Exodus 14:12

12 Isn't this the word we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone [so that] we can serve Egypt!' because serving Egypt is better for us than our dying in the desert."

Exodus 14:12 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 14:12

Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt
The thing they suggested to him, and talked with him about while they were in the land of Egypt, before they came out of it, particularly after their service and bondage were made more severe and cruel upon Moses and Aaron's demanding their dismission, see ( Exodus 5:21 ) ( 6:9 ) :

saying, let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?
peaceably and quietly, as we have been used to do, since there is no likelihood of being freed, and since we are more evilly treated than before:

for it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we
should die in the wilderness:
of such mean spirits were they, and had so poor a notion of, and taste for liberty, and so ungrateful were they to their deliverer.

Exodus 14:12 In-Context

10 And Pharaoh approached, and the {Israelites} lifted their eyes, and there were the Egyptians traveling after them! And they were very afraid, and the {Israelites} cried out to Yahweh.

11 And they said to Moses, "Because there are no graves in Egypt? Is that why you have taken us to die in the desert? What [is] this you have done to us by bringing us out from Egypt!

12 Isn't this the word we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone [so that] we can serve Egypt!' because serving Egypt is better for us than our dying in the desert."

13 And Moses said to the people, "You must not be afraid. Stand [still] and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will accomplish for you today, because [the] Egyptians whom you see today you will see never again.

14 Yahweh will fight for you, and you must be quiet."