Numbers - 20:5



5 Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink."

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Numbers 20:5.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
Why have you made us come up out of Egypt, and have brought us into this wretched place which cannot be sowed, nor bringeth forth figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink?
And why have ye conducted us from Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.
and why hast thou brought us up out of Egypt to bring us in unto this evil place? no place of seed, and fig, and vine, and pomegranate; and water there is none to drink.
Why have you made us come out of Egypt into this evil place? This is no place of seed or figs or vines or other fruits, and there is no water for drinking.
Why did you cause us to ascend from Egypt, and why have you led us into this most wretched place, which is not able to be sown, which does not produce figs, or vines, or pomegranates, and which, moreover, does not even have water to drink?"
Et quare ascendere fecistis nos ex AEgypto, ut venire faceretis nos ad locum malum istum, non locum sementis, ficuum, et vinearum, et malogranatorum, et in quo aqua nulla est ad bibendum?

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt,.... They represent that affair in such a light, as if they were forced out of Egypt by Moses and Aaron against their wills; or at least were overpersuaded by them to do what they had no inclination to, namely, to come out of Egypt; though they were in the utmost bondage and slavery, and their lives were made bitter by it, and they cried by reason of their oppression, and the hardships they endured; but this was all forgot. Aben Ezra says, it is a strange word which is here used, which shows the confusion they were in:
to bring us unto this evil place; dry and barren, where there were neither food nor drink, as follows:
it is no place of seed; or fit for sowing, as the Targum of Jonathan, any sort of seed, as wheat, barley, rye, rice, &c.
or of figs, or vines, or pomegranates; it is not a soil fit to plant such trees in, nor would they grow were they planted:
neither is there any water to drink; for them and their cattle, and therefore must be a miserable place for so large a body of people to subsist in.

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