and the children of Israel said to them, “We wish that we had died by Yahweh’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    and the children of Israel said to them, “We wish that we had died by Yahweh’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

  • KJV King James Version

    And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    and the children of Israel said unto them: 'Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.'

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Cross-references (23)

Passages linked to Exodus 16:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Numbers 11:4-5 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;
  • Exodus 17:3 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?”
  • Numbers 20:3-5 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.”
  • Deuteronomy 28:67 In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see.
  • Lamentations 4:9 Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for lack of the fruits of the field.
  • Numbers 14:2 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!
  • Jeremiah 2:6 They didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no one passed through, and where no man lived?’
  • Exodus 2:23 In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
  • Joshua 7:7 Joshua said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? I wish that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan!
  • 1 Corinthians 4:8 You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you.
  • Exodus 5:21 They said to them, “May Yahweh look at you and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us!”
  • Numbers 11:15 If you treat me this way, please kill me right now, if I have found favor in your sight; and don’t let me see my wretchedness.”
  • Numbers 16:13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must also make yourself a prince over us?
  • 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!”
  • Deuteronomy 8:3 He humbled you, allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know, that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth.
  • 2 Samuel 18:33 The king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate, and wept. As he went, he said, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! I wish I had died for you, Absalom, my son, my son!”
  • Job 3:1 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.
  • Job 3:10 because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
  • Job 3:20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,
  • Jeremiah 20:14-18 Cursed is the day in which I was born. Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed. Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, “A boy is born to you,” making him very glad. Let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew, and didn’t repent. Let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime; because he didn’t kill me from the womb. So my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great. Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
  • Jonah 4:8-9 When the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.”
  • Acts 26:29 Paul said, “I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me today, might become such as I am, except for these bonds.”
  • 2 Corinthians 11:1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you do bear with me.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (15 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain So hard a thing is it to the flesh…

So hard a thing is it to the flesh not to murmur against God when the belly is pinched.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 16:3 And the children of Israel said unto…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain By the hand of the Lord; by any of…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the children of Israel said unto them,.... They…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain They so undervalue their deliverance, that they wish, they…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. The flesh pots] As the Hebrews were…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 16:3. Would to God we had died —…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain By the hand of the Lord - This evidently…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Over, greedily feasting on the most nutritive meats. (Haydock)
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Would to God we had died by the hand…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Would to God we had died by the…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. Would that, &c.] Cf. the similar wish, and…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) Would to God we had died.—Heb., Would that…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Would to God we had died by the hand…
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 16:3 all the bread we wanted: The Israelites had…

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