Numbers 14 · Verse 4

Numbers 14:4

And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Numbers 14:4, King James Version

Numbers 14:4 in other translations

BSBSo they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”
WEBThey said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.”
ASVAnd they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
YLTAnd they say one unto another, ‘Let us appoint a head, and turn back to Egypt.'
DARBYAnd they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return to Egypt.
BBEAnd they said to one another, Let us make a captain over us, and go back to Egypt.
WebsterAnd they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

What does Numbers 14:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 14:2-4

2-4. Would God that we had died in Egypt--Such insolence to their generous leaders, and such base ingratitude to God, show the deep degradation of the Israelites, and the absolute necessity of the decree that debarred that generation from entering the promised land [Nu 14:29-35]. They were punished by their wishes being granted to die in that wilderness [He 3:17; Jude 5]. A leader to reconduct them to Egypt is…

Read the full comment on Numbers 14:2-4 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 Let us make a captain - Here was a formal renunciation of the authority of Moses, and flat rebellion against God. And it seems from Neh 9:17 that they had actually appointed another leader, under whose direction they were about to return to Egypt. How astonishing is this! Their lives were made bitter, because of the rigor with which they were made to serve in the land of Egypt; and yet they are willing, yea eager, to get back into the same circumstances again! Great evils, when once some time past, affect the mind less than present ills, though much inferior. They had partly forgot their Egyptian bondage, and now smart under a little discouragement, having totally lost sight of their high calling, and of the power and goodness of God.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Numbers 14:1-4

Those who do not trust God, continually vex themselves. The sorrow of the world worketh death. The Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, and in them reproached the Lord. They look back with causeless discontent. See the madness of unbridled passions, which makes men prodigal of what nature accounts most dear, life itself. They wish rather to die criminals under God's justice, than to live conquerors in his…

Read the full comment on Numbers 14:1-4 →

Numbers 14:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיֹּאמְר֖וּvai.yo.me.Ruand they saidH559
אִ֣ישׁ'isheachH376
אֶל\־'el-toH413
אָחִ֑יו'a.Chivbrother hisH251
נִתְּנָ֥הni.te.Nahlet us appointH5414
רֹ֖אשׁrosha leaderH7218
וְנָשׁ֥וּבָהve.na.Shu.vahand let us returnH7725
מִצְרָֽיְמָה\׃mitz.Ra.ye.mahEgypt towardsH4714

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Numbers 14:4

  • Acts 7:39

    To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

  • Nehemiah 9:16-17

    But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.

  • Luke 17:32

    Remember Lot’s wife.

  • Deuteronomy 17:16

    But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

  • Deuteronomy 28:68

    And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

  • Hebrews 11:15

    And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

  • 2 Peter 2:21-22

    For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

  • Hebrews 10:38-39

    Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
De 17:16; 28:68; Ne 9:16,17; Lu 17:32; Ac 7:39; Heb 10:38,39; 11:15
2Pe 2:21,22

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Numbers 14:3

    And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

  • Numbers 14:4

    And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

  • Numbers 14:5

    Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

Read all of Numbers 14

Numbers 14:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y decían el uno al otro: Hagamos un capitán, y volvámonos á Egipto.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et ils se dirent l’un à l’autre: Établissons un chef, et retournons en Égypte.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und sie sprachen einer zum anderen: Laßt uns ein Haupt über uns setzen und nach Ägypten zurückkehren! -
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Dixeruntque alter ad alterum: Constituamus nobis ducem, et revertamur in Ægyptum.