Exodus 17:3

3 And the people thirsted for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why {ever} did you bring us up from Egypt to kill me and my sons and my cattle with thirst?"

Exodus 17:3 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 17:3

And the people thirsted there for water
They saw there was no water when they first came thither, and therefore chid Moses for bringing them to such a place, where they could not subsist; and having stayed some little time here, and all the water they brought with them from Alush being spent, and having none to drink, began to be very thirsty:

and the people murmured against Moses;
became more impatient and enraged, and threw out their invectives against him with much acrimony and severity:

wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt?
where it would have been much better for us to have continued:

to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst:
which is intolerable to any, and especially to children and cattle, which require frequent drinking: they could not suppose that Moses had such a murderous view in bringing them out of Egypt, or that this was his intention in it, but that this would be the issue and event of it.

Exodus 17:3 In-Context

1 And all the community of the {Israelites} set out from the desert of Sin for their journeys according to the command of Yahweh, and they camped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.

2 And the people quarreled with Moses, and they said, "Give us water so that we can drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?"

3 And the people thirsted for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why {ever} did you bring us up from Egypt to kill me and my sons and my cattle with thirst?"

4 And Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, "What will I do with this people? A little longer and they will stone me."

5 And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go on before the people and take with you [some] from the elders of Israel, and the staff with which you struck the Nile take in your hand, and go.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "at all"; literally "this"
• [b]. The unexpected switch to first-person singular pronouns reflects the fact that the question summarizes a host of angry accusations and self-centered concern