Numbers 11:4
New International Version
The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat!

New Living Translation
Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed.

English Standard Version
Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat!

Berean Standard Bible
Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?

King James Bible
And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

New King James Version
Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat?

New American Standard Bible
Now the rabble who were among them had greedy cravings; and the sons of Israel also wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?

NASB 1995
The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?

NASB 1977
And the rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?

Legacy Standard Bible
And the rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?

Amplified Bible
The rabble among them [who followed Israel from Egypt] had greedy desires [for familiar and delicious food], and the Israelites wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?

Christian Standard Bible
The riffraff among them had a strong craving for other food. The Israelites wept again and said, “Who will feed us meat?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Contemptible people among them had a strong craving for other food. The Israelites cried again and said, “Who will feed us meat?

American Standard Version
And the mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And a mixed multitude that were among them lusted lust and returned; they caused weeping also for the children of Israel and they were saying, “Who will feed us meat?

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the mixed multitude among them lusted exceedingly; and they and the children of Israel sat down and wept and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

Contemporary English Version
One day some foreigners among the Israelites became greedy for food, and even the Israelites themselves began moaning, "We don't have any meat!

Douay-Rheims Bible
For a mixt multitude of people, that came up with them, burned with desire, sitting and weeping, the children of Israel also being joined with them, and said: Who shall give us flesh to eat?

English Revised Version
And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Some foreigners among the Israelites had a strong craving for [other kinds of] food. Even the Israelites started crying again and said, "If only we had meat to eat!

Good News Translation
There were foreigners traveling with the Israelites. They had a strong craving for meat, and even the Israelites themselves began to complain: "If only we could have some meat!

International Standard Version
Meanwhile, certain riff-raff among the people had an insatiable appetite for food. As a result, they wept and turned back, and the Israelis cried out, "If only somebody would feed us some meat!

JPS Tanakh 1917
And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting; and the children of Israel also wept on their part, and said: 'Would that we were given flesh to eat!

Literal Standard Version
And the rabble who [are] in its midst have lusted greatly, and the sons of Israel also turn back and weep, and say, “Who gives us flesh?

Majority Standard Bible
Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?

New American Bible
The riffraff among them were so greedy for meat that even the Israelites lamented again, “If only we had meat for food!

NET Bible
Now the mixed multitude who were among them craved more desirable foods, and so the Israelites wept again and said, "If only we had meat to eat!

New Revised Standard Version
The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, “If only we had meat to eat!

New Heart English Bible
The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, "Who will give us flesh to eat?

Webster's Bible Translation
And the mixed multitude that was among them fell to lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

World English Bible
The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly; and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?

Young's Literal Translation
And the rabble who are in its midst have lusted greatly, and the sons of Israel also turn back and weep, and say, 'Who doth give us flesh?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Complaints of the People
3So that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD had burned among them. 4Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat? 5We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.…

Cross References
1 Corinthians 10:6
These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did.

Exodus 12:38
And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.

Exodus 16:3
"If only we had died by the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt!" they said. "There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!"

Numbers 14:22
not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness--yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times--

Numbers 16:13
Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?

Psalm 78:18
They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.

Psalm 78:19
They spoke against God, saying, "Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?


Treasury of Scripture

And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

the mixed

Exodus 12:38
And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.

Leviticus 24:10,11
And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp; …

Nehemiah 13:3
Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

fell a lusting.

1 Corinthians 15:33
Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

wept again.

Psalm 78:18-20
And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust…

Psalm 106:14
But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.

Romans 13:14
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

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Band Children Crave Craving Desire Desires Eat Exceedingly Israel Israelites Part Rabble Started Strong Wailing Weeping Wept
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Band Children Crave Craving Desire Desires Eat Exceedingly Israel Israelites Part Rabble Started Strong Wailing Weeping Wept
Numbers 11
1. The burning at Taberah quenched by Moses' prayer
4. The people crave meat, and loathe manna
10. Moses complains of his charge
16. God promises to divide his burden unto seventy elders,
18. and to give the people meat for a month
21. Moses' faith is staggered
31. Quails are given in wrath at Kibroth Hattaavah














(4) And the mixt multitude.--The Authorised Version follows the LXX. and the Vulgate in rendering the word asaph-suph, which occurs only in this place, and which is derived from a verb which means to collect, in the same way as the ereb of Exodus 12:38, a mixed multitude, vulgus promiscuum--in many cases, probably, the children of Hebrew women by Egyptian fathers. This mixed multitude appears to have been very considerable, and they may have become, as the Gibeonites at a later period, servants to the Israelites, as hewers of wood and drawers of water (Deuteronomy 29:11). It is probable that this mixed multitude may have partaken even more largely than the Israelites of the fish and vegetables of Egypt, and they appear to have instigated the Israelites to repine at the deprivations to which they were exposed in the wilderness. There is no mention in Exodus 16:3 of weeping, but the same craving after the flesh-pots of Egypt was probably manifested in the same manner in both cases.

