Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!
Parallel translations
- WEB The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we perish! We are undone! We are all undone!
- KJV And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.
- NKJV So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Surely we die, we perish, we all perish!
- NASB Then the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we are passing away, we are perishing, we are all perishing!
- NLT Then the people of Israel said to Moses, “Look, we are doomed! We are dead! We are ruined!
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, finally gripped by fear, cried out that they were perishing and undone, awakened to the danger of God's holiness.
Overview
After the deaths and the budding rod, the Israelites recognized the peril of approaching a holy God carelessly. Their cry of despair reveals a dawning awareness of their own mortality before God. This fear, though anguished, is a step toward understanding their need for a mediator who can safely bring them near.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Num 26:11However, the line of Korah did not die out.
- Prov 19:3A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.
- Ps 90:7For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.
- Isa 6:5Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”
- Isa 57:16For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me, with the breath of those I have made.
- Heb 12:5And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.
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 17:12 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.