The people quarreled with Moses, and spoke, saying, “We wish that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh!
Parallel translations
- KJV And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
- BSB The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished with our brothers 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 17:2Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?”
- Num 16:31–35As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split apart.
- Num 14:1–2All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
- Num 11:1The people were complaining in the ears of Yahweh. When Yahweh heard it, his anger burned; and Yahweh’s fire burned among them, and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.
- Exod 16:2–3The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness;
- Num 16:49Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died about the matter of Korah.
- Num 11:33–34While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, Yahweh’s anger burned against the people, and Yahweh struck the people with a very great plague.
- Job 3:10–11because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
- Num 14:36–37The men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land,
- Lam 4:9Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.
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
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