Exodus 16:2-3

16:2 The entire company ¹  of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron in the desert. 16:3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died ²  by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by ³  the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, ⁴  for you have brought us out into this desert to kill ⁵  this whole assembly with hunger!”

Deuteronomy 17:16

17:16 Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so, ⁶  for the Lord has said you must never again return that way.

Nehemiah 9:17

9:17 They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt. ⁷  But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. ⁸  You did not abandon them,

Acts 7:39

7:39 Our ⁹  ancestors ¹⁰  were unwilling to obey ¹¹  him, but pushed him aside ¹²  and turned back to Egypt in their hearts,

[16:2]  ¹ tn Or “community” or “assembly.”

[16:3]  ² tn The text reads: מִי־יִתֵּן מוּתֵנוּ (mi-yitten mutenu, “who will give our dying”) meaning “If only we had died.” מוּתֵנוּ is the Qal infinitive construct with the suffix. This is one way that Hebrew expresses the optative with an infinitive construct. See R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 91-92, §547.

[16:3]  ³ tn The form is a Qal infinitive construct used in a temporal clause, and the verb “when we ate” has the same structure.

[16:3]  ⁴ sn That the complaint leading up to the manna is unjustified can be seen from the record itself. They left Egypt with flocks and herds and very much cattle, and about 45 days later they are complaining that they are without food. Moses reminded them later that they lacked nothing (Deut 3:7; for the whole sermon on this passage, see 8:1-20). Moreover, the complaint is absurd because the food of work gangs was far more meager than they recall. The complaint was really against Moses. They crave the eating of meat and of bread and so God will meet that need; he will send bread from heaven and quail as well.

[16:3]  ⁵ tn לְהָמִית (lÿhamit) is the Hiphil infinitive construct showing purpose. The people do not trust the intentions or the plan of their leaders and charge Moses with bringing everyone out to kill them.

[17:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “in order to multiply horses.” The translation uses “do so” in place of “multiply horses” to avoid redundancy (cf. NAB, NIV).

[9:17]  ⁷ tc The present translation follows a few medieval Hebrew MSS and the LXX in reading בְּמִצְרָיִם (bÿmitsrayim, “in Egypt”; so also NAB, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT) rather than the MT reading בְּמִרְיָם (bÿmiryam, “in their rebellion”).

[9:17]  ⁸ tc The translation follows the Qere reading חֶסֶד (khesed, “loyal love”) rather than the Kethib reading וְחֶסֶד (vÿkhesed, “and loyal love”) of the MT.

[7:39]  ⁹ tn Grk “whom our.” The continuation of the sentence as a relative clause is awkward in English, so a new sentence was started in the translation at this point.

[7:39]  ¹⁰ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:39]  ¹¹ sn To obey. Again the theme of the speech is noted. The nation disobeyed the way of God and opted for Egypt over the promised land.

[7:39]  ¹² sn Pushed him aside. This is the second time Moses is “pushed aside” in Stephen’s account (see v. 27).