Numbers 20:3
in Numbers 20The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished with our brothers before the LORD!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the people strove with Moses, and spake, saying, Would that we had died when our brethren died before Jehovah!
KJV
And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!
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This verse in Numbers 20
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
And there was no water for the congregation
on Numbers 20:2-3
Exodus 17:1-7 is the first Meribah and this is the second, the same complaint at the start of the wandering and at the end of it. The verb behind chode is rib, to bring a suit, and it is the root of the name given to the place at verse 13. Their wish, that they had died when their brethren died before the Lord, takes its sense from 16:49 and from the sentence of 14:29, so the second generation asks to be given what the first was given.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), spoke the same absurd and brutish language that their fathers had done before them. (1.) They wished they had died as malefactors by the hands of divine justice, rather than thus seem for a while neglected by the divine mercy: Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
And the people chode with Moses,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
there was no water for the congregation--There was at Kadesh a fountain, En-Mishpat (Ge 14:7), and at the first encampment of the Israelites there was no want of water.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיָּ֥רֶב | vaiyarev | and it quarreled | H7378 → | |
| הָעָ֖ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| מֹשֶׁ֑ה | mosheh | Moses | H4872 → | 765 times |
| וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ | vaiyomeru | and they said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֵאמֹ֔ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| וְל֥וּ | velu | and if | H3863 → | 22 times |
| גָוַ֛עְנוּ | gava'nu | we had died | H1478 → | 24 times |
| בִּגְוַ֥ע | bigva' | when died | H1478 → | 24 times |
| אַחֵ֖ינוּ | ʾacheinu | brothers our | H251 → | 630 times |
| לִפְנֵ֥י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
וַיָּ֥רֶבand it quarreled
vaiyarevH7378 →
הָעָ֖םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
מֹשֶׁ֑הMoses
moshehH4872 →765 times
וַיֹּאמְר֣וּand they said
vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times
לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
וְל֥וּand if
veluH3863 →22 times
גָוַ֛עְנוּwe had died
gava'nuH1478 →24 times
בִּגְוַ֥עwhen died
bigva'H1478 →24 times
אַחֵ֖ינוּbrothers our
ʾacheinuH251 →630 times
לִפְנֵ֥י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 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
Numbers 11:1Soon 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…
it leads to
- Numbers 21:5
and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”
- 2 Kings 1:12
Again Elijah replied, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed…
- Numbers 16:35
And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.
- Exodus 16:9
Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole congregation of Israel, ‘Come before the LORD, for He has heard your grumbling.’”
- Numbers 21:5
Through
Exodus 17:2So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?”
it leads to
- Psalms 78:18
They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.
- Deuteronomy 6:16
Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah.
- 1 Corinthians 10:9
We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes.
- Psalms 78:41
Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
- Psalms 78:18
Where this verse is studied
About Numbers
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole 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.