And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Parallel translations
- WEB They said to one 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 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 would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
- Neh 9:16–17But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
- Luke 17:32Remember Lot’s wife.
- Deut 17:16But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.
- Heb 11:15And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
- Deut 28:68And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
- Heb 10:38–39Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
- 2 Pet 2:21–22For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.