Numbers 11:15

If this is how You are going to treat me, please kill me right now—if I have found favor in Your eyes—and let me not see my own wretchedness.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Moses addresses Yahweh at the wilderness camp immediately after declaring the burden of governing the Israelites too heavy for him.

The words — The Hebrew כָּכָה (kakhah) and עֹשֶׂה (oseh) form the clause "thus you are doing," which the translation renders as "If this is how You are going to treat me," explicitly including the recipient of the action.

The thread — This plea for death appears alongside Elijah’s request in 1 Kings 19:4, Jonah’s complaint in Jonah 4:3, and Jeremiah’s lament in Jeremiah 20:18.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that leadership fatigue can produce a direct request for termination, while the surrounding narrative immediately shifts to divine delegation rather than moral correction.

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

וְאִם־ve./'im-and/ if כָּ֣כָה׀Ka.khahthus אַתְּ־'at-you עֹ֣שֶׂה'O.seh[are] doingלִּ֗יL/ito <the>/ meהָרְגֵ֤נִיha.re.Ge./nikill/ me נָא֙na'please הָרֹ֔גha.Rogcompletely <to kill>אִם־'im-if מָצָ֥אתִיma.Tza.tiI have found חֵ֖ןchenfavor בְּעֵינֶ֑יךָbe./'ei.Nei./khain/ view/ your וְאַל־ve./'al-and/ may not אֶרְאֶ֖ה'er.'EhI look בְּרָעָתִֽי׃ פbe./ra.'a.T/ion/ distress/ my

King James Version

And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

Cross-references

Jonah 4:3 And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
1 Kings 19:4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
Jeremiah 20:18 Why did I come out of the womb to see only trouble and sorrow, and to end my days in shame?
Jonah 4:8 As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
Philippians 1:20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
Exodus 32:32 Yet now, if You would only forgive their sin.... But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.”
Zephaniah 3:15 The LORD has taken away your punishment; He has turned back your enemy. Israel’s King, the LORD, is among you; no longer will you fear any harm.
Job 3:20 Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul,
Job 6:8 If only my request were granted and God would fulfill my hope:
Job 7:15 so that I would prefer strangling and death over my life in this body.