The people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
Parallel Translations
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The people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
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And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
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And the people murmured against Moses, saying: 'What shall we drink?'
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Exodus 15:24 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 16:2 The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness;
- Exodus 14:11 They said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you treated us this way, to bring us out of Egypt?
- Numbers 20:2-5 There was no water for the congregation; and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. The people quarreled with Moses, and spoke, saying, “We wish that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh! Why have you brought Yahweh’s assembly into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our animals? Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.”
- Numbers 14:1-4 All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness! Why does Yahweh bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?” They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.”
- Psalms 78:19-20 Yes, they spoke against God. They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out, and streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide meat for his people?”
- Exodus 17:3-4 The people were thirsty for water there; so the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?” Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
- Numbers 11:1-6 The people were complaining in the ears of Yahweh. When Yahweh heard it, his anger burned; and Yahweh’s fire burned among them, and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. The people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire abated. The name of that place was called Taberah, because Yahweh’s fire burned among them. The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly; and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; but now we have lost our appetite. There is nothing at all except this manna to look at.”
- Exodus 16:8-9 Moses said, “Now Yahweh will give you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to satisfy you, because Yahweh hears your murmurings which you murmur against him. And who are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against Yahweh.” Moses said to Aaron, “Tell all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come close to Yahweh, for he has heard your murmurings.’ ”
- Numbers 16:11 Therefore you and all your company have gathered together against Yahweh! What is Aaron that you complain against him?”
- Numbers 16:41 But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed Yahweh’s people!”
- Numbers 17:10 Yahweh said to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion; that you may make an end of their complaining against me, that they not die.”
- Numbers 21:5 The people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, there is no water, and our soul loathes this disgusting food!”
- Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
- 1 Corinthians 10:10 Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.
- Philippians 2:14 Do all things without complaining and arguing,
- Jude 1:16 These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts—and their mouth speaks proud things—showing respect of persons to gain advantage.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 15:24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying,…
Exo 15:24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
Ver. 24. Murmured against Moses.] He must bear the blame of all. Public persons are sure to have an ill life of it. Qui vitaverit culpam, non effugit infamiam. {a}
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{a} Seneca.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And he cried unto the Lord,.... Or prayed, as…
And he cried unto the Lord,.... Or prayed, as all the Targums, that God would appear for them, and relieve them in their distress, or, humanly speaking, they must all perish: happy it is to have a God to go to in time of trouble, whose hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that he cannot hear! Moses knew the power of God, and trusted in his faithfulness to make good the promises to him, and the people, that he would bring them to the land he had swore to give them:
and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet; what this tree was is not known; if it was in its own nature sweet, as the author of Ecclesiasticus seems to intimate, when he says, in chapter 38:5 "was not the water made sweet with the wood, that its virtue might be known?" Yet a single tree could never of itself sweeten a flow of water, and such a quantity as was sufficient for so large a number of men and cattle; and therefore, be it what it will, it must be owing to a miraculous operation that the waters were made sweet by it: but the Hebrew writers say the tree was bitter itself, and therefore the miracle was the greater: Gorionides (l) says it was wormwood; and both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the bitter tree, Ardiphne, which Cohen de Lara (m) makes to be the same which botanists call Rhododaphne or rose laurel, and which, he says, bears flowers like lilies, which are exceeding bitter, and are poison to cattle; and so says Baal Aruch (n); and much the same has Elias Levita (o): and this agrees well enough with the mystical and spiritual application that may be made of this; whether these bitter waters are considered as an emblem of the bitter curses of the law, for that bitter thing sin, which makes work for bitter repentance; and for which the law writes bitter things against the sinner, which, if not prevented, would issue in the bitterness of death; so that a sensible sinner can have nothing to do with it, nor can it yield him any peace or comfort: but Christ, the tree of life, being made under the law, and immersed in sufferings, the penalty of it, and made a curse, the law is fulfilled, the curse and wrath of God removed, the sinner can look upon it with pleasure and obey it with delight: or whether these may be thought to represent the afflictions of God's people, comparable to water for their multitude, and for their overflowing and overwhelming nature, and to bitter ones, being grievous to the flesh; especially when God hides his face and they are thought to be in wrath: but these are sweetened through the presence of Christ, the shedding abroad of his love in the heart, the gracious promises he makes and applies, and especially through his bitter sufferings and death, and the fruits and effects thereof, which support, refresh, and cheer, see Heb 12:2,
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there he made a statute and an ordinance: not that he gave them at this time any particular law or precept, whether moral or ceremonial, such as the laws of keeping the sabbath and honouring of parents, which the Targum of Jonathan mentions (p); and to which Jarchi adds that concerning the red heifer: but he gave them a general instruction and order concerning their future behaviour; that if they hearkened to his commandments, and yielded obedience to them, it would be well with them, if not they must expect to be chastised and afflicted by him, as is observed in the following verse, to which this refers:
and there he proved them; the people of Israel; by these waters being first bitter and then sweetened, whereby he gave them a proof and specimen how it would be with them hereafter; that if they behaved ill they must expect the bitter waters of affliction, but, if otherwise, pleasant and good things: or, "there he proved him" (q); Moses, his obedience and faith, by ordering him to cast in the tree he showed him; but the former sense seems best to agree with what follows.
