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!
Parallel Translations
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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!
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And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
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And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole congregation said unto them: 'Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would we had died in this wilderness!
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Numbers 14:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 15:24 The people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
- 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 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!”
- Exodus 16:2-3 The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness; 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.”
- Numbers 14:27-29 “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me. Tell them, ‘As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,
- 1 Corinthians 10:10 Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.
- Philippians 2:14-15 Do all things without complaining and arguing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
- 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.
- Numbers 11:1 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.
- 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.”
- Deuteronomy 1:27 You murmured in your tents, and said, “Because Yahweh hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.
- Psalms 106:24 Yes, they despised the pleasant land. They didn’t believe his word,
- Jonah 4:3 Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”
- Jonah 4:8 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.”
- 1 Kings 19:4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O Yahweh, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”
- Job 3:11 “Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
- Job 7:15-16 so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones. I loathe my life. I don’t want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
- Psalms 106:45 He remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 14:2 And all the children of Israel murmured…
Num 14:2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
Ver. 2. Would God that we had died.] Words of deep discontent, despair, and unthanklulness.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Against Moses and against Aaron, as the instruments and…
Against Moses and against Aaron, as the instruments and occasions of their present calamity.
That we had died in the wilderness: it was not long before they had their desire, and did die in the wilderness.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses,…
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses, and against Aaron,.... They being the instruments of bringing them out of Egypt, and conducting them hither:
and the whole congregation said unto them; some of them, the rest assenting to it by their cries and tears and gestures:
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would God we had died in the land of Egypt; and then what they left behind they thought might have come into the hands of their children or relations; but now they concluded it would become a prey to the Canaanites:
or would God we had died in this wilderness; the wilderness of Paran, at Taberah, where many of them had been destroyed by fire, Num 11:1, and now they wish they had perished with them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Against Moses and Aaron - As the instruments and…
Against Moses and Aaron - As the instruments and occasions of their present calamity. That we had died in this wilderness - It was not long before they had their desire, and did die in the wilderness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 14:2-3. Against Moses and Aaron — As the…
Num 14:2-3. Against Moses and Aaron — As the instruments and causes of their present calamity. That we had died in the wilderness — It was not long till they had their desire, and did die in the wilderness. Wherefore hath the Lord brought us, &c. — From instruments they rise higher, and not only vent their passion against his servants, but strike at God himself, as the cause and author of their journey most impiously accusing him as if he had dealt deceitfully with them. By this we see the rapid and prodigious growth and progress of sin when it is not resisted. A prey — To the Canaanites, whose land we were made to believe we should possess.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Would God that we had died in Egypt--Such insolence…
Would God that we had died in Egypt--Such insolence to their generous leaders, and such base ingratitude to God, show the deep degradation of the Israelites, and the absolute necessity of the decree that debarred that generation from entering the promised land [Num 14:29-35]. They were punished by their wishes being granted to die in that wilderness [Heb 3:17; Jde 1:5]. A leader to reconduct them to Egypt is spoken of (Neh 9:17) as actually nominated. The sinfulness and insane folly of their conduct are almost incredible. Their conduct, however, is paralleled by too many among us, who shrink from the smallest difficulties and rather remain slaves to sin than resolutely try to surmount the obstacles that lie in their way to the Canaan above.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Murmured against Moses and… Aaron — They begin…
2. Murmured against Moses and… Aaron — They begin with God’s ministers, not having become so hardened as to murmur against God himself. He seems to have been absent from their thoughts both as the object of trust and as their providential guide in the wilderness. They have fallen from a supernatural to a merely natural view of their condition. Hence they childishly vent their indignation against their human leaders.
The whole congregation — This must be understood, as it is in all languages, in a conventional sense, as we are said to utter our opinions in the face of the whole world, or begin our deeds of lands with the words, “Know all men by these presents.” See Exo_9:6, note.
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Would God — The word God is not in the Hebrew. This is the strongest English formula for an unattainable wish, and expresses the strength of the peoples’ desire.
Died in… Egypt — They who prefer death in bondage to life in freedom are not the brave people whom Jehovah can lead to the conquest of Canaan. This wish to return to the groanings, burdens, tasks, and insults of the brick-yards of Egypt, from which a pitying Jehovah had led them forth, was indicative of a base ingratitude, and a servility of spirit exceedingly offensive. Yet all this grief was in view of no present suffering, but in apprehension of imaginary future ills.
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 2. would that we had died] ‘God’ does not…
2. would that we had died] ‘God’ does not form part of the Heb. expression. The R.V. is not consistent; see Num_20:4, Exo_16:3.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) And all the children of Israel murmured.—When the…
XIV.
(2) And all the children of Israel murmured.—When the people murmured in like manner in the wilderness of Sin (Exo_16:2-3) against Moses and Aaron because they had brought them forth into the wilderness, Moses assured them that at even they should know that it was Jehovah Himself who had brought them out from the land of Egypt (Ibid, Num_14:6). On the present occasion their murmuring was not against Moses and Aaron only, but they openly rebelled against Jehovah Himself, to whom they ascribed, in the way of reproach, their exodus from the land of Egypt.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Murmured against Moses and against Aaron; whom they probably…
Murmured against Moses and against Aaron; whom they probably suspected and accused of seeking their own personal ends. Here we may see the true reason why Joshua had not been put forward to advocate an immediate advance. The Septuagint has diegogguzon . (cf. 1Co_10:10) Would God we had died. WntmAWl. Septuagint, ofelon apeyanomen . The A.V is unnecessarily strong.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.