Numbers 11:4
in Numbers 11Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
KJV
And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
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This verse in Numbers 11
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThe mixed multitude - האספסף hasaphsuph, the collected or gathered people. Such as came out of Egypt with the Israelites; and are mentioned Exo 12:38. This mongrel people, who had comparatively little of the knowledge of God, feeling the difficulties and fatigues of the journey, were the first to complain; and then we find the children of Israel joined them in their complainings, and made a common cause with these demi-infidels.
This site's exposition
the mixt multitude that was among them
on Numbers 11:4-6
The craving starts with the mixed multitude, the crowd that came up out of Egypt with Israel at Exodus 12:38, and the children of Israel weep after them. What they remember is the food of a slave country, the fish and the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlick, and they say they ate the fish freely, which is to say at no price, while they were owned. Matthew Henry marks what the list leaves out, the brick kilns and the taskmasters and the smart of the whip. Verse 6 states the grievance itself, that there is nothing before their eyes but the manna.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
Augustine of HippoTRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 73.2 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
Do we not see that the Israelites got to their own hurt what their guilty lusting craved? For while manna was raining down on them from heaven, they desired to have meat to eat. They disdained what they had, and they shamelessly sought what they had not, as if it were not better for them to have asked not that their unbecoming desires be gratified with food that was wanting, but that their own dislike be removed, and that they be made to receive rightly the food that was provided. For when evil becomes our delight and good the opposite, we ought to entreat God to win us back to the love of the good rather than to grant us the evil.
The people in the desert deserved to be reprimanded, not because they desired meat but because they murmured against the Lord as a result of this desire for meat.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
We should not indulge ourselves in any desire which we cannot in faith turn into prayer, as we cannot when we ask meat for our lust, Ps. lxxviii. For this sin the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly against them, which is written for our admonition, that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted, 1 Cor. x.
And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting,....
O how little honour has God in the world, when even the people which he formed for himself, to show forth his praise, were so much a dishonour to him! Therefore let none think that their external professions and privileges will be their security either against Satan's temptations to sin or God's judgments for sin. What was the crime: they lusted and murmured.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Note, A few factious, discontented, ill-natured people, may do a great deal of mischief in the best societies, if great care be not taken to discountenance them. Such as these are an untoward generation, from which it is our wisdom to save ourselves, Acts ii. (2.) Even the children of Israel took the infection, as we are informed,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting--These consisted of Egyptians. [See on Ex 12:38.] To dream of banquets and plenty of animal food in the desert becomes a disease of the imagination; and to this excitement of the appetite no people are more liable than the natives of Egypt.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Occurrences at Kibroth-hattavah. Num 11:4 The mixt multitude - The word in the original resembles our “riff-raff,” and denotes a mob of people scraped together. It refers here to the multitude of strangers (see Exo 12:38) who had followed the Israelites from Egypt. Num 11:5 The natural dainties of Egypt are set forth in this passage with the fullness and relish which bespeak personal experience. Num 11:6-7 There is nothing at all ... - literally, “Nought at all have we except that our eyes are unto this manna;” i. e. “Nought else have we to expect beside this manna.” On the manna see Exo 16:15 note; on bdellium see Gen 2:12 note. Num 11:10 The weeping was general; every family wept (compare Zec 12:12), and in a manner public and unconcealed. Num 11:11-15 The complaint and remonstrance of Moses may be compared with that in 1Ki 19:4 ff; Jon 4:1-3, and contrasted with the language of Abraham (Gen 18:23 ff) The meekness of Moses (compare Num 12:3) sank under vexation into despair. His language shows us how imperfect and prone to degeneracy are the best saints on earth. Num 11:16 Seventy men of the elders of Israel - Seventy elders had also gone up with Moses to the Lord in the mount Exo 24:1, Exo 24:9. Seventy is accordingly the number of colleagues assigned to Moses to share his burden with him. To it, the Jews trace the origin of the Sanhedrim. Subsequent notices Num 16:25; Jos 7:6; Jos 8:10, Jos 8:33; Jos 9:11; Jos 23:2; Jos 24:1, Jos 24:31 so connect the elders with the government of Israel as to point to the fact that the appointment now made was not a merely temporary one, though it would seem to have soon fallen into desuetude. […]
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהָֽאסַפְסֻף֙ | vehasafsuf | and the rabble | H628 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| בְּקִרְבּ֔וֹ | bekirbo | [was] in midst its | H7130 → | 227 times |
| הִתְאַוּ֖וּ | hitavu | they craved | H183 → | |
| תַּאֲוָ֑ה | taavah | a craving | H8378 → | |
| וַיָּשֻׁ֣בוּ | vaiyashuvu | and they returned | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| וַיִּבְכּ֗וּ | vaiyivku | and they wept | H1058 → | 114 times |
| גַּ֚ם | gam | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ | vaiyomeru | and they said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| מִ֥י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יַאֲכִלֵ֖נוּ | yaakhilenu | will he cause to eat us | H398 → | 810 times |
| בָּשָֽׂר׃ | basar | meat | H1320 → | 270 times |
וְהָֽאסַפְסֻף֙and the rabble
vehasafsufH628 →
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
בְּקִרְבּ֔וֹ[was] in midst its
bekirboH7130 →227 times
הִתְאַוּ֖וּthey craved
hitavuH183 →
תַּאֲוָ֑הa craving
taavahH8378 →
וַיָּשֻׁ֣בוּand they returned
vaiyashuvuH7725 →1056 times
וַיִּבְכּ֗וּand they wept
vaiyivkuH1058 →114 times
גַּ֚םalso
gamH1571 →769 times
בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּand they said
vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times
מִ֥יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
יַאֲכִלֵ֖נוּwill he cause to eat us
yaakhilenuH398 →810 times
בָּשָֽׂר׃meat
basarH1320 →270 times
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
- 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.
- Zephaniah 3:6–7
“I have cut off the nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have made their streets deserted with no one to pass through. Their cities are laid waste, with no man, no inhabitant.
- Jude 1:7
Through
Nehemiah 13:3As soon as the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all of foreign descent.
it leads to
- Nehemiah 9:2
Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all the foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
- Exodus 12:38
And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
- Nehemiah 9:2
Through
Psalms 106:14They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 10:9
We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes.
- 1 Corinthians 10:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, TRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 73.2; Augustine of Hippo, Confessions 10.31.46; 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.