Bible Strands
Numbers 16:13
Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Dathan and Abiram refuse Moses’ summons and address their accusation directly to him. They speak at the moment he attempts to convene them after leading the Israelites out of Egypt.
The words — The Hebrew term הַמְעַט (ha.ma‘at) literally means “is it small,” framing their complaint as a dismissal of God’s deliverance. The phrase זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ (za.bat cha.lav u.de.vash) translates to “flowing milk and honey,” describing the land of Egypt’s abundance.
The thread — The claim that Moses brought them to the wilderness to kill them matches the Israelites’ earlier complaint in Exodus 16:3. The challenge “Who made you ruler and judge?” originates in Exodus 2:14 and is quoted in Acts 7:35.
Why it lands — The text records a direct challenge to Moses’ authority and frames divine deliverance as a prelude to destruction. It requires the reader to confront whether they will accept the stated actions of God or substitute human calculation for His promises.
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
Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us?
Cross-references
- Acts 7:35 This Moses, whom they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be their ruler and redeemer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
- Exodus 2:14 But the man replied, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “This thing I have done has surely become known.”
- 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!”
- Numbers 11:5 We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.
- Exodus 1:11 So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
- Exodus 1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”
- 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.
- 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 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!
- Numbers 20:3 The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished with our brothers before the LORD!