Numbers 21:5

Christian Standard Bible ®

The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
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 food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food."

Update Bible Version
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, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread.

English Revised Version
And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

New Century Version
and grumbled at God and Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert? There is no bread and no water, and we hate this terrible food!"

New English Translation
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 detest this worthless food."

Webster's Bible Translation
And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have ye brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for [there is] no bread, neither [is there any] water; and our soul lotheth this light bread.

World English Bible
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, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread.

Amplified Bible
So the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, nor is there any water, and we loathe this miserable food."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the puple spak ayens the Lord and Moises, and seide, Whi leddist thou vs out of Egipt, that we schulden die in wildirnesse? breed failith, watris ben not; oure soule wlatith now on this `meete moost liyt.

Young's Literal Translation
and the people speak against God, and against Moses, `Why hast thou brought us up out of Egypt to die in a wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul hath been weary of this light bread.'

Berean Standard Bible
and spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!"

Contemporary English Version
that they complained against God and said to Moses, "Did you bring us out of Egypt, just to let us die in the desert? There's no water out here, and we can't stand this awful food!"

American Standard Version
And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

Bible in Basic English
And crying out against God and against Moses, they said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to come to our death in the waste land? For there is no bread and no water, and this poor bread is disgusting to us.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the people spake agaynst God and agaynst Moyses: wherefore haue ye brought vs out of Egypt, for to dye in the wildernesse? for here is neither bread nor water, and our soule lotheth this lyght bread.

Complete Jewish Bible
The people spoke against God and against Moshe: "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt? To die in the desert? There's no real food, there's no water, and we're sick of this miserable stuff we're eating!"

Darby Translation
and the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have ye brought us up out of Egypt that we should die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and no water, and our soul loathes this light bread.

Easy-to-Read Version
They began complaining against God and Moses. The people said, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt? We will die here in the desert! There is no bread and no water! And we hate this terrible food!"

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the people spoke against God, and against Moses: 'Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.'

King James Version (1611)
And the people spake against God and against Moses, Wherefore haue ye brought vs vp out of Egypt, to die in the wildernesse? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soule loatheth this light bread.

New Life Bible
They spoke against God and Moses, saying, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? For there is no food and no water. And we hate this bad food."

New Revised Standard
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 food and no water, and we detest this miserable food."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So then the people spake against God and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt, to die in the desert? for there is neither bread nor water, and our soul, doth loathe this contemptible bread!

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the people spake against God and against Moses, saying, Wherefore haue ye brought vs out of Egypt, to die in the wildernesse? for here is neither bread nor water, & our soule lotheth this light bread.

George Lamsa Translation
And the people murmured against God and against Moses, saying, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For neither is there bread, nor water; and our soul is wearied with this inferior bread (manna).

Good News Translation
and spoke against God and Moses. They complained, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We can't stand any more of this miserable food!"

Douay-Rheims Bible
And speaking against God and Moses, they said: Why didst thou bring us out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor have we any waters: our soul now loatheth this very light food.

Revised Standard Version
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 food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food."

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the people spoke against God and against Moses, saying, Why is this? Hast thou brought us ought of Egypt to slay us in the wilderness? for there is not bread nor water; and our soul loathes this light bread.

Hebrew Names Version
The people spoke against God, and against Moshe, Why have you brought us up out of Mitzrayim to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread.

King James Version
And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

Lexham English Bible
The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us from Egypt to die in the desert? There is no food and no water, and our hearts detest this miserable food."

Literal Translation
And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul hates this light bread.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and they spake agaynst God and agaynst Moses: Wherfore hast thou brought vs out of the lande of Egipte, to slaye vs in the wildernesse? For here is nether bred ner water, and oure soule lotheth this lighte meate.

New American Standard Bible
So the people spoke against God and Moses: "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we are disgusted with this miserable food."

New King James Version
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 food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread."

New Living Translation
and they began to speak against God and Moses. "Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?" they complained. "There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!"

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food."

Legacy Standard Bible
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 food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food."

Contextual Overview

⁴Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey. ⁵The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” ⁶Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died. ⁷The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that he will take the snakes away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. ⁸Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.” ⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

spake: Numbers 11:1-6, Numbers 14:1-4, Numbers 16:13, Numbers 16:14, Numbers 16:41, Numbers 17:12, Exodus 14:11, Exodus 15:24, Exodus 16:2, Exodus 16:3, Exodus 16:7, Exodus 16:8, Exodus 17:2, Exodus 17:3, Psalms 68:6, Psalms 78:19

and our soul: Numbers 11:6-9, Exodus 16:15, Exodus 16:31, Psalms 78:24, Psalms 78:25, Proverbs 27:7

Reciprocal: Exodus 7:18 - shall loathe Numbers 11:10 - weep throughout Numbers 11:20 - and it Numbers 20:2 - gathered Numbers 24:8 - God Deuteronomy 1:27 - The Lord hated us Deuteronomy 6:16 - tempted him Deuteronomy 9:7 - from the day 2 Kings 3:9 - no water Psalms 107:17 - because Ezekiel 20:21 - the children Acts 7:39 - and in 1 Corinthians 10:9 - tempt

Cross-References

Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless.

Genesis 17:17
Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?”

Romans 4:19
He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the people spake against God,.... Who went before them in the pillar of cloud and fire, for leading them in such a way; that is, against Christ, as the apostle has taught us to interpret it,

1 Corinthians 10:9, and is no inconsiderable proof of the deity of Christ; and so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it,

"and the people thought in their heart, and spake against the Word of the Lord,''

the essential Word and Son of God:

and against Moses; his servant, for obeying the orders of the Lord, and leading and guiding the people as he directed him:

wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? ascribing this equally to God and to Moses; using a strange word, as Aben Ezra calls it, being in a great passion, and not considering well what they said; showing great ingratitude for such a mercy, and representing it in a wrong light, as if the intent of bringing them from thence was to slay them in the wilderness:

for [there] is no bread; no bread corn, nothing in the wilderness to make bread of; nothing that they called and accounted bread, otherwise they had manna, as is presently owned:

neither [is there] any water; any fresh water fit to drink, otherwise they were near the sea; what they had from the rock, lately, perhaps was now spent, and it did not follow them as the other rock had:

and our soul loatheth this light bread; the manna; this very light, this exceeding light bread, the radicals of the word q used being doubled, which increases the signification: if to be understood of light and easy digestion, it was the more to be valued; but perhaps they meant, it had but little substance and virtue in it, and was not filling and satisfying; or rather that it was exceeding vile, mean, and despicable; so they called the bread of heaven, angel's food, this wonderful gift of Providence; in like manner is Christ, the hidden manna, treated, and his Gospel, and the precious truths of it, by unregenerate men and carnal professors, 1 Corinthians 1:23.

q הקלקל "levissime", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Fagius, Vatablus; "vilissimi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This light bread - i. e. “this vile, contemptible bread.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 21:5. This light bread. — הקלקל hakkelokel, a word of excessive scorn; as if they had said, This innutritive, unsubstantial, cheat - stomach stuff.