The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished with our brothers before the LORD!
Parallel translations
- WEB The people quarreled with Moses, and spoke, saying, “We wish that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh!
- KJV And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
- NKJV And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!
- NASB Then the people argued with Moses and spoke, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord!
- NLT The people blamed Moses and said, “If only we had died in the Lord’s presence with our brothers!
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 quarreled with Moses, wishing they had perished with the rebels who died before the Lord. Their complaint twisted past judgment into a longing for death.
Overview
Their words echo earlier rebellions and reveal a faithless preference for death over trusting God's provision. Rather than seek the Lord, they accuse His servant. Such grumbling is the opposite of the faith that looks to God in need, and it stands as a warning against the hardened, complaining heart (1 Corinthians 10:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Exod 17:2So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?”
- Num 16:31–35As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,
- Num 14:1–2Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept.
- Num 11:1Soon the people began to complain about their hardship in the hearing of the LORD, and when He heard them, His anger was kindled, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.
- Exod 16:2–3And there in the desert they all grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
- Num 16:49But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.
- Num 11:33–34But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and the LORD struck them with a severe plague.
- Job 3:10–11For that night did not shut the doors of the womb to hide the sorrow from my eyes.
- Num 14:36–37So the men Moses had sent to spy out the land, who had returned and made the whole congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report about the land—
- Lam 4:9Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
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 20:3 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.