And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died 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!
- 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 17:2Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?
- Num 16:31–35And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:
- Num 14:1–2And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
- Num 11:1And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.
- Exod 16:2–3And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:
- Num 16:49Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah.
- Num 11:33–34And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.
- Job 3:10–11Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
- Num 14:36–37And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,
- Lam 4:9They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
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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.