New English Translation
Numbers 14:4
4So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and 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
2And all the Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished in this wilderness! 3Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and return to Egypt.” 5Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground before the whole assembled community of the Israelites. 6And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of those who had investigated the land, tore their garments.
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 17:16Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so, for the Lord has said you must never again return that way.
- Deuteronomy 28:68Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”
- Nehemiah 9:16“But they – our ancestors – behaved presumptuously; they rebelled and did not obey your commandments.
- Luke 17:32Remember Lot’s wife!
- Acts 7:39Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him, but pushed him aside and turned back to Egypt in their hearts,
- Hebrews 10:38But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, I take no pleasure in him.
- Hebrews 11:15In fact, if they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
- 2 Peter 2:21For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to 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
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