Numbers 20:4
in Numbers 20Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And why have ye brought the assembly of Jehovah into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our beasts?
KJV
And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?
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This verse in Numbers 20
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly
on Numbers 20:4-5
The charge repeats Exodus 17:3 and Numbers 14:3, that Moses brought them here to die. The four things this place lacks, grain, figs, vines, or pomegranates, echo what the spies carried out of Canaan at 13:23. They measure the wilderness by the land their fathers refused.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness,....
They prefer slavery before liberty, the house of bondage before the land of promise; and though, the present want was of water only, yet, now that they are disposed to find fault, it shall be looked upon as an insufferable hardship put upon them that they have not vines and figs.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְלָמָ֤ה | velamah | and <to> why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| הֲבֵאתֶם֙ | havetem | have you brought | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| קְהַ֣ל | kehal | [the] assembly of | H6951 → | 123 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | into | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַמִּדְבָּ֖ר | hamidbar | the wilderness | H4057 → | 270 times |
| הַזֶּ֑ה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| לָמ֣וּת | lamut | to die | H4191 → | 839 times |
| שָׁ֔ם | sham | there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| אֲנַ֖חְנוּ | ʾanachnu | we | H587 → | 120 times |
| וּבְעִירֵֽנוּ׃ | uveirenu | and livestock our | H1165 → | 6 times |
וְלָמָ֤הand <to> why?
velamahH4100 →752 times
הֲבֵאתֶם֙have you brought
havetemH935 →2568 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
קְהַ֣ל[the] assembly of
kehalH6951 →123 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶל־into
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הַמִּדְבָּ֖רthe wilderness
hamidbarH4057 →270 times
הַזֶּ֑ה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
לָמ֣וּתto die
lamutH4191 →839 times
שָׁ֔םthere
shamH8033 →834 times
אֲנַ֖חְנוּwe
ʾanachnuH587 →120 times
וּבְעִירֵֽנוּ׃and livestock our
uveirenuH1165 →6 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
Exodus 17:3But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
it leads to
- Exodus 16:2–3
And there in the desert they all grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
- Exodus 16:2–3
Through
Psalms 106:21They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt,
it leads to
- Psalms 78:42–51
They did not remember His power— the day He redeemed them from the adversary,
- Jeremiah 2:32
Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.
- Deuteronomy 32:17–18
They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.
- Psalms 106:13
Yet they soon forgot His works and failed to wait for His counsel.
- Psalms 78:11–12
They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them.
- Psalms 78:42–51
Through
Numbers 16:41The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”
it leads to
- Numbers 16:1–7
Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath son of Levi, along with some Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—conducted
- Psalms 106:25–48
They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD.
- Numbers 16:1–7
Where this verse is studied
About Numbers
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.