Numbers 11:34
in Numbers 11So they called that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people that lusted.
KJV
And he called the name of that place Kibroth–hattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.
⋯
This verse in Numbers 11
Commentary
8 notes on this verseHow is it that the graves of lust where the people fell in their devotion to flesh remain even to this day in the wilderness? Do we not read that the stupid people gorged themselves with quails until the wrath of God came upon them?
This site's exposition
And while the flesh was yet between their teeth
on Numbers 11:33-34
The stroke falls with the meat still in their mouths, in the order verse 20 had announced, given what they asked for and struck for the asking. Psalm 78:30-31 tells it the same way, and 1 Corinthians 10:6 points back to this ground when it says we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Clarke says the writer never states what the plague was, only that it fell on the murmurers. The place keeps the name Kibroth-hattaavah, the graves of them that lusted, and Matthew Henry marks the sequel at Psalm 78:32, that for all this they sinned still.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Kibroth-hattaavah - Hebrew. the graves of lust, that is, of the men that lusted, as it here follows. And it notes that the plague did not seize upon all that eat of the quails, for then all had been destroyed, but only upon those who were inordinate both in the desire and use of them.
And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah,....
Moses called it Kibroth-hattaavah, the graves of lusters or of lust. And well it had been if these graves of Israel's lusters had proved the graves of Israel's lust: the warning was designed to be so, but it had not its due effect, for it follows ( Ps. lxxviii. 32 ), For all this, they sinned still.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Kibroth-hattaavah - The graves of lust; and thus their scandalous crime was perpetuated by the name of the place. 1. St. Jude speaks of persons who were murmurers and complainers, walking after their own lusts, Jud 1:16, and seems to have this people particularly in view, whom the sacred text calls μεμψιμοιροι, complainers of their lot. They could never be satisfied; even God himself could not please them, because they were ever preferring their own wisdom to his.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
It is evident, however, that the language describes the countless number of these quails. as it were two cubits high--Some have supposed that they fell on the ground above each other to that height--a supposition which would leave a vast quantity useless as food to the Israelites, who were forbidden to eat any animal that died of itself or from which the blood was not poured out.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah--literally, "The graves of lust," or "Those that lusted"; so that the name of the place proves that the mortality was confined to those who had indulged inordinately.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּקְרָ֛א | vaiyikra' | and someone called | H7121 → | 733 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| שֵֽׁם־ | shem- | [the] name of | H8034 → | 864 times |
| הַמָּק֥וֹם | hamakom | the place | H4725 → | 401 times |
| הַה֖וּא | hahu' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| קִבְר֣וֹת | kivrot | Kibroth | H6914 → | 10 times |
| הַֽתַּאֲוָ֑ה | hataavah | Hattaavah | H6914 → | 10 times |
| כִּי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| שָׁם֙ | sham | there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| קָֽבְר֔וּ | kaveru | they buried | H6912 → | 133 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָעָ֖ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| הַמִּתְאַוִּֽים׃ | hamitavim | who craved | H183 → |
וַיִּקְרָ֛אand someone called
vaiyikra'H7121 →733 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
שֵֽׁם־[the] name of
shem-H8034 →864 times
הַמָּק֥וֹםthe place
hamakomH4725 →401 times
הַה֖וּא<the> that
hahu'H1931 →1879 times
קִבְר֣וֹתKibroth
kivrotH6914 →10 times
הַֽתַּאֲוָ֑הHattaavah
hataavahH6914 →10 times
כִּי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
שָׁם֙there
shamH8033 →834 times
קָֽבְר֔וּthey buried
kaveruH6912 →133 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָעָ֖םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
הַמִּתְאַוִּֽים׃who craved
hamitavimH183 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
1 Corinthians 10:6These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did.
it leads to
- Numbers 11:4
Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jude 1:7
In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal…
- 2 Peter 2:6
if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;
- 1 Corinthians 10:11
Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
- Hebrews 4:11
Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.
- Numbers 11:4
Through
Deuteronomy 9:22You continued to provoke the LORD at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah.
it leads to
- Exodus 17:7
He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
- Numbers 11:1–5
Soon the people began to complain about their hardship in the hearing of the LORD, and when He heard them, His anger was kindled, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed…
- Exodus 17:7
Through
Numbers 33:16They set out from the Wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.
it leads to
- Numbers 10:11–13
On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud was lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony,
- Numbers 10:11–13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, AGAINST JOVINIAN 2.17; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.