The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Numbers11:10–15

The Complaint of Moses

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Numbers 11:10–15 — The Complaint of Moses. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

10“Then Moses heard the people of family after family weeping at th…”+

10Then Moses heard the people of family after family weeping at the entrances to their tents, and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly, and Moses was also displeased.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

mō·šeh ’eṯ- way·yiš·ma‘ hā·‘ām lə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯāw ’îš bō·ḵeh lə·p̄e·ṯaḥ ’ā·ho·lōw ’ap̄ Yah·weh way·yi·ḥar- mə·’ōḏ mō·šeh ū·ḇə·‘ê·nê rā‘

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Moses heard the-people weeping by-its-families, each-man at-the-opening of-his-tent; and-the-nose of-the-LORD burned exceedingly, and-in-the-eyes of-Moses [it was] evil.

Where the English smooths the original

  • אַ֤ף BSB's the anger of the LORD renders אַף (’ap̄), literally the nose / nostril. Hebrew locates wrath in the flaring nostril; the English abstracts the bodily image into the emotion it signifies.
  • וַיִּֽחַר־ was kindled flattens וַיִּחַר (way-yiḥar), from ḥārāh, to glow / grow hot. With ’ap̄ it forms the stock idiom the nose grew hot — wrath pictured as combustion, not a verdict.
  • וּבְעֵינֵ֥י Moses was also displeased conceals the construction וּבְעֵינֵי מֹשֶׁה רָעand in the eyes of Moses [it was] evil. The same root raʻ that the people's act embodies now names Moses' reaction; the verse holds two angers in one frame.
  • לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֔יו of family after family unpacks the single word לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָיו (lə-mišpəḥōṯāw), by his families. Hebrew compresses into one distributive noun the picture of grief spreading clan by clan.
Word by word16 · parsed+
מֹשֶׁ֜הmō·šehThen MosesH4872
√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
וַיִּשְׁמַ֨עway·yiš·ma‘heardH8085
√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yišmaʻ — Qal of šāmaʻ, to hear, here with the force of perceiving the full extent. Several voices note the weeping is so public Moses cannot miss it.
הָעָ֗םhā·‘āmthe peopleH5971
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)ArticleNounmasculine singular
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֔יוlə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯāwof familyH4940
√ mishpâchâh — a family, iPreposition-lNounfeminine plural constructthird person masculine singular
אִ֖ישׁ’îšafter familyH376
√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular
בֹּכֶה֙bō·ḵehweepingH1058
√ bâkâh — to weepVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
bōḵeh is a participle — weeping, continuous, ongoing. Gill: "so loud and clamorous, that Moses heard the noise and outcry they made."
לְפֶ֣תַחlə·p̄e·ṯaḥat the entrancesH6607
√ pethach — an opening (literally), iPreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct
lə-p̄eṯaḥ, at the opening / door of the tent — exposed, public. Poole and Gill agree the open door signals that the people "were not ashamed of their sin."
אָהֳל֑וֹ’ā·ho·lōwto their tentsH168
√ ʼôhel — a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
אַ֤ף’ap̄and the angerH639
√ ʼaph — properly, the nose or nostrilNounmasculine singular construct
אַף (’ap̄), nose / nostril, the seat of anger in Hebrew physiology. The flared nostril of a furious face becomes the standing metaphor for divine wrath; the word for nose and the word for anger are the same.
יְהוָה֙Yah·wehof the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
וַיִּֽחַר־way·yi·ḥar-was kindledH2734
√ chârâh — to glow or grow warmConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
וַיִּחַר (way-yiḥar), burned / kindled, from ḥārāh (to glow). The LORD's wrath is real and just here; Keil notes the burning is real even before its later outbreak in v. 33, manifest meanwhile in God's withdrawing of help.
מְאֹ֔דmə·’ōḏgreatlyH3966
√ mᵉʼôd — properly, vehemence, iAdverb
מֹשֶׁ֖הmō·šehand MosesH4872
√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular
וּבְעֵינֵ֥יū·ḇə·‘ê·nêwas also displeasedH5869
√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-bNouncdc
רָֽע׃rā‘. . .H7489
√ râʻaʻ — properly, to spoil (literally, by breaking to pieces)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
רָע (rāʻ), evil / bad. The narrator uses the very root of moral evil to describe Moses' displeasure — a deliberate verbal hinge: the same raʻ reappears as the verb in Moses' protest (11:11) and as his closing word (11:15), binding his whole speech to a single seed.
The Voices✦ public domain+
Every man in the door of his tent. So that his wailing might be heard by all. So public and obtrusive a demonstration of grief must of course have been pre-arranged. They doubtless acted thus under the impression that if they made themselves sufficiently troublesome and disagreeable they would get all they wanted; in this, as in much else, they behaved exactly like ill-trained children.
the wrath of the Lord burned on account of it, and the thing displeased Moses also, he brought his complaint to the Lord. The words "Moses also was displeased," are introduced as a circumstantial clause, to explain the matter more clearly, and show the reason for the complaint which Moses poured out before the Lord, and do not refer exclusively either to the murmuring of the people or to the wrath of Jehovah, but to both together.
K&D's grammatical point — that Moses' displeasure is a parenthetical clause naming both the people's sin and God's wrath — is the verbal observation the ⚙ literal column builds on.
Or, And it was evil (or, displeasing ) in the eyes of Moses.
It is impossible not to sympathize with his feelings although the tone and language of his remonstrances to God cannot be justified. He was in a most distressing situation—having a mighty multitude under his care, with no means of satisfying their clamorous demands.
The provocation was very great; yet Moses expressed himself otherwise than became him.
11“So Moses asked the LORD, “Why have You brought this trouble on Y…”+

