Numbers 20 · Verse 14

Numbers 20:14

And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:
Numbers 20:14, King James Version

Numbers 20:14 in other translations

BSBFrom Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to tell the king of Edom, “This is what your brother Israel says: You know all the hardship that has befallen us,
WEBMoses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “Your brother Israel says: You know all the travail that has happened to us;
ASVAnd Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:
YLTAnd Moses sendeth messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, ‘Thus said thy brother Israel, Thou--thou hast known all the travail which hath found us;
DARBYAnd Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, Thus says thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the trouble that hath befallen us,
BBEThen Moses sent men from Kadesh to the king of Edom to say to him, Your brother Israel says, You have knowledge of all the things we have been through;
WebsterAnd Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:

What does Numbers 20:14 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 20:14-16
14-16. Moses sent messengers ... to the king of Edom--The encampment at Kadesh was on the confines of the Edomite territory, through which the Israelites would have had an easy passage across the Arabah by Wady-el-Ghuweir, so that they could have continued their course around Moab, and approached Palestine from the east [Roberts]. The Edomites, being the descendants of Esau and tracing their line of descent from Abraham as their common stock, were recognized by the Israelites as brethren, and a very brotherly message was sent to them.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 14 Sent messengers - unto the king of Edom - Archbishop Usher supposes that the king now reigning in Edom was Hadar, mentioned Gen 36:39. Thus saith thy brother Israel - The Edomites were the descendants of Edom or Esau, the brother of Jacob or Israel, from whom the Israelites were descended.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Numbers 20:14-21
The nearest way to Canaan from the place where Israel encamped, was through the country of Edom. The ambassadors who were sent returned with a denial. The Edomites feared to receive damage by the Israelites. And had this numerous army been under any other discipline than that of the righteous God himself, there might have been cause for this jealousy. But Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing; and now the hatred revived, when the blessing was about to be inherited. We must not think it strange, if reasonable requests be denied by unreasonable men, and if those whom God favours be affronted by men.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Numbers 20:14 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.

וַיִּשְׁלַ֨חvai.yish.Lachand he sentH7971
מֹשֶׁ֧הmo.ShehMosesH4872
מַלְאָכִ֛יםmal.'a.KhimmessengersH4397
מִקָּדֵ֖שׁmi.ka.Deshfrom KadeshH6946
אֶל\־'el-toH413
מֶ֣לֶךְMe.lekh[the] king ofH4428
אֱד֑וֹם'e.DomEdomH123
כֹּ֤הkohthusH3541
אָמַר֙'a.Marhe saysH559
אָחִ֣יךָ'a.Chi.khabrother yourH251
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'ElIsraelH3478
אַתָּ֣ה'a.TahyouH859
יָדַ֔עְתָּya.Da'.tayou knowH3045
אֵ֥ת'et<obj.>H853
כָּל\־kol-allH3605
הַתְּלָאָ֖הha.te.la.'Ahthe hardshipH8513
אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.SherwhichH834
מְצָאָֽתְנוּ\׃me.tza.'A.te.nuit has come upon usH4672

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

Cross references for Numbers 20:14

  • Judges 11:16-17

    But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh; Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.

  • Deuteronomy 23:7

    Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.

  • Genesis 32:3-4

    And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:

  • Deuteronomy 2:4-25

    And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore: Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink. For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing. …

  • Obadiah 1:10-12

    For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

  • Genesis 36:31-39

    And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom: and the name of his city was Dinhabah. And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani reigned in his stead. …

  • Joshua 9:9

    And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,

  • Malachi 1:2

    I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob,

  • Exodus 18:8

    And Moses told his father in law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Moses.
Jud 11:16,17
thy brother.
Ge 32:3,4; De 2:4-25; 23:7; Ob 1:10-12; Mal 1:2
befallen us. Heb. found us.
Ex 18:8

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

Context

  • Numbers 20:13

    This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

  • Numbers 20:14

    And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:

  • Numbers 20:15

    How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers:

Read all of Numbers 20

Numbers 20:14 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Y envió Moisés embajadores al rey de Edom desde Cades: Así dice Israel tu hermano: Tú has sabido todo el trabajo que nos ha venido:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
*Et Moïse envoya de Kadès des messagers au roi d’Édom: Ainsi dit ton frère, Israël: Tu sais toute la fatigue qui nous a atteints.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Und Mose sandte Boten aus Kades an den König von Edom: So spricht dein Bruder Israel: Du kennst all das Ungemach, das uns betroffen hat:
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Misit interea nuntios Moyses de Cades ad regem Edom, qui dicerent: Hæc mandat frater tuus Israël: Nosti omnem laborem qui apprehendit nos,