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?”
Parallel Translations
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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?”
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And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
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And wherefore doth the LORD bring us unto this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey; were it not better for us to return into Egypt?'
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Numbers 14:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 14:31-32 But I will bring your little ones that you said should be captured or killed in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
- Psalms 78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!
- Jeremiah 9:3 “They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood. They have grown strong in the land, but not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don’t know me,” says Yahweh.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain To our enemies the Canaanites.
To our enemies the Canaanites.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 14:3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us…
Num 14:3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
Ver. 3. Were it not better for us to return into Egypt.] How could that be better? It is our wisest way, to crush the very first insurrections of unruly passions (do not great storms rise out of little gusts?); to smother the smoke thereof, which else will fume up into the head, and gather into so thick a cloud, as we shall soon lose the sight of ourselves, and what is best to be done.
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 From the instruments they rise higher, and strike at…
From the instruments they rise higher, and strike at God the chief cause and author of their journey; by which we see the prodigious growth and progress of sin when it is not resisted. Should be a prey to the Canaanites, whose land we were made to believe we should possess.
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 Wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land,....…
Wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land,.... Unto the borders of it: their murmuring did not cease at Moses and Aaron, the instruments, but proceeded against God himself, who had done such wonderful things for them, not only in bringing them out of Egypt, but since they had been in the wilderness; and yet so ungrateful to complain of him and argue with him about favours bestowed on them, as if they were injuries done to them; and particularly as if God had no other intention in bringing them out of Egypt to the place where they were, but
to fall by the sword: the sword of the Canaanites, as the Targum of Jonathan adds:
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that our wives and our children shall be a prey? to the same people; they supposed they should be killed, their wives abused, and their children made slaves of:
were it not better for us to return into Egypt? and so escape the hands of the inhabitants of Canaan, of whom they had terrible apprehensions from the report made of 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 The Lord - From instruments they rise higher, and…
The Lord - From instruments they rise higher, and strike at God the cause and author of their journey: by which we see the 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.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain We may. The Latin manuscripts and Bibles before Sixtus…
We may. The Latin manuscripts and Bibles before Sixtus V read, "in Egypt, and not in this," &c. But the present translation agrees with the Hebrew, Septuagint, and Chaldean. (Calmet) --- They obtained what they said they wished for, ver. 28; chap. xiv. 29; xxvi. 64. (Worthington) --- And that. Hebrew, &c., "and wherefore hath God brought us into this land, that we may fall," &c. In a rage they attribute a malicious design to God. (Calmet) --- Better. And who would have given them food in the wilderness? (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Wherefore hath… Lord — They began with opposing…
3. Wherefore hath… Lord — They began with opposing God’s faithful ministers; they end by arraigning himself. So men now greatly distress themselves over evils they are never called to endure. Wherefore is not in the vocabulary of faith.
Unto this land — Spoken, apparently, of Canaan, to which they had not yet been brought. Thus “they despised the pleasant land; they believed not his word.” Psa_106:24.
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To fall by the sword — The unbelief of these rebels puts an evil intention for a beneficent purpose on the part of God, and thus maligns his character. Up to this time they seem to have cherished the illusion of a blood. less conquest of Canaan.
A prey — Captives and slaves of the victors.
Better… to return into Egypt — In their dread of the perils before them they overlook the greater evils behind: the sterile wilderness, with no manna from heaven nor water from the smitten rock; no pillar of cloud to go before; no protecting Jehovah to shield them from their foes; no mediating Moses to placate the divine wrath; no home of freedom, but only the lash of the taskmaster for the inheritance of their children forever.
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 3. wherefore is Jehovah about to bring us] The…
3. wherefore is Jehovah about to bring us] The rebellious spirit is more flagrantly expressed in Deu_1:27.
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 (3) And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto…
(3) And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land . . .?—Better, And wherefore doth the Lord bring us into this land?—i.e., the land of Canaan, as clearly appears from the words which follow (comp. Num_15:18, where the same Hiphil participle is used). The destruction which the Israelites apprehended at this time was not a destruction by famine or drought, but by the sword of the Amorites and of the children of the Anakim. (Comp. Deu_1:27-28.)
That our wives and our children should be a prey—i.e., should fall into the hands of the enemy after their entrance into the land of Canaan. (Comp. Exo_15:14-17.) It is possible, however, that the land through which the Israelites were passing may be included here and in Num_14:14.
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 Wherefore hath the Lord brought us. Rather, "wherefore doth…
Wherefore hath the Lord brought us. Rather, "wherefore doth the Lord bring us." aybime. Septuagint, eisagei . They were not actually in the land yet, but only on the threshold.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 14:3-4 The threats about which they complained were real,…
14:3-4 The threats about which they complained were real, but the Israelites should have trusted the Lord. In the ancient Near East, women and children were often taken as plunder in the aftermath of battle. • return to Egypt: How quickly the Israelites forgot their bondage (Exod 2:23-24) and the hardship of the wilderness (Num 11:1)!
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.