Exodus 16:3 BSB — MannaFest

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!”

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

and the children of Israel said unto them, Would that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

KJV

And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

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Commentary

4 voices

John Cassian

CONFERENCE 3.7.6-7 (435)

Although this manner of speaking first referred to that people, nonetheless we see it now daily fulfilled in our life and profession. For everyone who has first renounced this world and then returns to his former pursuits and his erstwhile desires proclaims that in deed and in intention he is the same as they were, and he says, "It was well with me in Egypt."I fear that there will be found as many such people as we read there were multitudes of sinners in the time of Moses.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

If Moses only had brought them out of Egypt, he could not thus have fed them; they must therefore own that that was the Lord's doing, because this was so, and both were marvellous in their eyes; yet, long afterwards, they needed to be told that Moses gave them not this bread from heaven, John vi.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

By the hand of the Lord - This evidently refers to the plagues, especially the last, in Egypt: the death which befell the Egyptians appeared to the people preferable to the sufferings of famine. Flesh pots, and ... bread - These expressions prove that the servile labors to which they had been subjected did not involve privations: they were fed abundantly, either by the officials of Pharaoh, or more probably by the produce of their own fertile district.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

And though we may lament they should tempt God in the wilderness and freely admit their sin in so doing, we can be at no loss for a reason why those who had all their lives been accustomed to walk by sight should, in circumstances of unparalleled difficulty and perplexity, find it hard to walk by faith.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

30 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַיֹּאמְר֨וּ	vai.yo.me.Ru	and they said	H559 →
אֲלֵהֶ֜ם	'a.le.Hem	to them	H413 →
בְּנֵ֣י	be.Nei	[the] people of	H1121 →
יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל	Yis.ra.'El	Israel	H3478 →
מִֽי־	mi-	who?	H4310 →
יִתֵּ֨ן	yi.Ten	will he give	H5414 →
מוּתֵ֤נוּ	mu.Te.nu	died we	H4191 →
בְיַד־	ve.yad-	by [the] hand of	H3027 →
יְהוָה֙	Yah.weh	Yahweh	H3068 →
בְּאֶ֣רֶץ	be.'E.retz	in [the] land of	H776 →
מִצְרַ֔יִם	mitz.Ra.yim	Egypt	H4714 →
בְּשִׁבְתֵּ֙נוּ֙	be.shiv.Te.nu	when sat we	H3427 →
עַל־	'al-	at	H5921 →
סִ֣יר	sir	[the] pot of	H5518 →
הַבָּשָׂ֔ר	ha.ba.Sar	the meat	H1320 →
בְּאָכְלֵ֥נוּ	be.'a.khe.Le.nu	when ate we	H398 →
לֶ֖חֶם	Le.chem	food	H3899 →
לָשֹׂ֑בַע	la.Soa'	to abundance	H7648 →
כִּֽי־	ki-	for	H3588 →
הוֹצֵאתֶ֤ם	ho.tze.Tem	you have brought out	H3318 →
אֹתָ֙נוּ֙	'o.Ta.nu	<obj.> us	H853 →
אֶל־	'el-	into	H413 →
הַמִּדְבָּ֣ר	ha.mid.Bar	the wilderness	H4057 →
הַזֶּ֔ה	ha.Zeh	<the> this	H2088 →
לְהָמִ֛ית	le.ha.Mit	to put to death	H4191 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
כָּל־	kol-	all	H3605 →
הַקָּהָ֥ל	ha.ka.Hal	the assembly	H6951 →
הַזֶּ֖ה	ha.Zeh	<the> this	H2088 →
בָּרָעָֽב׃ ס	ba.ra.'Av	by <the> hunger	H7458 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Deuteronomy 28:67
In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you…
leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:34
  You will be driven mad by the sights you see.
- Job 7:3–4
  So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed me.
- Revelation 9:6
  In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.
Through
Exodus 17:3
But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
leads to
- Exodus 16:2–3
  And there in the desert they all grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
- Exodus 15:24
  So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
Through
Lamentations 4:9
Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
leads to
- Leviticus 26:39
  Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.
- Ezekiel 24:23
  Your turbans will remain on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan among yourselves.
- Jeremiah 16:4
  “They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will…