Then the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we are passing away, we are perishing, we are all perishing!
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.
- BSB Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!
- NKJV So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Surely we die, we perish, we all perish!
- 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 26:11Notwithstanding, the sons of Korah didn’t die.
- Prov 19:3The foolishness of man subverts his way; his heart rages against Yahweh.
- Ps 90:7For we are consumed in your anger. We are troubled in your wrath.
- Isa 6:5Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”
- Isa 57:16For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.
- Heb 12:5and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;
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.