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Wednesday, August 6th, 2025
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
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Read the Bible

Amplified Bible

Numbers 20:3

The people contended with Moses, and said, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished [in the plague] before the LORD!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Israel;   Moses;   Murmuring;   Trouble;   Thompson Chain Reference - Content-Discontent;   Israel;   Murmuring;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Desert, Journey of Israel through the;   Rebellion against God;   Rocks;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Kadesh or Kadesh-Barnea;   Zin;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Kadesh-barnea;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Mourning;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Meribah;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Aaron;   Carts;   Kadesh Barnea;   Levi;   Meribah;   Numbers, the Book of;   Wilderness of the Wanderings;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Kadesh-Meribah;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Provocation;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Aaron;   Jephthah;   Massah and Meribah;   Moses;   Numbers, Book of;   Zin;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Angels of the Seven Churches;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Kadesh, Kadeshbarnea ;   Wanderings of the Israelites;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Balaam;   Kadesh-barnea;   Levi;   Rebels;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Journeyings of israel from egypt to canaan;   Kadesh;   Meribali;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Moses;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Criticism (the Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis);   Massah and Meribah;   Moses;   Pentateuch;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Balak;   Exodus, Book of;   Kadesh;   Midrashim, Smaller;   Water;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
The people strove with Moshe, and spoke, saying, Would that we had died when our brothers died before the LORD!
King James Version
And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord !
Lexham English Bible
And the people quarreled with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we died when our brothers were dying before Yahweh!
English Standard Version
And the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord !
New Century Version
They argued with Moses and said, "We should have died in front of the Lord as our brothers did.
New English Translation
The people contended with Moses, saying, "If only we had died when our brothers died before the Lord !
New American Standard Bible
Then the people argued with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD!
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the people chode with Moses, & spake, saying, Would God we had perished, when our brethren died before the Lord.
Legacy Standard Bible
The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we had breathed our last when our brothers breathed their last before Yahweh!
Contemporary English Version
and complained, "Moses, we'd be better off if we had died along with the others in front of the Lord 's sacred tent.
Complete Jewish Bible
The people quarreled with Moshe and said, "We wish we had died when our brothers died before Adonai .
Darby Translation
And the people contended with Moses, and spoke, saying, Would that we had died when our brethren died before Jehovah!
Easy-to-Read Version
The people argued with Moses and said, "Maybe we should have died in front of the Lord like our brothers did.
George Lamsa Translation
And the people quarreled with Moses and with Aaron, saying, Would God that we had died with the death with which our brethren died before the LORD!
Good News Translation
and complained: "It would have been better if we had died in front of the Lord 's Tent along with the other Israelites.
Christian Standard Bible®
The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord.
Literal Translation
And the people contended with Moses, and spoke, saying, Oh that we had died when our brothers died before Jehovah!
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
& the people chode with Moses, & sayde: Wolde God yt we had perished, whan oure brethre perished before the LORDE.
American Standard Version
And the people strove with Moses, and spake, saying, Would that we had died when our brethren died before Jehovah!
Bible in Basic English
And the people were angry with Moses and said, If only death had overtaken us when our brothers came to their death before the Lord!
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the people chode with Moyses, and spake, saying: Woulde God that we had perished when our brethren dyed before the Lorde.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying: 'Would that we had perished when our brethren perished before the LORD!
King James Version (1611)
And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the people reviled Moses, saying, Would we had died in the destruction of our brethren before the Lord!
English Revised Version
And the people strove with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
Berean Standard Bible
The people quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had perished when our brothers fell dead before the LORD!
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and seiden, We wolden that we hadden perischid among oure britheren bifor the Lord.
Young's Literal Translation
and the people strive with Moses, and speak, saying, `And oh that we had expired when our brethren expired before Jehovah!
Update Bible Version
And the people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, Oh that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh!
Webster's Bible Translation
And the people chid with Moses, and spoke, saying, O that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
World English Bible
The people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, Would that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh!
New King James Version
And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: "If only we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
New Living Translation
The people blamed Moses and said, "If only we had died in the Lord 's presence with our brothers!
New Life Bible
The people complained to Moses, saying, "If only we had died when our brothers died before the Lord!
New Revised Standard
The people quarreled with Moses and said, "Would that we had died when our kindred died before the Lord !
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And the people contended with Moses, - and spake saying, Would then we had died a when our brethren died, before Yahweh!
Douay-Rheims Bible
And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among our brethren before the Lord.
Revised Standard Version
And the people contended with Moses, and said, "Would that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD!

