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The People Complain

14 Then all the community lifted up their voices,[a] and the people wept during that night. And all the Israelites[b] grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and all the community said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt or in this desert! Why did Yahweh bring us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little children will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” They said to each other,[c] “Let us appoint a leader, and we will return to Egypt.”

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 14:1 Hebrew “they lifted up and gave their voice”
  2. Numbers 14:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  3. Numbers 14:4 Literally “A man said to his brother”

The People Rebel

14 At this, the entire assembly[a] complained, started to shout, and cried through the rest of that night. All the Israelis complained against Moses and Aaron. Then the entire assembly responded, “We wish that we had died in Egypt or[b] in this wilderness. What’s the point in the Lord bringing us to this land? To die by the sword so our wives and children would become war victims? Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”

Then they told each other, “Let’s assign a leader and go back to Egypt.”

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 14:1 Or congregation
  2. Numbers 14:2 Lit. that we have died