Genesis 17:3

17:3 Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, ¹  and God said to him, ² 

Numbers 14:5

14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground ³  before the whole assembled community ⁴  of the Israelites.

Numbers 16:22

16:22 Then they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground ⁵  and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all people, ⁶  will you be angry with the whole community when only one man sins?” ⁷ 

Numbers 16:1

The Rebellion of Korah

16:1 ⁸ Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites, ⁹  took men ¹⁰ 

Numbers 18:1-2

Responsibilities of the Priests

18:1 ¹¹ The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe ¹²  with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, ¹³  and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

18:2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join ¹⁴  with you and minister to you while ¹⁵  you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

Numbers 7:3

7:3 They brought ¹⁶  their offering before the Lord, six covered carts ¹⁷  and twelve oxen – one cart for every two of the leaders, and an ox for each one; and they presented them in front of the tabernacle.

Ezra 3:11

3:11 With antiphonal response they sang, ¹⁸  praising and glorifying the Lord:

“For he is good;

his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”

All the people gave a loud ¹⁹  shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established.

Matthew 26:39

26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, ²⁰  “My Father, if possible, ²¹  let this cup ²²  pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Revelation 4:9

4:9 And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, ²³  and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,

Revelation 5:8

5:8 and when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders threw themselves to the ground ²⁴  before the Lamb. Each ²⁵  of them had a harp and golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints). ²⁶ 

Revelation 7:11

7:11 And all the angels stood ²⁷  there in a circle around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground ²⁸  before the throne and worshiped God,

[17:3]  ¹ tn Heb “And Abram fell on his face.” This expression probably means that Abram sank to his knees and put his forehead to the ground, although it is possible that he completely prostrated himself. In either case the posture indicates humility and reverence.

[17:3]  ² tn Heb “God spoke to him, saying.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:5]  ³ sn This action of Moses and Aaron is typical of them in the wilderness with the Israelites. The act shows self-abasement and deference before the sovereign Lord. They are not bowing before the people here, but in front of the people they bow before God. According to Num 17:6-15 this prostration is for the purpose of intercessory prayer. Here it prevents immediate wrath from God.

[14:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “before all the assembly of the congregation.”

[16:22]  ⁵ sn It is Moses and Aaron who prostrate themselves; they have the good of the people at heart.

[16:22]  ⁶ tn The expression “the God of the spirits of all humanity [flesh]” is somewhat difficult. The Hebrew text says אֱלֹהֵי הָרוּחֹת לְכָל־בָּשָׂר (’elohey harukhot lÿkhol-basar). This expression occurs in Num 27:16 again. It also occurs in some postbiblical texts, a fact which has prompted some scholars to conclude that it is a late addition. The words clearly show that Moses is interceding for the congregation. The appeal in the verse is that it is better for one man to die for the whole nation than the whole nation for one man (see also John 11:50).

[16:22]  ⁷ tn The verb is the Qal imperfect יֶחֱטָא (yekheta’); it refers to the sinful rebellion of Korah, but Moses is stating something of a principle: “One man sins, and will you be angry….” A past tense translation would assume that this is a preterite use of the imperfect (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[16:1]  ⁸ sn There are three main movements in the story of ch. 16. The first is the rebellion itself (vv. 1-19). The second is the judgment (vv. 20-35). Third is the atonement for the rebels (vv. 36-50). The whole chapter is a marvelous account of a massive rebellion against the leaders that concludes with reconciliation. For further study see G. Hort, “The Death of Qorah,” ABR 7 (1959): 2-26; and J. Liver, “Korah, Dathan and Abiram,” Studies in the Bible (ScrHier 8), 189-217.

[16:1]  ⁹ tc The MT reading is plural (“the sons of Reuben”); the Smr and LXX have the singular (“the son of Reuben”).

[16:1]  ¹⁰ tn In the Hebrew text there is no object for the verb “took.” The translation presented above supplies the word “men.” However, it is possible that the MT has suffered damage here. The LXX has “and he spoke.” The Syriac and Targum have “and he was divided.” The editor of BHS suggests that perhaps the MT should be emended to “and he arose.”

[18:1]  ¹¹ sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32).

[18:1]  ¹² tn Heb “your father’s house.”

[18:1]  ¹³ sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary.

[18:2]  ¹⁴ sn The verb forms a wordplay on the name Levi, and makes an allusion to the naming of the tribe Levi by Leah in the book of Genesis. There Leah hoped that with the birth of Levi her husband would be attached to her. Here, with the selection of the tribe to serve in the sanctuary, there is the wordplay again showing that the Levites will be attached to Aaron and the priests. The verb is יִלָּווּ (yillavu), which forms a nice wordplay with Levi (לֵוִי). The tribe will now be attached to the sanctuary. The verb is the imperfect with a vav (ו) that shows volitive sequence after the imperative, here indicating a purpose clause.

[18:2]  ¹⁵ tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause.

[7:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and they brought.”

[7:3]  ¹⁷ sn For a discussion and drawings, see W. S. McCullough, IDB 1:540. But see also D. J. Wiseman, IBD 1:254.

[3:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they answered.”

[3:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “great.”

[26:39]  ²⁰ tn Grk “ground, praying and saying.” Here the participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[26:39]  ²¹ tn Grk “if it is possible.”

[26:39]  ²² sn This cup alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience (in the form of suffering and death) for us. See Ps 11:6; 75:8-9; Isa 51:17, 19, 22 for this figure.

[4:9]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[5:8]  ²⁴ tn Grk “fell down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[5:8]  ²⁵ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[5:8]  ²⁶ sn This interpretive comment by the author forms a parenthesis in the narrative.

[7:11]  ²⁷ tn The verb is pluperfect, but the force is simple past. See ExSyn 586.

[7:11]  ²⁸ tn Grk “they fell down on their faces.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”