Numbers 14:2

2 and all the sons of Israel grouched against Moses and Aaron, and said, We would that we had been dead in Egypt, either that we were dead in this wilderness; we would that we perished, (and all the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and said, We wish that we had died in Egypt, or that we had already died here in this wilderness; yea, we wish that we were dead,)

Numbers 14:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:2

And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses, and
against Aaron
They being the instruments of bringing them out of Egypt, and conducting them hither:

and the whole congregation said unto them;
some of them, the rest assenting to it by their cries and tears and gestures;

would God we had died in the land of Egypt;
and then what they left behind they thought might have come into the hands of their children or relations; but now they concluded it would become a prey to the Canaanites:

or would God we had died in this wilderness;
the wilderness of Paran, at Taberah, where many of them had been destroyed by fire, ( Numbers 11:1-3 ) , and now they wish they had perished with them.

Numbers 14:2 In-Context

1 Therefore all the company cried, and wept in that night,

2 and all the sons of Israel grouched against Moses and Aaron, and said, We would that we had been dead in Egypt, either that we were dead in this wilderness; we would that we perished, (and all the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and said, We wish that we had died in Egypt, or that we had already died here in this wilderness; yea, we wish that we were dead,)

3 and that the Lord lead us not into this land, lest we fall by sword, and our wives and our free children be led, or taken, prisoners; whether it is not better to us to turn again into Egypt? (is it not better for us to return to Egypt?)

4 And they said one to another, Ordain we a duke, or a leader, to us, and turn we again into Egypt. (And they said to one another, Let us choose a new leader, and let us return to Egypt.)

5 And when this was heard, Moses and Aaron fell down low to the earth (Moses and Aaron fell down on the ground), before all the multitude of the sons of Israel.