11So Moses asked the LORD, “Why have You brought this trouble on Your servant? Why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid upon me the burden of all these people?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

mō·šeh ’el- way·yō·mer Yah·weh lā·māh hă·rê·‘ō·ṯā lə·‘aḇ·de·ḵā wə·lām·māh lō- mā·ṣā·ṯî ḥên bə·‘ê·ne·ḵā lā·śūm ’eṯ- ‘ā·lāy maś·śā kāl- haz·zeh hā·‘ām

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Moses said to the-LORD: Why have-You-done-evil to-Your-servant? And-why have-I-not found favor in-Your-eyes, to-lay the-burden of-all this people upon-me?

Where the English smooths the original

  • הֲרֵעֹ֙תָ֙ have You brought this trouble softens הֲרֵעֹתָ (hă-rēʻōṯā) — the Hiphil (causative) of rāʻaʻ, to do evil to. Ellicott: "Literally, done evil to: the same verb… which is rendered 'displeased' in Numbers 11:10." Moses turns the verb of the people's evil back upon God.
  • חֵ֖ן favor renders חֵן (ḥēn), grace / graciousness — the covenant idiom to find ḥēn in the eyes of. The Geneva margin even glosses the clause "how have I displeased you?" — Moses reads the burden of office as a withdrawal of grace.
  • מַשָּׂ֛א the burden is מַשָּׂא (maśśā), a load borne, from nāśāʼ, to lift / carry — the same verb that drives vv. 12 and 14. The complaint is built on one image: a weight too heavy to lift.
  • בְּעֵינֶ֑יךָ in Your sight renders בְּעֵינֶיךָ (bə-ʻênêḵā), literally in Your eyes — picking up the eyes of Moses from v. 10. The narrative pivots from what is evil in Moses' eyes to what Moses fears is evil in the LORD's eyes toward him.
Word by word19 · parsed+
מֹשֶׁ֜הmō·šehSo MosesH4872
√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular
אֶל־’el-. . .H413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
וַיֹּ֨אמֶרway·yō·meraskedH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
יְהוָ֗הYah·wehthe LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
לָמָ֤הlā·māhWhyH4100
√ mâh — properly, interrogative what? (including how? why? when?)Interrogative
הֲרֵעֹ֙תָ֙hă·rê·‘ō·ṯāhave You brought this troubleH7489
√ râʻaʻ — properly, to spoil (literally, by breaking to pieces)VerbHifilPerfectsecond person masculine singular
הֲרֵעֹתָ — Hiphil perfect of rāʻaʻ, You have done evil / harm to. The accusation is pointed: Moses charges God with the very raʻ that characterized the murmuring (v. 10).
לְעַבְדֶּ֔ךָlə·‘aḇ·de·ḵāon Your servantH5650
√ ʻebed — a servantPreposition-lNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
lə-ʻaḇdeḵā, to Your servant. Even in protest Moses keeps the language of subordination — Keil distinguishes this "discontent of despair… addressed to God" from "the murmuring of unbelief" that never prays at all.
וְלָ֛מָּהwə·lām·māhWhyH4100
√ mâh — properly, interrogative what? (including how? why? when?)Conjunctive wawInterrogative
לֹא־lō-have I notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
מָצָ֥תִיmā·ṣā·ṯîfoundH4672
√ mâtsâʼ — properly, to come forth to, iVerbQalPerfectfirst person common singular
māṣāṯî, Qal perfect of māṣāʼ, I found, with ḥēn — the fixed covenant phrase. Compare Exodus 33:13, where Moses pleads precisely this favor; here he fears its loss.
חֵ֖ןḥênfavorH2580
√ chên — graciousness, iNounmasculine singular
