Exodus 5:21

5:21 and they said to them, “May the Lord look on you and judge, ¹  because you have made us stink ²  in the opinion of ³  Pharaoh and his servants, ⁴  so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!” ⁵ 

Exodus 14:11-12

14:11 and they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? ⁶  What in the world ⁷  have you done to us by bringing ⁸  us out of Egypt? 14:12 Isn’t this what we told you ⁹  in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians, ¹⁰  because it is better for us to serve ¹¹  the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’” ¹² 

Exodus 15:24

15:24 So the people murmured ¹³  against Moses, saying, “What can ¹⁴  we drink?”

Exodus 16:2-3

16:2 The entire company ¹⁵  of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron in the desert. 16:3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died ¹⁶  by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by ¹⁷  the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, ¹⁸  for you have brought us out into this desert to kill ¹⁹  this whole assembly with hunger!”

Numbers 11:4-6

Complaints about Food

11:4 ²⁰ Now the mixed multitude ²¹  who were among them craved more desirable foods, ²²  and so the Israelites wept again ²³  and said, “If only we had meat to eat! ²⁴  11:5 We remember ²⁵  the fish we used to eat ²⁶  freely ²⁷  in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 11:6 But now we ²⁸  are dried up, ²⁹  and there is nothing at all before us ³⁰  except this manna!”

Numbers 14:2

14:2 And all the Israelites murmured ³¹  against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died ³²  in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished ³³  in this wilderness!

Numbers 20:3-5

20:3 The people contended ³⁴  with Moses, saying, ³⁵  “If only ³⁶  we had died when our brothers died before the Lord! 20:4 Why ³⁷  have you brought up the Lord’s community into this wilderness? So that ³⁸  we and our cattle should die here? 20:5 Why ³⁹  have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to ⁴⁰  this dreadful place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!”

Numbers 21:5

21:5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread or water, and we ⁴¹  detest this worthless ⁴²  food.”

[5:21]  ¹ tn The foremen vented their anger on Moses and Aaron. The two jussives express their desire that the evil these two have caused be dealt with. “May Yahweh look on you and may he judge” could mean only that God should decide if Moses and Aaron are at fault, but given the rest of the comments it is clear the foremen want more. The second jussive could be subordinated to the first – “so that he may judge [you].”

[5:21]  ² tn Heb “you have made our aroma stink.”

[5:21]  ³ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[5:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the eyes of his servants.” This phrase is not repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “to put a sword in their hand to kill us.” The infinitive construct with the lamed (לָתֶת, latet) signifies the result (“so that”) of making the people stink. Their reputation is now so bad that Pharaoh might gladly put them to death. The next infinitive could also be understood as expressing result: “put a sword in their hand so that they can kill us.”

[14:11]  ⁶ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 396-97) notes how the speech is overly dramatic and came from a people given to using such exaggerations (Num 16:14), even using a double negative. The challenge to Moses brings a double irony. To die in the desert would be without proper burial, but in Egypt there were graves – it was a land of tombs and graves! Gesenius notes that two negatives in the sentence do not nullify each other but make the sentence all the more emphatic: “Is it because there were no graves…?” (GKC 483 §152.y).

[14:11]  ⁷ tn The demonstrative pronoun has the enclitic use again, giving a special emphasis to the question (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[14:11]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term לְהוֹצִּיאָנוּ (lÿhotsi’anu) is the Hiphil infinitive construct with a suffix, “to bring us out.” It is used epexegetically here, explaining the previous question.

[14:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “Is not this the word that we spoke to you.”

[14:12]  ¹⁰ sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 164) explains this statement by the people as follows: “The question appears surprising at first, for we have not read previously that such words were spoken to Moses. Nor is the purport of the protest of the Israelite foremen (v 21 [5:21]) identical with that of the words uttered now. However, from a psychological standpoint the matter can be easily explained. In the hour of peril the children of Israel remember that remonstrance, and now it seems to them that it was of a sharper character and flowed from their foresight, and that the present situation justifies it, for death awaits them at this moment in the desert.” This declaration that “we told you so,” born of fright, need not have been strictly accurate or logical.

[14:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “better for us to serve.”

[14:12]  ¹² tn Since Hebrew does not use quotation marks to indicate the boundaries of quotations, there is uncertainty about whether the Israelites’ statement in Egypt includes the end of v. 12 or consists solely of “leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians.” In either case, the command to Moses to leave them alone rested on the assumption, spoken or unspoken, that serving Egypt would be less risky than what Moses was proposing. Now with the Egyptian army on the horizon, the Israelites are sure that their worst predictions are about to take place.

[15:24]  ¹³ tn The verb וַיִּלֹנוּ (vayyillonu) from לוּן (lun) is a much stronger word than “to grumble” or “to complain.” It is used almost exclusively in the wilderness wandering stories, to describe the rebellion of the Israelites against God (see also Ps 59:14-15). They were not merely complaining – they were questioning God’s abilities and motives. The action is something like a parliamentary vote of no confidence.

[15:24]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect tense here should be given a potential nuance: “What can we drink?” since the previous verse reports that they were not able to drink the water.

[16:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “community” or “assembly.”

[16:3]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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.