(l) Heb. Hist l. 6. c. 38. p. 742. (m) Ir. David, p. 21. (n) Fol. 51. 3. (o) In Methurgeman, fol. 9. 2. (p) So T. Bab. Sanhedrin. fol. 56. 2. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 5. p. 17. (q) "tentavit eum", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, V. L. Tigurine version; "prebavit eum", Vatablus; "tentavit ipsum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 24. The people murmured] They were in a…
Verse 24. The people murmured] They were in a state of great mental degradation, owing to their long and oppressive vassalage, and had no firmness of character. See Clarke on Ex 13:17.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 24. Murmured against Moses — Burckhardt says that nothing…
24. Murmured against Moses — Burckhardt says that nothing is more common than to hear such complaints from Egyptian peasants and servants who travel in the Arabian deserts. Like the Israelites, they everywhere mourn for the sweet water of their native land. These murmurings were unbelieving and ungrateful, especially as poured out upon Moses, their deliverer; but in judging their sin we are to remember the magnitude of their trial. Nothing would be more quickly or more keenly felt by such a mingled host in the heat and glare of the desert than a lack of water, especially by a people who had always had an abundance of the most drinkable water in the world.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 24. murmured] as Exo_16:2; Exo_16:7-8, Exo_17:3, Num_14:2; Num_14:27; Num_14:29;…
24. murmured] as Exo_16:2; Exo_16:7-8, Exo_17:3, Num_14:2; Num_14:27; Num_14:29; Num_14:36; Num_16:11; Num_16:41; Num_17:5, Jos_9:18†. Cf. ‘murmurings,’ Exo_16:7-9; Exo_16:12, Num_14:27; Num_17:5; Num_17:10†.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And the people murmured against Moses. As they had…
And the people murmured against Moses. As they had already done on the western shores of the Red Sea, (Exo_14:11, Exo_14:12) and as they were about to do so often before their wanderings were over. (See below, Exo_16:2 Exo_17:3; Num_14:2 Num_16:41; Deu_1:27, etc.) "Murmuring" was the common mode in which they vented their spleen, when anything went ill with them; and as Moses had persuaded them to quit Egypt, the murmuring was chiefly against him. The men who serve a nation best are during their lifetime least appreciated. What shall we drink? Few disappointments are harder to bear than that of the man, who after long hours of thirst thinks that he has obtained wherewith to quench his intolerable longing, and on raising the cup to his lips, finds the draught so nauseous that he cannot swallow it. Very unpalatable water is swallowed when the thirst is great (Eothen, p. 197). But there is a limit beyond which nature will not go. There "may be water, water everywhere, yet not a drop to drink."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 complained to Moses and said
complained to Moses and said
"were unhappy and told Moses" or "angrily told Moses"
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the voice of Yahweh your God
Yahweh is speaking about his own voice. His voice represents what he says. AT: "my voice" or "what I say" (See: First, Second, or Third Person and Metonymy)
do what is right in his eyes
The eyes represent seeing, and seeing represents thoughts or judgment. AT: "do what Yahweh considers to be right"(See: Metaphor)
I will put on you none of the diseases
God speaks of causing people to have diseases as putting diseases on them. AT: "I will not cause any of you to have the diseases" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
law, laws
test
voice
God
command
obey
Egypt
cure
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 15:24 Instead of reflecting on the lessons of faith…
15:24 Instead of reflecting on the lessons of faith so recently experienced, the people lost heart and began to complain, as we often do under adverse circumstances. If this complaining becomes a pattern, disaster can befall us in the ultimate test, as it did the Israelites (see Num 14; Ps 95:7-11; Heb 3:7-11).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.