Numbers 14:1

The People Rebel

1 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.

Numbers 14:1 in Other Translations

1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.

1 Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night.

1 The whole community was in an uproar, wailing all night long.

1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

1 Then all the people in the Israelite community raised their voices and cried out loud all that night.

1 Then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night.

1 That night all of the people in the community raised their voices. They sobbed out loud.

Numbers 14:1 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:1

And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried
This is not to be understood of every individual in the congregation of Israel, but of the princes, heads, and elders of the people that were with Moses and Aaron when the report of the spies was made; though indeed the report might quickly spread throughout the body of the people, and occasion a general outcry, which was very loud and clamorous, and attended with all the signs of distress imaginable, in shrieks and tears and lamentations:

and the people wept that night:
perhaps throughout the night; could get no sleep nor rest all the night, but spent it in weeping and crying, at the thought of their condition and circumstances, and the disappointments they had met with, as they conceived, of entering into and possessing the land.

Numbers 14:1 In-Context

1 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.

2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!

3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there.

Cross References

• 1. S Genesis 27:38; Exodus 33:4; Numbers 25:6; Deuteronomy 1:45; Judges 20:23,26; 2 Samuel 3:32; Job 31:29