And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Parallel translations
- WEB They said to one another, “Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.”
- KJV And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
- BSB So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”
- NKJV So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”
- NASB So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and return to Egypt!”
- NLT Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
The people plotted to appoint a new leader and return to Egypt. This was outright rebellion against God's appointed plan and leadership.
Overview
By proposing to replace Moses and head back to slavery, the congregation rejected both their God-given leader and the salvation He represented. Returning to Egypt meant undoing the Exodus and despising God's redeeming work. The rebellion reached its climax here, demanding decisive divine response.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Acts 7:39to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,
- Neh 9:16–17“But they and our fathers behaved proudly, hardened their neck, didn’t listen to your commandments,
- Luke 17:32Remember Lot’s wife!
- Deut 17:16Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because Yahweh has said to you, “You shall not go back that way again.”
- Heb 11:15If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return.
- Deut 28:68Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I told to you that you would never see it again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies for male and female slaves, and nobody will buy you.
- Heb 10:38–39But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
- 2 Pet 2:21–22For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
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 14:4 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.