Numbers 20:3
New International Version
They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead 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!

English Standard Version
And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD!

Berean Standard Bible
The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished with our brothers before the LORD!

King James Bible
And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!

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 American Standard Bible
Then the people argued with Moses and spoke, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD!

NASB 1995
The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD!

NASB 1977
The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished 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!

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

Christian Standard Bible
The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD.

American Standard Version
And the people strove with Moses, and spake, saying, Would that we had died when our brethren died before Jehovah!

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the people contended with Moshe and they said to him: “Oh that we had died in the plague of our brethren before LORD JEHOVAH!

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the people reviled Moses, saying, Would we had died in the destruction of our brethren before the Lord!

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.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among 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!

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The people complained to Moses and said, "If only we had died when the other Israelites died in the LORD's presence!

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.

International Standard Version
As the people argued with Moses, they told him, "We wish that we had died when our relatives died in the LORD's presence!

JPS Tanakh 1917
And the people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying: 'Would that we had perished when our brethren perished before the LORD!

Literal Standard Version
and the people strive with Moses and speak, saying, “And oh that we had expired when our brothers expired before YHWH!

Majority Standard Bible
The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished with our brothers before the LORD!

New American Bible
The people quarreled with Moses, exclaiming, “Would that we had perished when our kindred perished before the LORD!

NET Bible
The people contended with Moses, saying, "If only we had died when our brothers died before the LORD!

New Revised Standard Version
The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had died when our kindred died before the LORD!

New Heart English Bible
The people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, "We wish that we had died when our brothers died before the LORD.

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 quarreled with Moses, and spoke, saying, “We wish that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh!

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!

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Water from the Rock
2Now there was no water for the congregation, so they gathered against Moses and Aaron. 3The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished with our brothers before the LORD! 4Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here?…

Cross References
Exodus 16:3
"If only we had died by the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt!" they said. "There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!"

Exodus 17:2
So the people contended with Moses, "Give us water to drink." "Why do you contend with me?" Moses replied. "Why do you test the LORD?"

Numbers 14:2
All the Israelites grumbled 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 died in this wilderness!

Numbers 14:3
Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?"

Numbers 16:31
As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,

Psalm 78:19
They spoke against God, saying, "Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?

Psalm 106:33
For they rebelled against His Spirit, and Moses spoke rashly with his lips.


Treasury of Scripture

And the people strived with Moses, and spoke, saying, Would God that we had died when our brothers died before the LORD!

God

Numbers 14:1,2
And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night…

Exodus 16:2,3
And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: …

Exodus 17:2
Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?

when

Numbers 11:1,33,34
And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp…

Numbers 14:36,37
And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, …

Numbers 16:31-35,49
And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: …

Jump to Previous
Angry Chid Chode Contended Dead Death Died Expired Moses Overtaken Perished Quarreled Speak Strive Strove
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Angry Chid Chode Contended Dead Death Died Expired Moses Overtaken Perished Quarreled Speak Strive Strove
Numbers 20
1. The children of Israel come to Zin, where Miriam dies.
2. They murmur for want of water
7. Moses smiting the rock, brings forth water at Meribah
14. Moses at Kadesh desires passage through Edom, which is denied him
22. At Mount Hor Aaron resigns his place to Eleazar, and dies














(3) Would God that we had died . . . --The reference seems to be to the plague which broke out after the insurrection of Korah. The language of the murmurers is very similar to that which is recorded in Numbers 16:14, and the word gava (die, or expire), which is twice used in this verse, and which occurs in Numbers 16:26; Numbers 16:28, in connection with the history of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, is found only in one other place throughout the last four books of the Pentateuch--viz., Numbers 20:29. The probability that that plague was of comparatively recent occurrence, and not separated from the present murmuring by a period of nearly forty years, has been inferred from the use of the word brethren in this verse. The generation which was contemporary with those who perished in the plague which followed the rebellion of Korah is supposed by some to have been almost extinct at the time to which the events recorded in this chapter are commonly referred, and the word fathers, it is alleged, would, in that case, have been more applicable to those who perished than brethren. It may be observed, further, that the inquiry, "Wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt?" is more natural when regarded as the language of the generation which had come up out of Egypt as adults, and who looked back to the exodus as to a recent event, than when regarded as that of a generation of which a large number had been born in the wilderness, and the rest had left Egypt nearly forty years previously. These considerations, however, do not appear to be entitled to much weight. The older portion of the congregation, who would naturally be the spokesmen, would speak of those who perished in the insurrection of Korah as their brethren, whether the event itself was of recent occurrence or not; and the words which are rendered "Why have ye brought up, &c.?" may, with equal propriety, be rendered "Why did ye bring up, &c.?"(Comp. Numbers 20:16 and Note).

Verse 3. - And the people abode with Moses. As their fathers had done in similar circumstances, as recorded in Exodus 17. Would God that we had died. See on Numbers 14:2. When our brethren died before the Lord. This is difficult, because the visitations of God at Kibroth-hattaavah (Numbers 11:34) and at Kadesh (Numbers 14:37) had overtaken not their brethren, but their fathers, some thirty-eight years before. On the other hand, the daily mortality which had carried off their brethren is clearly excluded by the phrase, "before the Lord." It may he that the rebellion of Korah happened towards the end of the period of wandering, and that the reference is to the plague which followed it; or it may be that the formula of complaint had become stereotyped, as those of children often do, and was employed from time to time without variation and without definite reference. The latter supposition is strongly supported by the character of the words which follow.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The people
הָעָ֖ם (hā·‘ām)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

quarreled
וַיָּ֥רֶב (way·yā·reḇ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7378: To toss, grapple, to wrangle, controversy, to defend

with
עִם־ (‘im-)
Preposition
Strong's 5973: With, equally with

Moses
מֹשֶׁ֑ה (mō·šeh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 4872: Moses -- a great Israelite leader, prophet and lawgiver

and said,
וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ (way·yō·mə·rū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“If only
וְל֥וּ (wə·lū)
Conjunctive waw | Preposition
Strong's 3863: If, would that!

we had perished
גָוַ֛עְנוּ (ḡā·wa‘·nū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common plural
Strong's 1478: To breathe out, expire

when our brothers
אַחֵ֖ינוּ (’a·ḥê·nū)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common plural
Strong's 251: A brother, )

fell dead
בִּגְוַ֥ע (biḡ·wa‘)
Preposition-b | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 1478: To breathe out, expire

before
לִפְנֵ֥י (lip̄·nê)
Preposition-l | Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440: The face

the LORD.
יְהוָֽה׃ (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel


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OT Law: Numbers 20:3 The people strove with Moses and spoke (Nu Num.)
Numbers 20:2
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