Numbers 14:13

13 But Moses replied to the Lord, "The Egyptians will hear about it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from them.

Numbers 14:13 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:13

And Moses said unto the Lord
In an abrupt manner, as the following words show, his mind being greatly disturbed and distressed by the above threatening,

then the Egyptians shall hear [it];
that the Lord had smitten the Israelites with the pestilence; the Targum of Jonathan interprets it of the children of the Egyptians who were suffocated in the sea:

for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;
they were once sojourners among them, and slaves unto them, and they were delivered from them by the mighty hand of the Lord upon the Egyptians, destroying their firstborn; and therefore when they shall hear that the Israelites were all destroyed at once by a pestilence in the wilderness, it will be a pleasure to them, as follows.

Numbers 14:13 In-Context

11 The Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people despise Me? How long will they not trust in Me despite all the signs I have performed among them?

12 I will strike them with a plague and destroy them. Then I will make you into a greater and mightier nation than they are."

13 But Moses replied to the Lord, "The Egyptians will hear about it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from them.

14 They will tell [it to] the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are among these people, how You, Lord, are seen face to face, how Your cloud stands over them, and how You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

15 If You kill this people with a single blow, the nations that have heard of Your fame will declare,