Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat so that we may eat!’
Parallel translations
- WEB Where could I get meat to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’
- KJV Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.
- BSB Where can I get meat for all these people? For they keep crying out to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’
- NKJV Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’
- NLT Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep whining to me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat!’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Moses asks where he could possibly find meat for so many. He confronts the impossibility of meeting the people's demand by his own resources.
Overview
Faced with the cry for meat, Moses sees the demand as utterly beyond him. His helplessness highlights that only God can provide for the people's needs. The scene exposes the futility of human leadership apart from divine power.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Matt 15:33The disciples said to him, “Where should we get so many loaves in a deserted place as to satisfy so great a multitude?”
- Mark 8:4His disciples answered him, “From where could one satisfy these people with bread here in a deserted place?”
- John 6:5–9Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?”
- Mark 9:23Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 11:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.