disease.
• "is half consumed": (Hebrew: יֵאָכֵל חֵצִי, ye'achel chetzi). "Ye'achel" means "it is eaten/consumed," deriving from the verb "to eat." "Chetzi" means "half." This graphically depicts rapid, destructive decay, as if something is gnawing away at the body. The image is one of severe necrosis or rot.
• "when he comes out": (Hebrew: בְּצֵאתוֹ, b'tseto). Literally "in his going forth" or "at his coming out," from the verb yatza (to go out). This sets the timing of the decay at the very moment of birth.
• "of his mother's womb": (Hebrew: מֵרֶחֶם אִמּוֹ, me-rechem immo). "From the womb of his mother." The womb is a symbol of life, genesis, and vulnerability. To be consumed from the womb is the ultimate contradiction of life, portraying a congenital, unavoidable, and utterly hopeless condition from the very beginning of existence. It paints a picture of being beyond natural remedy.

Words-group analysis:

• "Let her not be as one dead": This opening phrase captures Aaron's desperate plea to Moses, acknowledging the full severity of Miriam's state, likening it to a total separation from the living and active.
• "whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb": This vivid, macabre simile amplifies the horror. It describes not just physical disease, but a state of intrinsic corruption and decay present from the very point of existence, representing extreme helplessness and a condition that offers no hope of natural recovery. It underscores the overwhelming sense of pity and alarm, for it suggests an unviable life, dead at the threshold of birth. This shocking imagery portrays a curse of fundamental spiritual decay, impossible to overcome without divine intervention.

Numbers 12 12 Bonus section

The specific comparison to a child stillborn or decaying from the womb is intensely visceral and serves several profound purposes:

• Pity and Arousal of Compassion: Aaron intentionally uses the most heartbreaking image possible to appeal to Moses’ mercy. No fate is more tragic or pitiful than a life that never truly began or is corrupted at its very start.
• Total Helplessness: An infant in the womb or at birth is utterly dependent. The image emphasizes Miriam's total helplessness and her absolute need for a deliverer outside herself, mirroring humanity’s utter inability to save itself from sin.
• Origin of Defilement: While Miriam's leprosy was a consequence of a specific sin, the imagery of "from the womb" symbolically touches on the inherent human condition of spiritual decay and defilement, the state of original sin from birth (Ps 51:5). This resonates with the biblical truth that apart from divine intervention, humanity is "dead in trespasses and sins" from conception.
• Symbolic of Sin's Ugliness: Just as tzara'at disfigures the flesh, sin disfigures the soul. The graphic description serves as a stark warning about the disfiguring, life-draining nature of rebellion against God, making one abhorrent in His sight, cut off from life, similar to how leprosy isolated its victim from the community.

Numbers 12 12 Commentary

Numbers 12:12 encapsulates Aaron's profound horror and desperation as he witnesses the immediate, devastating judgment of God upon his sister, Miriam. His cry is an urgent, pleading request to Moses to intercede, framing Miriam's state with a deeply disturbing metaphor. By comparing her to a stillborn or congenitally decayed infant, Aaron paints a picture of a condition so dire that it suggests complete and irreparable destruction from her very origin, akin to spiritual death. This underscores the Old Testament understanding of tzara'at not just as a medical ailment, but as a visible sign of profound uncleanness and divine displeasure, demanding separation from God's holy community. Aaron’s plea serves to elicit the deepest pity and highlights the immediate impact of challenging God's anointed, portraying the full, horrifying consequences of spiritual rebellion and defilement. It powerfully emphasizes Miriam's utter helplessness, showing that her fate lies entirely in the hands of God and Moses’ intercession, for human remedies are utterly insufficient for such a condition.