The people quarreled with Moses, and spoke, saying, “We wish that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh!
Parallel Translations
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The people quarreled with Moses, and spoke, saying, “We wish that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh!
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And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
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And the people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying: 'Would that we had perished when our brethren perished before the LORD!
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Numbers 20:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 17:2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?”
- Numbers 14:1-2 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!
- Numbers 16:31-35 As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split apart. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all of Korah’s men, and all their goods. So they, and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly. All Israel that were around them fled at their cry; for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” Fire came out from Yahweh, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.
- 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 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 11:33-34 While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, Yahweh’s anger burned against the people, and Yahweh struck the people with a very great plague. The name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted.
- Numbers 16:49 Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, in addition to those who died about the matter of Korah.
- Numbers 14:36-37 The men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land, even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Yahweh.
- Job 3:10-11 because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes. “Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
- 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.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 20:3 And the people chode with Moses, and…
Num 20:3 And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
Ver. 3. And the people chode.] Wanting both water and patience, they broke the peace with their superiors. {See Trapp on "Num 14:15"}
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 i.e. Suddenly, rather than to die such a lingering…
i.e. Suddenly, rather than to die such a lingering and painful death. Their sin was much greater than their parents’ in like case, because they should have taken warning by their miscarriages, and by the terrible effects of them, which their eyes had seen.
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 the people chode with Moses,.... Contended with him…
And the people chode with Moses,.... Contended with him in a wrangling and litigious manner, showing no reverence nor respect unto his person on account of the dignity of his office, and the many favours they had received from him; and this at a time, when, instead of quarrelling with him, they should have condoled him on the loss of his sister, and bewailed their own loss also of one who had been a prophetess to them, and a leader of them, Mic 6:4.
and spake, saying, would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord; either at Taberah by fire, or as Korah and his company in like manner, or as the fourteen thousand and seven hundred by a pestilence, Num 11:1 which they thought a much easier death, either of them, than to die of thirst: they might well call them brethren, not only because of the same nation, and nearly related to them, but because they were of the same temper and disposition, and indeed brethren in iniquity; and they seem to use this appellation, as being of the same sentiments with them, and in vindication of them, and adopt almost their very language; see Num 14:2.
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 Before the Lord - Suddenly, rather than to die…
Before the Lord - Suddenly, rather than to die such a lingering death. Their sin was much greater than that of their parents, because they should have taken warning by their miscarriages, and by the terrible effects of them, which their eyes had seen.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 20:3. Before the Lord — Suddenly, rather than…
Num 20:3. Before the Lord — Suddenly, rather than to die such a lingering death. Their sin was much greater than that of their parents, because they should have taken warning by their miscarriages, and by the terrible effects of them, which their eyes had seen.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Brethren, Core, &c., (chap. xvi. 32,) or with them…
Brethren, Core, &c., (chap. xvi. 32,) or with them ho died (chap. xi.) at the graves of lust. (Calmet)
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. Chode with Moses — Greek, railed at; Hebrew,…
3. Chode with Moses — Greek, railed at; Hebrew, quarrelled with. As the government was a theocracy administered by Moses, this conduct was treason against God.
Would God… we had died — By the sudden stroke of divine wrath. Num_11:1. “Died by the plague before the Lord.” Num_14:37. Vivid in their memories must have been the swallowing up of Korah and two hundred and fifty princes, and the plague on the morrow, which cut down fourteen thousand and seven hundred murmurers. Num_16:32; Num_16:49. In their despair and rage they wickedly wish that they had thus miserably perished.
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. And the people strove] The root of the…
3. And the people strove] The root of the verb (rîbh) is also that of the word Merîbhâh (‘the place of strife’), the name of the place being thus explained by means of a play on words; cf. Num_20:13.
when our brethren died before Jehovah] in the revolt of Korah (ch. 16).
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) Would God that we had died . .…
(3) Would God that we had died . . . —The reference seems to be to the plague which broke out after the insurrection of Korah. The language of the murmurers is very similar to that which is recorded in Num_16:14, and the word gava (die, or expire), which is twice used in this verse, and which occurs in Num_16:26; Num_16:28, in connection with the history of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, is found only in one other place throughout the last four books of the Pentateuch—viz., Num_20:29. The probability that that plague was of comparatively recent occurrence, and not separated from the present murmuring by a period of nearly forty years, has been inferred from the use of the word brethren in this verse. The generation which was contemporary with those who perished in the plague which followed the rebellion of Korah is supposed by some to have been almost extinct at the time to which the events recorded in this chapter are commonly referred, and the word fathers, it is alleged, would, in that case, have been more applicable to those who perished than brethren. It may be observed, further, that the inquiry, “Wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt?” is more natural when regarded as the language of the generation which had come up out of Egypt as adults, and who looked back to the exodus as to a recent event, than when regarded as that of a generation of which a large number had been born in the wilderness, and the rest had left Egypt nearly forty years previously. These considerations, however, do not appear to be entitled to much weight. The older portion of the congregation, who would naturally be the spokesmen, would speak of those who perished in the insurrection of Korah as their brethren, whether the event itself was of recent occurrence or not; and the words which are rendered “Why have ye brought up, &c.?” may, with equal propriety, be rendered “Why did ye bring up, &c.?”(Comp. Num_20:16 and Note).
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 And the people abode with Moses. As their fathers…
And the people abode with Moses. As their fathers had done in similar circumstances, as recorded in Ex 17. Would God that we had died. See on Num_14:2. When our brethren died before the Lord. This is difficult, because the visitations of God at Kibroth-hattaavah (Num_11:34) and at Kadesh (Num_14:37) had overtaken not their brethren, but their fathers, some thirty-eight years before. On the other hand, the daily mortality which had carried off their brethren is clearly excluded by the phrase, "before the Lord." It may he that the rebellion of Korah happened towards the end of the period of wandering, and that the reference is to the plague which followed it; or it may be that the formula of complaint had become stereotyped, as those of children often do, and was employed from time to time without variation and without definite reference. The latter supposition is strongly supported by the character of the words which follow.
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 20:3 our brothers! The Israelites identified themselves with Nadab…
20:3 our brothers! The Israelites identified themselves with Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-5), the gluttons killed by the first plague (Num 11:33), the skeptics who had already died in the wilderness (14:29), the ten unfaithful spies (14:36-37), Korah, Abiram, and Dathan, the 250 prominent men, and the 14,700 who died in the second plague (16:32, 35, 49).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.