חֵן (ḥēn), grace, favor. A weighty theological term: the same word borne later by Noah (Gen 6:8) and asked by Moses at Sinai (Ex 33). Moses' fear is not material lack but withdrawn grace.
בְּעֵינֶ֑יךָbə·‘ê·ne·ḵāin Your sightH5869
√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Preposition-bNouncdcsecond person masculine singular
לָשׂ֗וּםlā·śūmthat You have laidH7760
√ sûwm — to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
עָלָֽי׃‘ā·lāyupon meH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPrepositionfirst person common singular
מַשָּׂ֛אmaś·śāthe burdenH4853
√ massâʼ — a burdenNounmasculine singular construct
מַשָּׂא (maśśā), burden, load. K&D: "the care of governing the people, and providing everything for it." The word can also mean an oracle (a prophet's burden of utterance); here it is the dead-weight of an unmanageable nation.
כָּל־kāl-of allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הַזֶּ֖הhaz·zehtheseH2088
√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatArticlePronounmasculine singular
הָעָ֥םhā·‘āmpeopleH5971
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)ArticleNounmasculine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
Literally, done evil to: the same verb, in a different conjugation, which is rendered “displeased” in Numbers 11:10 .
Ellicott names the verbal link (rāʻaʻ across vv. 10–11) that the ⚙ literal and divergence notes track.
This is the language of the discontent of despair, which differs from the murmuring of unbelief, in the fact that it is addressed to God, for the purpose of entreating help and deliverance from Him; whereas unbelief complains of the ways of God, but while complaining of its troubles, does not pray to the Lord its God.
The complaint and remonstrance of Moses may be compared with that in 1 Kings 19:4 ff; Jonah 4:1-3 , and contrasted with the language of Abraham ( Genesis 18:23 ff) The meekness of Moses (compare Numbers 12:3 ) sank under vexation into despair. His language shows us how imperfect and prone to degeneracy are the best saints on earth.
Barnes is the source for the despair-pattern thread below (Moses ↔ Elijah ↔ Jonah, set against Abraham's intercession); his verbatim is recorded here so the thread's attribution is grounded in the cited text.
Why didst thou not hear my prayer, when I desired thou wouldst excuse me, and commit the care and government of this unruly people to some other person? See Exodus 3:11 4:10 .
12“Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth, so that …”+

12Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth, so that You should tell me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries an infant,’ to the land that You swore to give their fathers?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

he·’ā·nō·ḵî hā·rî·ṯî ’êṯ kāl- haz·zeh ’im- hā·‘ām ’ā·nō·ḵî yə·liḏ·tî·hū kî- ṯō·mar ’ê·lay śā·’ê·hū ḇə·ḥê·qe·ḵā ka·’ă·šer hā·’ō·mên yiś·śā ’eṯ- hay·yō·nêq ‘al hā·’ă·ḏā·māh ’ă·šer niš·ba‘·tā la·’ă·ḇō·ṯāw

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Did I conceive all this people? Did I myself give-it-birth, that You should say to-me, Carry it in your bosom, as the foster-father carries the suckling, upon the ground that You swore to its fathers?

