Numbers 14:1
in Numbers 14Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
KJV
And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
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This verse in Numbers 14
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
all the congregation lifted up their voice
on Numbers 14:1-2
The whole camp weeps a night away over a report about a country none of them has seen. Their wish is stated twice and the second form of it is the one to hold on to, would God we had died in this wilderness. Verse 29 gives them that exact thing in almost those words, and verse 28 says outright that the sentence is their own sentence read back.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
), and now they have cause given them to weep; so justly are murmurers made mourners. If they had mourned for the sin when they were faithfully reproved for it (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried,....
And, as if all had been already gone, they sat down and wept that night. Note, Unbelief, or distrust of God, is a sin that is its own punishment. Those that do not trust God are continually vexing themselves.
And such a light opinion they had of God's tremendous judgments executed on their neighbours for their sin that they wished they had shared with them in their plagues, rather than run the hazard of making a descent upon Canaan.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Cried; and - wept that night - In almost every case this people gave deplorable evidence of the degraded state of their minds. With scarcely any mental firmness, and with almost no religion, they could bear no reverses, and were ever at their wit’s end. They were headstrong, presumptuous, pusillanimous, indecisive, and fickle. And because they were such, therefore the power and wisdom of God appeared the more conspicuously in the whole of their history.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
The meaning thereof is that the spies went into the [people’s] tents towards evening, after they left Moses, and in the morning they [the people] rose early and they all murmured against Moses and against Aaron [as related in Verse 2]. And likewise Moses said, 78 Deuteronomy:27.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The entire community arose and raised their voices; and the people wept that night.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתִּשָּׂא֙ | vatisa' | and it lifted up | H5375 → | 656 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָ֣עֵדָ֔ה | haedah | the congregation | H5712 → | 149 times |
| וַֽיִּתְּנ֖וּ | vaiyitenu | and they gave forth | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| קוֹלָ֑ם | kolam | voice their | H6963 → | 506 times |
| וַיִּבְכּ֥וּ | vaiyivku | and they wept | H1058 → | 114 times |
| הָעָ֖ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| בַּלַּ֥יְלָה | balaylah | in the night | H3915 → | 233 times |
| הַהֽוּא׃ | hahu' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
וַתִּשָּׂא֙and it lifted up
vatisa'H5375 →656 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הָ֣עֵדָ֔הthe congregation
haedahH5712 →149 times
וַֽיִּתְּנ֖וּand they gave forth
vaiyitenuH5414 →2011 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
קוֹלָ֑םvoice their
kolamH6963 →506 times
וַיִּבְכּ֥וּand they wept
vaiyivkuH1058 →114 times
הָעָ֖םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
בַּלַּ֥יְלָהin the night
balaylahH3915 →233 times
הַהֽוּא׃<the> that
hahu'H1931 →1879 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
2 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
Deuteronomy 1:45And you returned and wept before the LORD, but He would not listen to your voice or give ear to you.
it leads to
- Hebrews 12:17
For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could find no ground for repentance, though he sought the blessing with tears.
- Psalms 78:34
When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.
- Hebrews 12:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.