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Numbers 11:22

in Numbers 11

If all our flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Shall flocks and herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?

KJV

Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?

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This verse in Numbers 11

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Shall the flocks and the herds be slain - There is certainly a considerable measure of weakness and unbelief manifested in the complaints and questions of Moses on this occasion; but his conduct appears at the same time so very simple, honest, and affectionate, that we cannot but admire it, while we wonder that he had not stronger confidence in that God whose miracles he had so often witnessed in Egypt.

This site's exposition

The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand

on Numbers 11:21-23

Moses counts first, six hundred thousand footmen against a month of meat, and asks whether the flocks and the herds or all the fish of the sea would suffice them. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the doubt as a passing feeling, uttered to himself and not publicly as at chapter 20. God answers with a question rather than a plan, is the LORD's hand waxed short, a line Isaiah 50:2 and 59:1 take up again. Spurgeon preached this verse as the glorious right hand of the LORD and made Moses the man who calculates his supplies and cannot see how the promise will be kept.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

It is an objection like that which the disciples made, Mark viii. 4 , Whence can a man satisfy these men? Some excuse Moses here, and construe what he says as only a modest enquiry which way the supply must be expected; but it savours too much of diffidence and distrust of God to be justified.
Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them?....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

But it is probable that it was only a feeling of the moment--at all events, the incredulous doubt was uttered only to himself--and not, as afterwards, publicly and to the scandal of the people.

The words behind it

15 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • הֲצֹ֧אן¿ a flock

    hatzonH6629 →274 times

  • וּבָקָ֛רand a herd

    uvakarH1241 →183 times

  • יִשָּׁחֵ֥טwill it be slaughtered

    yishachetH7819 →81 times

  • לָהֶ֖םfor <the> them

    lahem

  • וּמָצָ֣אand someone will find

    umatza'H4672 →455 times

  • לָהֶ֑םfor <the> them

    lahem

  • אִ֣םor?

    ʾimH518 →1069 times

  • אֶֽת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • דְּגֵ֥י[the] fish of

    degeiH1709 →

  • הַיָּ֛םthe sea

    haiyamH3220 →396 times

  • יֵאָסֵ֥ףwill it be gathered

    yeasefH622 →200 times

  • לָהֶ֖םfor <the> them

    lahem

  • וּמָצָ֥אand someone will find

    umatza'H4672 →455 times

  • לָהֶֽם׃ פfor <the> them

    lahem

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

8 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

2 Kings 7:2But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”4 worksMatthew 15:33The disciples replied, “Where in this desolate place could we find enough bread to feed such a large crowd?”3 worksMark 8:4His disciples replied, “Where in this desolate place could anyone find enough bread to feed all these people?”2 worksMark 6:37But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” They asked Him, “Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii to give all of them bread to eat?”2 worksLuke 1:34“How can this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”2 worksLuke 1:18“How can I be sure of this?” Zechariah asked the angel. “I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.”2 works
The other 2 cross-references, with their words ▾
John 6:9“Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two small fish. But what difference will these make among so many?”2 worksJohn 6:6–7But He was asking this to test him, for He knew what He was about to do.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Mark 6:37

    But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” They asked Him, “Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii to give all of them bread to eat?”

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 4:42–44

      Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha.

    • Matthew 14:16

      “They do not need to go away,” Jesus replied. “You give them something to eat.”

    • Mark 8:2–3

      “I have compassion for this crowd, because they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat.

  • Through

    2 Kings 7:2

    But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with…

    it leads to

    • Malachi 3:10

      Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of…

    • Genesis 7:11

      In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

    • Genesis 18:12–14

      So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

    • Romans 3:3

      What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?

    • Psalms 78:41

      Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Numbers: the study guide →Read Numbers 11 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon 363, The Glorious Right Hand Of The Lord; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Numbers 11 →