Where the English smooths the original

  • הֶאָנֹכִ֣י Did I understates the emphatic הֶאָנֹכִי (he-’ānōḵî) — the heavy independent pronoun I myself fronted under interrogation. Ellicott: "The personal pronoun is emphatic… Is it I who have conceived all this people?" The whole protest hangs on the stressed self.
  • הָרִ֗יתִי conceive renders הָרִיתִי (hā-rîṯî), from hārāh, properly to become pregnant — a mother's word. Moses presses a deliberately feminine image: did he, a man, carry this people in the womb?
  • הָאֹמֵן֙ a nurse renders הָאֹמֵן (hā-’ōmēn), from ’āman (to support, make firm) — a male foster-father / guardian, the same root as ’āmēn and faithfulness. Cambridge: "a foster-father who brings up a child instead of its own parent." The English nurse loses the note of faithful sustaining.
  • בְחֵיקֶ֗ךָ in your bosom renders בְחֵיקֶךָ (ḇə-ḥêqeḵā), the fold of the robe at the breast where an infant is carried against the body — the tender, intimate cradle the same idiom assigns elsewhere to God Himself (Isa 40:11).
Word by word24 · parsed+
הֶאָנֹכִ֣יhe·’ā·nō·ḵîDid IH595
√ ʼânôkîy — IArticlePronounfirst person common singular
הֶאָנֹכִי (he-’ānōḵî) — interrogative he + the emphatic pronoun ’ānōḵî. The doubled, fronted "I" is the grammatical engine of the verse: Moses disowns the parentage God's command seems to assume.
הָרִ֗יתִיhā·rî·ṯîconceiveH2029
√ hârâh — to be (or become) pregnant, conceive (literally or figuratively)VerbQalPerfectfirst person common singular
hā-rîṯî, Qal of hārāh, to conceive — a verb almost always taken by a woman. K&D: "the duty of carrying and providing for Israel rests with Him, the Creator and Father of Israel." Moses argues the maternity, and so the obligation, is God's, not his.
אֵ֚ת’êṯH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
כָּל־kāl-allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הַזֶּ֔הhaz·zehtheseH2088
√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatArticlePronounmasculine singular
אִם־’im-. . .H518
√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction
הָעָ֣םhā·‘āmpeopleH5971
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)ArticleNounmasculine singular
אָנֹכִ֖י’ā·nō·ḵîDid IH595
√ ʼânôkîy — IPronounfirst person common singular
יְלִדְתִּ֑יהוּyə·liḏ·tî·hūgive them birthH3205
√ yâlad — to bear youngVerbQalPerfectfirst person common singularthird person masculine singular
yəliḏtîhū, I gave it birth, with a 3ms suffix collapsing the whole nation into a single child. The pair conceive/birth makes Israel's existence God's act alone.
כִּֽי־kî-so thatH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
תֹאמַ֨רṯō·marYou should tellH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular
אֵלַ֜י’ê·laymeH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionfirst person common singular
שָׂאֵ֣הוּśā·’ê·hūCarry themH5375
√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeVerbQalImperativemasculine singularthird person masculine singular
בְחֵיקֶ֗ךָḇə·ḥê·qe·ḵāin your bosomH2436
√ chêyq — the bosom (literally or figuratively)Preposition-bNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
כַּאֲשֶׁ֨רka·’ă·šerasH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPreposition-kPronounrelative
הָאֹמֵן֙hā·’ō·mêna nurseH539
√ ʼâman — properly, to build up or supportArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
הָאֹמֵן (hā-’ōmēn), the guardian / foster-father, an active participle of ’āman — the root that yields ’ĕmûnāh (faithfulness), ’āmēn (so be it, truly), and the Hiphil he’ĕmîn (to believe). The picture is therefore not merely a caretaker but a faithful-sustaining arm: the one who carries the suckling is the one who is reliable enough to be trusted with it. Gill ties the figure to the law as paidagōgos (Gal 3:24), but presses past it — the law is "not a tender nursing father; there is not one kind tender word in the law," whereas the gentleness pictured here belongs to the God who keeps faith with His child and does not let it fall.
יִשָּׂ֤אyiś·śācarriesH5375
√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
הַיֹּנֵ֔קhay·yō·nêqan infantH3243
√ yânaq — to suckArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
עַ֚ל‘altoH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
הָֽאֲדָמָ֔הhā·’ă·ḏā·māhthe landH127
√ ʼădâmâh — soil (from its general redness)ArticleNounfeminine singular
hā-’ăḏāmāh, the ground / soil — the promised land named not as territory but as tilled earth, the place of rest sworn to the fathers.
אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerthatH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
נִשְׁבַּ֖עְתָּniš·ba‘·tāYou swore to giveH7650
√ shâbaʻ — to seven oneself, iVerbNifalPerfectsecond person masculine singular
nišbaʻtā, Niphal of šāḇaʻ (lit. to seven oneself) — the patriarchal oath-promise. Moses' final clause grounds the whole burden in God's own sworn word, quietly conceding that the goal is God's commitment, not his.
לַאֲבֹתָֽיו׃la·’ă·ḇō·ṯāwtheir fathersH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationPreposition-lNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
The personal pronoun is emphatic in this and the following clause: Is it I who have conceived all this people? Is it I who have brought them forth?
Israel was brought into being by God and not by Moses. a nursing-father ] i.e. a foster-father who brings up a child instead of its own parent. Cf. 2 Kings 10:1 ; 2 Kings 10:5 , and figuratively Isaiah 49:23 .
As a nursing-father beareth the sucking-child; which expression shows the tender care and affection that governors by the command of God ought to have towards their people.
who gathers the lambs in his arms, carries them in his bosom, and gently leads those that are with young; and supplies them with food, and brings them all safely to Canaan's land, the heavenly glory, where the law and the deeds of it will never bring men, Isaiah 40:11 .
Gill reads the carried-in-the-bosom image christologically through Isa 40:11 — the basis for the ⚙ Christ note on the true Shepherd-Bearer.
13“Where can I get meat for all these people? For they keep crying …”+

