Numbers 21:17

17 Then Israel sang this song, The water of the well, ascend up; they sang together, (Then Israel sang this song, Go ye up, water of the well; yea, we sing to thee,)

Numbers 21:17 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 21:17

Then Israel sang this song
Being affected with the free favour and good will of God towards them:

spring up, O well;
for the springing up of which they prayed in faith, believing in the promise of God, that it would spring up; and so encouraged one another not only to believe it, but even to sing on account of it before it actually did:

sing ye unto it;
or on account of it praise the Lord for it; or "answer to it" ^F13, it being their manner to sing their songs by responses, or alternately.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (hl wne) "respondete ei", Montanus; "alternis canite ei", Tigurine version, Piscator.

Numbers 21:17 In-Context

15 the hard rocks of the strands were bowed down, that they shall rest in Ar, or abide there, and should lie in the coasts of Moabites. (and from the cliffs of the river, down to the city of Ar, that sitteth on the border of Moab.)

16 From that place (they went to where) the well appeared, of which the Lord spake to Moses, Gather thou together the people, and I shall give water to it. (From there they went to Beer, that is, The Well, of which the Lord spoke to Moses, and said, Gather thou the people together, and I shall give them water.)

17 Then Israel sang this song, The water of the well, ascend up; they sang together, (Then Israel sang this song, Go ye up, water of the well; yea, we sing to thee,)

18 The well which the princes digged, and the dukes of the multitude made ready, in the giver of the law, and in their staves (The well from the Giver of the Law, which the leaders dug, yea, which the leaders of the multitude brought forth with their staffs). And (then) they went forth from the wilderness to Mattanah,

19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel into Bamoth;