Crossing the Sea

¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”^(A)

¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried^(A) out to the Lord. ¹¹ They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?^(B) What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”^(C)

³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt!^(A) There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food^(B) we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”^(C)

Quail From the Lord

⁴ The rabble with them began to crave other food,^(A) and again the Israelites started wailing^(B) and said, “If only we had meat to eat! ⁵ We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.^{(C) 6} But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!^(D)”

¹³ Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey^(A) to kill us in the wilderness?^(B) And now you also want to lord it over us!^(C)