Numbers 14:1

1 Then all the people in the Israelite community raised their voices and cried out loud all that night.

Numbers 14:1 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:1

And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried
This is not to be understood of every individual in the congregation of Israel, but of the princes, heads, and elders of the people that were with Moses and Aaron when the report of the spies was made; though indeed the report might quickly spread throughout the body of the people, and occasion a general outcry, which was very loud and clamorous, and attended with all the signs of distress imaginable, in shrieks and tears and lamentations:

and the people wept that night:
perhaps throughout the night; could get no sleep nor rest all the night, but spent it in weeping and crying, at the thought of their condition and circumstances, and the disappointments they had met with, as they conceived, of entering into and possessing the land.

Numbers 14:1 In-Context

1 Then all the people in the Israelite community raised their voices and cried out loud all that night.
2 They complained to Moses and Aaron, "If only we had died in Egypt or this desert!
3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land--just to have us die in battle? Our wives and children will be taken as prisoners of war! Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?"
4 They said to each other, "Let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt."
5 Immediately, Moses and Aaron bowed with their faces touching the ground in front of the whole community of Israel assembled there.
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