Bible Strands
Numbers 21:5
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!”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Israelite people speak against God and Moses while traveling from Mount Hor toward the Red Sea, immediately after growing impatient on the route to bypass Edom.
The words — בֵּֽ/אלֹהִים֮ (be./lo.Him) translates literally to "against God," and הֶֽעֱלִיתֻ֙/נוּ֙ (he.'e.li.Tu./nu) means "have you brought up us," structuring their complaint as a direct indictment of divine leadership.
The thread — This pattern of accusing God of abandonment and rejecting wilderness sustenance appears in Psalms 78:19, Exodus 17:2, and Numbers 16:13.
Why it lands — The text records a precise accusation of failed deliverance and a rejection of provided bread and water, requiring the reader to recognize how immediate hardship triggers claims of divine betrayal.
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 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.
Cross-references
- Psalms 78:19 They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?
- Exodus 17:2 So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?”
- 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?
- Numbers 16:41 The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”
- Exodus 14:11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the wilderness to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?
- Exodus 16:2 And there in the desert the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
- Numbers 11:1 Soon the people began to complain about their hardship in the hearing of the LORD, and when He heard them, His anger was kindled, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.
- Numbers 14:1 Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept.
- Numbers 17:12 Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!
- Exodus 15:24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”