Who shall give us flesh to eat?--The word basar, which is rendered flesh, seems here to include--it may be to have primary reference to--fish. It is used of fish in Leviticus 11:11, and it is obvious from Numbers 11:22 that it was understood by Moses in this general signification. Cp. the use of flesh (1Corinthians 15:39). . . .

Verse 4. The mixed multitude. Hebrew, ha-saphsuph, the gathered; the rift-raft, or rabble, which had followed the fortunes of Israel out of Egypt, where they had probably been strangers and slaves themselves. What the nature and the number and the fate of this rabble were is a matter of mere conjecture and of some perplexity. There does not seem any room for them in the regulations laid down for Israel, nor are they mentioned in any other place except at Exodus 12:38. In Leviticus 24:10 we read of the son of an Israelitish woman by an Egyptian father, and this might lead us to conjecture that a great part of the "mixed multitude" was the offspring of such left-handed alliances. These half-breeds, according to the general rule in such cases, would follow their mothers; they would be regarded with contempt by the Jews of pure blood, and would accompany the march as hangers-on of the various tribes with which they were connected. As to their fate, it may be probably concluded, from the reason of things and from the absence of any further notice of them, that they found their way back to the slavery and the indulgences of Egypt; they were bound by no such strong restraints and animated by no such national feelings as the true people of the Lord. And the children of Israel also wept again. This expression, again (Hebrew, שׁוּב, used adverbially), would seem to point to some former weeping, and this is generally found in the "murmuring" of which they had been guilty in the desert of Sin (Exodus 16:2, 3). This, however, is unsatisfactory for several reasons: first, because that occurrence was too remote, having been more than a year ago; second, because there is no mention of any "weeping" at that time; third, because the matter of complaint on the two occasions was really quite different: then they murmured faithlessly at the blank starvation which apparently stared them in the face; now they weep greedily at the absence of remembered luxuries. It is therefore much more likely that the expression has regard to the "complaining" which had just taken place at Tabeerah. It was indeed wonderful that the punishment then inflicted did not check the sin; wonderful that it burst out again in an aggravated form almost immediately. But such was the obstinacy of this people, that Divine vengeance, which only perhaps affected a few, and only lasted for a brief space, was not sufficient to silence their wicked clamour. Who shall give us flesh to eat? בָּשָׂר - Septuagint, κρέα - means flesh-meat generally. They had flocks and herds it is true, but they were no doubt carefully preserved, and the increase of them would little more than suffice for sacrifice; no one would dream of slaughtering them for ordinary eating.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Meanwhile, the rabble
וְהָֽאסַפְסֻף֙ (wə·hā·sap̄·sup̄)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 628: Gathered up together, a promiscuous assemblage

among them
בְּקִרְבּ֔וֹ (bə·qir·bōw)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 7130: The nearest part, the center

had a strong craving for other food,
הִתְאַוּ֖וּ (hiṯ·’aw·wū)
Verb - Hitpael - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 183: To incline, desire

and
גַּ֚ם (gam)
Conjunction
Strong's 1571: Assemblage, also, even, yea, though, both, and

again
וַיָּשֻׁ֣בוּ (way·yā·šu·ḇū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7725: To turn back, in, to retreat, again

the Israelites
בְּנֵ֣י (bə·nê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1121: A son

wept
וַיִּבְכּ֗וּ (way·yiḇ·kū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1058: To weep, to bemoan

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

“Who
מִ֥י (mî)
Interrogative
Strong's 4310: Who?, whoever, in oblique construction with prefix, suffix

will feed
יַאֲכִלֵ֖נוּ (ya·’ă·ḵi·lê·nū)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | first person common plural
Strong's 398: To eat

us meat?
בָּשָֽׂר׃ (bā·śār)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1320: Flesh, body, person, the pudenda of a, man


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OT Law: Numbers 11:4 The mixed multitude that was among them (Nu Num.)
Numbers 11:3
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