Numbers 14:4
New International Version
And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

New Living Translation
Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!”

English Standard Version
And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Berean Standard Bible
So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

King James Bible
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

New King James Version
So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”

New American Standard Bible
So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and return to Egypt!”

NASB 1995
So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

NASB 1977
So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

Legacy Standard Bible
So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

Amplified Bible
So they said one to another, “Let us appoint a [new] leader and return to Egypt.”

Christian Standard Bible
So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”

American Standard Version
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they said, each man to his brother, “Come, we shall make a Leader for us and we shall return to Egypt!”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And they said one to another, Let us make a ruler, and return into Egypt.

Contemporary English Version
Then they said to one another, "Let's choose our own leader and go back."

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they said one to another: Let us appoint a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

English Revised Version
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They said to each other, "Let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt."

Good News Translation
So they said to one another, "Let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt!"

International Standard Version
Then they told each other, "Let's assign a leader and go back to Egypt."

JPS Tanakh 1917
And they said one to another: 'Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.'

Literal Standard Version
And they say to one another, “Let us appoint a head and return to Egypt.”

Majority Standard Bible
So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

New American Bible
So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”

NET Bible
So they said to one another, "Let's appoint a leader and return to Egypt."

New Revised Standard Version
So they said to one another, “Let us choose a captain, and go back to Egypt.”

New Heart English Bible
And they said to one another, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt."

Webster's Bible Translation
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

World English Bible
They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.”

Young's Literal Translation
And they say one unto another, 'Let us appoint a head, and turn back to Egypt.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The People Rebel
3Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.” 5Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel.…

Cross References
Nehemiah 9:17
They refused to listen and failed to remember the wonders You performed among them. They stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return them to their bondage in Egypt. But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in loving devotion, and You did not forsake them.

Numbers 14:5
Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel.


Treasury of Scripture

And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

Deuteronomy 17:16
But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

Deuteronomy 28:68
And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

Nehemiah 9:16,17
But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, …

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Appoint Captain Choose Egypt Head Turn
Numbers 14
1. The people murmur at the news
6. Joshua and Caleb labor to still them
11. God threatens them
13. Moses intercedes with God, and obtains pardon
26. The Murmurers are debarred from entering into the land
36. The men who raised the evil report die by a plague
40. The people that would invade the land against the will of God are smitten














Verse 4. - Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Although this was only proposed in the wildness of their distress, yet it was a height of rebellion to which they had never risen before. They had lamented that they had not died in Egypt, and they had wished themselves back in Egypt, but they had never proposed to take any overt steps towards returning thither. Nothing less than an entire and deliberate revolt was involved in the wish to elect a captain for themselves, for the angel of the covenant was the Captain of the Lord's host (Joshua 5:14, 15). The proposal to depose him, and to choose another in his place, marked the extremity of the despair, the unbelief, and the ingratitude of the people.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
So they said
וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ (way·yō·mə·rū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 559: To utter, say

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

one
אִ֣ישׁ (’îš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person

another,
אָחִ֑יו (’ā·ḥîw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 251: A brother, )

“Let us appoint
נִתְּנָ֥ה (nit·tə·nāh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect Cohortative - first person common plural
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

a leader
רֹ֖אשׁ (rōš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7218: The head

and return
וְנָשׁ֥וּבָה (wə·nā·šū·ḇāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect Cohortative - first person common plural
Strong's 7725: To turn back, in, to retreat, again

to Egypt.”
מִצְרָֽיְמָה׃ (miṣ·rā·yə·māh)
Noun - proper - feminine singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 4714: Egypt -- a son of Ham, also his descendants and their country in Northwest Africa


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OT Law: Numbers 14:4 They said one to another Let us (Nu Num.)
Numbers 14:3
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