Contextual Overview

1Then the Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month [in the fortieth year after leaving Egypt]. And the people lived in Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there. 2Now there was no water for the congregation, and they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. 3The people contended with Moses, and said, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished [in the plague] before the LORD! 4"Why have you brought up the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness to die here, we and our livestock? 5"Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or of figs or of vines or of pomegranates, and there is no water to drink." 6Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle) and fell on their faces [before the LORD in prayer]. Then the glory and brilliance of the LORD appeared to them; 7and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 8"Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock in front of them, so that it will pour out its water. In this way you shall bring water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their livestock drink [fresh water]." 9So Moses took the rod from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him; 10and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. Moses said to them, "Listen now, you rebels; must we bring you water out of this rock?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

God: Numbers 14:1, Numbers 14:2, Exodus 16:2, Exodus 16:3, Exodus 17:2, Job 3:10, Job 3:11

when: Numbers 11:1, Numbers 11:33, Numbers 11:34, Numbers 14:36, Numbers 14:37, Numbers 16:31-35, Numbers 16:49, Lamentations 4:9

Reciprocal: Numbers 16:13 - to kill Deuteronomy 6:16 - tempted him Jonah 4:3 - take

Cross-References

Genesis 20:1
Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the Negev (the South country), and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he lived temporarily in Gerar.
Genesis 20:7
"So now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her [to him], know that you shall die, you and all who are yours (your household)."
Genesis 20:12
"Besides, she actually is my [half] sister; she is the daughter of my father [Terah], but not of my mother; and she became my wife.
Genesis 20:13
"When God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, 'This kindness and loyalty you can show me: at every place we stop, say of me, "He is my brother."'"
Genesis 20:14
Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him [as God commanded].
Genesis 20:15
So Abimelech said, "Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever you please."
Genesis 28:12
He dreamed that there was a ladder (stairway) placed on the earth, and the top of it reached [out of sight] toward heaven; and [he saw] the angels of God ascending and descending on it [going to and from heaven].
Genesis 31:24
God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, "Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob, either good or bad."
Genesis 37:5
Now Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more.
Genesis 37:9
But Joseph dreamed still another dream, and told it to his brothers [as well]. He said, "See here, I have again dreamed a dream, and lo, [this time I saw] eleven stars and the sun and the moon bowed down [in respect] to me!"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the people chode with Moses,.... Contended with him in a wrangling and litigious manner, showing no reverence nor respect unto his person on account of the dignity of his office, and the many favours they had received from him; and this at a time, when, instead of quarrelling with him, they should have condoled him on the loss of his sister, and bewailed their own loss also of one who had been a prophetess to them, and a leader of them, Micah 6:4

and spake, saying, would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord; either at Taberah by fire, or as Korah and his company in like manner, or as the fourteen thousand and seven hundred by a pestilence, Numbers 11:1 which they thought a much easier death, either of them, than to die of thirst: they might well call them brethren, not only because of the same nation, and nearly related to them, but because they were of the same temper and disposition, and indeed brethren in iniquity; and they seem to use this appellation, as being of the same sentiments with them, and in vindication of them, and adopt almost their very language; see Numbers 14:2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The language of the murmurers is noteworthy. It has the air of a traditional remonstrance handed down from the last generation. Compare marginal references.


 
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