Bible Strands
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?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Israelites address Moses at the wilderness site where they previously demanded water. This occurs directly after their initial complaint and immediately before Moses pleads with the LORD about the threat of being stoned.
The words — The narrative records that the people וַ/יָּ֥לֶן (va/i.Ya.len), literally "grumbled," against Moses. This action follows their state of וַ/יִּצְמָ֨א (va/i.yitz.Ma'), literally "and it was thirsty," grounding the conflict in acute physical depletion.
The thread — The same complaint structure appears in Exodus 15:24 when the people ask, “What are we to drink?” and in Exodus 16:2 when the entire congregation grumbles against Moses and Aaron in the desert.
Why it lands — The text states that immediate physical lack provokes the people to reframe God's deliverance as a death sentence. It requires the reader to recognize how present discomfort is being weaponized to deny the validity of past intervention.
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 people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
Cross-references
- Exodus 16:2 And there in the desert the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
- Exodus 15:24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”