Numbers 14:1

1 And the whole assembly lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept 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 And the whole assembly lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole assembly said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or in this wilderness would that we had died!
3 And why is Jehovah bringing us to this land that we may fall by the sword, that our wives and our little ones may become a prey? Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?
4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return to Egypt.
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces before the whole congregation of the assembly of the children of Israel.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Lit. 'lifted up and gave their voice.'
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.