Numbers 17:12
in Numbers 17Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone.
KJV
And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.
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This verse in Numbers 17
Commentary
8 notes on this verseBehold, we die, we perish, we all perish - גוענו gavaenu signifies not so much to die simply, as to feel an extreme difficulty of breathing, which, producing suffocation, ends at last in death. See the folly and extravagance of this sinful people. At first, every person might come near to God, for all, they thought, were sufficiently holy, and every way qualified to minister in holy things. Now, no one, in their apprehension, can come near to the tabernacle without being consumed, Num 17:
This site's exposition
So Moses did as the LORD had commanded him
on Numbers 17:11-13
The people Korah called holy now say, Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Adam Clarke marks the swing between the two claims.
This site's exposition
Look, we are perishing!
The people pile three cries on one another, each wider than the last, until the cry takes in all of them. The fear had grounds, with 14,700 dead in the plague at 16:49 and the earth and the fire before that. Adam Clarke calls the cry folly and extravagance.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
If we die, if we perish, it is owing to ourselves, and the blame will lie upon our own heads. Many interpreters take it as expressing their submission: "Now we see that it is the will of God we should keep our distance, and that it is at our peril if we draw nearer than is appointed.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
We perish - Words of consternation, arising from the remembrance of these severe and repeated judgments, from the threatening of death upon any succeeding murmurings, and from the sense of their own guilt and weakness, which made them fear lest they should relapse into the same miscarriages, and thereby bring the vengeance of God upon themselves.
And the children of Israel spake unto Moses,....
They strive with God for the dominion; and the question is whose will shall stand. God will rule, but Israel will not be ruled; and this is the quarrel. It is an instance of the grace of God that, having wrought divers miracles to punish sin, he would work one more on purpose to prevent it.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
A new section should begin with these verses. They are connected retrospectively with Num. 16; and form the immediate introduction to Num. 18. The people were terror-stricken by the fate of the company of Korah and by the plague. Presumption passed by reaction into despair. Was there any approach for them to the tabernacle of the Lord? Was there any escape from death, except by keeping aloof from His presence? The answers are supplied by the ordinances which testified that the God of judgment was still a God of grace and of love.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ | vaiyomeru | and they said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מֹשֶׁ֖ה | mosheh | Moses | H4872 → | 765 times |
| לֵאמֹ֑ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| הֵ֥ן | hen | here! | H2005 → | 316 times |
| גָּוַ֛עְנוּ | gava'nu | we will die | H1478 → | 24 times |
| אָבַ֖דְנוּ | ʾavadnu | we will perish | H6 → | 184 times |
| כֻּלָּ֥נוּ | kulanu | all of us | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אָבָֽדְנוּ׃ | ʾavadnu | we will perish | H6 → | 184 times |
וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙and they said
vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times
בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מֹשֶׁ֖הMoses
moshehH4872 →765 times
לֵאמֹ֑ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
הֵ֥ןhere!
henH2005 →316 times
גָּוַ֛עְנוּwe will die
gava'nuH1478 →24 times
אָבַ֖דְנוּwe will perish
ʾavadnuH6 →184 times
כֻּלָּ֥נוּall of us
kulanuH3605 →5413 times
אָבָֽדְנוּ׃we will perish
ʾavadnuH6 →184 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
Isaiah 6:5Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD…
it leads to
- Luke 5:8–9
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.”
- James 3:6–10
The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on…
- Jeremiah 9:3–8
“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 1:6
“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!”
- Matthew 12:34–37
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
- Luke 5:8–9
Through
Isaiah 57:16For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me, with the breath of those I have made.
it leads to
- Micah 7:18
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- Jeremiah 10:24
Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice—not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.
- Micah 7:18
Through
Proverbs 19:3A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.
it leads to
- Revelation 16:9–11
And the people were scorched by intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues; yet they did not repent and give Him glory.
- Revelation 16:9–11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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.