Bible Strands
Exodus 16:3
“If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Israelite assembly addresses Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, voicing regret over their departure from Egypt.
The words — The phrase מִי־יִתֵּ֥ן מוּתֵ֖נוּ (mi-yitten mutenu) literally translates to "who will give us to die," functioning as a rhetorical lament rather than a literal request.
The thread — This motif of desert grumbling over provision and leadership resurfaces in Numbers 11:4, Exodus 17:3, and Numbers 20:3.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment of how immediate scarcity warps memory of past security and fuels rebellion against established authority.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
Cross-references
- Numbers 11:4 Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
- Exodus 17:3 But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
- Numbers 20:3 The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished with our brothers before the LORD!
- Deuteronomy 28:67 In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you will see.
- Lamentations 4:9 Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
- Numbers 14:2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!
- Jeremiah 2:6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
- Exodus 2:23 After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
- Joshua 7:7 “O, Lord GOD,” Joshua said, “why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to be destroyed? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!
- 1 Corinthians 4:8 Already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. Without us, you have become kings. How I wish you really were kings, so that we might be kings with you!