Bamidbar 14:1

1 4 And Kol HaEdah lifted up their voice, and cried; and HaAm wept that night.

Bamidbar 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.

Bamidbar 14:1 In-Context

1 4 And Kol HaEdah lifted up their voice, and cried; and HaAm wept that night.
2 And Kol Bnei Yisroel murmured against Moshe and against Aharon: and the Kol HaEdah said unto them, If only we had died in Eretz Mitzrayim! Or if only we had died in this midbar!
3 And why hath Hashem brought us unto this land, to fall by the cherev, that nasheinu (our wives) and our children should be as plunder? Were it not better for us to go back unto Mitzrayim?
4 And they said one to another, Let us make a Rosh (Leader), and let us go back unto Mitzrayim.
5 Then Moshe and Aharon fell on their faces before Kol Kehal Adat Bnei Yisroel.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.