[11:4]  ²⁰ sn The story of the sending of the quail is a good example of poetic justice, or talionic justice. God had provided for the people, but even in that provision they were not satisfied, for they remembered other foods they had in Egypt. No doubt there was not the variety of foods in the Sinai that might have been available in Egypt, but their life had been bitter bondage there as well. They had cried to the Lord for salvation, but now they forget, as they remember things they used to have. God will give them what they crave, but it will not do for them what they desire. For more information on this story, see B. J. Malina, The Palestinian Manna Tradition. For the attempt to explain manna and the other foods by natural phenomena, see F. W. Bodenheimer, “The Manna of Sinai,” BA 10 (1947): 1-6.

[11:4]  ²¹ tn The mixed multitude (or “rabble,” so NASB, NIV, NRSV; NLT “foreign rabble”) is the translation of an unusual word, הֲָאסַפְסֻף (ha’safsuf). It occurs in the Hebrew Bible only here. It may mean “a gathering of people” from the verb אָסַף (’asaf), yielding the idea of a mixed multitude (in line with Exod 12:38). But the root is different, and so no clear connection can be established. Many commentators therefore think the word is stronger, showing contempt through a word that would be equivalent to “riff-raff.”

[11:4]  ²² tn The Hebrew simply uses the cognate accusative, saying “they craved a craving” (הִתְאַוּוּ תַּאֲוָה, hit’avvu ta’vah), but the context shows that they had this strong craving for food. The verb describes a strong desire, which is not always negative (Ps 132:13-14). But the word is a significant one in the Torah; it was used in the garden story for Eve’s desire for the tree, and it is used in the Decalogue in the warning against coveting (Deut 5:21).

[11:4]  ²³ tc The Greek and the Latin versions read “and they sat down” for “and they returned,” involving just a change in vocalization (which they did not have). This may reflect the same expression in Judg 20:26. But the change does not improve this verse.

[11:4]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew expresses the strong wish or longing idiomatically: “Who will give us flesh to eat?” It is a rhetorical expression not intended to be taken literally, but merely to give expression to the longing they had. See GKC 476 §151.a.1.

[11:5]  ²⁵ tn The perfect tense here expresses the experience of a state of mind.

[11:5]  ²⁶ tn The imperfect tense would here be the customary imperfect, showing continual or incomplete action in past time.

[11:5]  ²⁷ tn The adverb “freely” is from the word חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious”), from which is derived the noun “grace.” The word underscores the idea of “free, without cost, for no reason, gratis.” Here the simple sense is “freely,” without any cost. But there may be more significance in the choice of the words in this passage, showing the ingratitude of the Israelites to God for His deliverance from bondage. To them now the bondage is preferable to the salvation – this is what angered the Lord.

[11:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “our souls.”

[11:6]  ²⁹ sn The Hebrews were complaining both about the bland taste of the manna and dehydration – they were parched in the wilderness.

[11:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “before our eyes,” meaning that “we see nothing except this manna.”

[14:2]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew verb “to murmur” is לוּן (lun). It is a strong word, signifying far more than complaining or grumbling, as some of the modern translations have it. The word is most often connected to the wilderness experience. It is paralleled in the literature with the word “to rebel.” The murmuring is like a parliamentary vote of no confidence, for they no longer trusted their leaders and wished to choose a new leader and return. This “return to Egypt” becomes a symbol of their lack of faith in the Lord.

[14:2]  ³² tn The optative is expressed by לוּ (lu) and then the verb, here the perfect tense מַתְנוּ (matnu) – “O that we had died….” Had they wanted to die in Egypt they should not have cried out to the Lord to deliver them from bondage. Here the people became consumed with the fear and worry of what lay ahead, and in their panic they revealed a lack of trust in God.

[14:2]  ³³ tn Heb “died.”

[20:3]  ³⁴ tn The verb is רִיב (riv); it is often used in the Bible for a legal complaint, a law suit, at least in form. But it can also describe a quarrel, or strife, like that between Abram’s men and Lot’s men in Genesis 13. It will be the main verb behind the commemorative name Meribah, the place where the people strove with God. It is a far more serious thing than grumbling – it is directed, intentional, and well-argued. For further discussion, see J. Limburg, “The Root ‘rib’ and the Prophetic Lawsuit Speeches,” JBL 88 (1969): 291-304.

[20:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and they said, saying.”

[20:3]  ³⁶ tn The particle לוּ (lu) indicates the optative nuance of the line – the wishing or longing for death. It is certainly an absurdity to want to have died, but God took them at their word and they died in the wilderness.

[20:4]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and why….” The conjunction seems to be recording another thing that the people said in their complaint against Moses.

[20:4]  ³⁸ tn The clause uses the infinitive construct with the lamed (ל) preposition. The clause would be a result clause in this sentence: “Why have you brought us here…with the result that we will all die?”

[20:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and why.”

[20:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Here also the infinitive construct (Hiphil) forms the subordinate clause of the preceding interrogative clause.

[21:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “our souls.”

[21:5]  ⁴² tn The Israelites’ opinion about the manna was clear enough – “worthless.” The word used is קְלֹקֵל (qÿloqel, “good for nothing, worthless, miserable”).