EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Numbers 14:4
4So they said to each other, ‘We should choose a new leader instead of Moses. Then we should return to Egypt.’
Numbers 14:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
- New International Version (NIV)And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)And they said to one another, "Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt."
- New King James Version (NKJV)So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”
Context of Numbers 14:4
2All the Israelites spoke bad words against Moses and Aaron. All the people said to them, ‘We would rather have died in Egypt, or even in this desert! 3Why has the Lord brought us into this land? Its people will kill us all with swords. They will take our wives and our children for themselves. We think that it would be better for us to return to Egypt.’ So they said to each other, ‘We should choose a new leader instead of Moses. Then we should return to Egypt.’ 5Then Moses and Aaron threw themselves on the ground in front of the whole group of the Israelites. 6Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, were two of the men who had explored the land. They were very upset and they tore their clothes.
Read all of Numbers 14Numbers 14:4 word by word
וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־אָחִ֑יו נִתְּנָ֥ה רֹ֖אשׁ וְנָשׁ֥וּבָה מִצְרָֽיְמָה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Numbers 14:4
- Deuteronomy 17:16A king must not get a lot of horses for himself. He must not send his people back to Egypt to buy more horses. The Lord has said to you, ‘Never return to Egypt for any reason!’
- Deuteronomy 28:68The Lord told you that you must never travel on the road back to Egypt. But he will send you back to Egypt in ships. In Egypt, you will try to sell yourselves to your enemies, as slaves. But no one will agree to buy you.
- Nehemiah 9:16But our ancestors turned away from you. They would not agree to obey your commands.
- Luke 17:32Remember what happened to Lot's wife.
- Acts 7:39But our ancestors would not obey Moses. They did not accept him as their leader. They wanted to go back to Egypt.
- Hebrews 10:38The person that I have accepted as right will live. That person will live because he trusts me. But if anyone is afraid and he turns back, I will not be happy with that person.’
- Hebrews 11:15They were not thinking about the country that they had left. They could have gone back there if they really wanted to.
- 2 Peter 2:21It would have been better for them if they had never known God's good way. But they did understand about the right things that God wants us to do. And then they turned away from that way of life. They stopped obeying God's good rules, that people had taught them.
Commentaries on Numbers 14:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Let us make a captain - Here was a formal renunciation of the authority of Moses, and flat rebellion against God. And it seems from Nehemiah 9:17; that they had actually appointed another leader, under whose direction they were about to return to Egypt. How astonishing is this! Their lives were made bitter, because of the rigor with which they were made to serve in the land of Egypt; and yet they are willing, yea eager, to get back into the same…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-4The threats they complained about were real, but the Israelites should have trusted the Lord. In the ancient Near East, victors often took wives and children as plunder after battles. go back to Egypt: The Israelites quickly forgot their slavery and the difficulties of the wilderness (Exodus 2:23–24; Numbers 11:1).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2-42-4. Would God that we had died in Egypt--Such insolence to their generous leaders, and such base ingratitude to God, show the deep degradation of the Israelites, and the absolute necessity of the decree that debarred that generation from entering the promised land [Nu 14:29-35]. They were punished by their wishes being granted to die in that wilderness [He 3:17; Jude 5]. A leader to reconduct them to Egypt is spoken of (Ne 9:17) as actually nominated…Read the comment
Topics related to Numbers 14:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Numbers 14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
EasyEnglish Bible 2018 — Copyright © MissionAssist 2018
Commentaries