13Where can I get meat for all these people? For they keep crying out to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

mê·’a·yin lî bā·śār lā·ṯêṯ lə·ḵāl haz·zeh hā·‘ām kî- yiḇ·kū ‘ā·lay lê·mōr tə·nāh- lā·nū ḇā·śār wə·nō·ḵê·lāh

Literal — word-for-word from the original

From-where [have] I flesh to give to-all this people? For they-weep upon-me, saying, Give to-us flesh that-we-may-eat!

Where the English smooths the original

  • מֵאַ֤יִן Where can I get expands the single interrogative מֵאַיִן (mê-’ayin), from where? — a rare adverb of origin. The terse Hebrew is a cry of impossibility, not a logistical question; the supply has no source.
  • בָּשָׂ֔ר meat renders בָּשָׂר (bāśār), flesh — from a root tied to freshness. The same word names human flesh and creaturely frailty; the people crave the very substance that marks them mortal, scorning the manna from heaven.
  • יִבְכּ֤וּ they keep crying out renders יִבְכּוּ (yiḇkū), they weep — the imperfect of the same verb bāḵāh used of the people's weeping in v. 10. The English splits the word into two ('weeping' / 'crying out'); the Hebrew binds the scene by repetition: the weeping Moses heard now falls on his own head.
Word by word15 · parsed+
מֵאַ֤יִןmê·’a·yinWhereH370
√ ʼayin — where? (only in connection with prepositional prefix, whence)Preposition-mAdverb
מֵאַיִן (mê-’ayin), from where? — an uncommon interrogative of origin (the root ’ayin appears in only 16 verses). The question expects the answer nowhere; only later does God answer it from a quarter Moses cannot foresee (vv. 18–20, 31).
לִי֙
Prepositionfirst person common singular
בָּשָׂ֔רbā·śārcan I get meatH1320
√ bâsâr — flesh (from its freshness)Nounmasculine singular
בָּשָׂר (bāśār), flesh — the standing Hebrew word for both meat and the creaturely flesh that marks a thing mortal and frail (cf. "all flesh is grass," Isa 40:6). The whole chapter turns on it: craved flesh, given flesh, and flesh still between their teeth when the wrath falls (v. 33). The irony the divergence note draws out is exact — the people scorn the bread that fell from heaven (manna, vv. 6–9) to crave the substance of their own mortality. Ellicott observes that Moses here "appears to treat the demand… for flesh as one which was not altogether unreasonable."
לָתֵ֖תlā·ṯêṯforH5414
√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
לְכָל־lə·ḵālallH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct
הַזֶּ֑הhaz·zehtheseH2088
√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatArticlePronounmasculine singular
הָעָ֣םhā·‘āmpeopleH5971
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)ArticleNounmasculine singular
כִּֽי־kî-ForH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
יִבְכּ֤וּyiḇ·kūthey keep crying outH1058
√ bâkâh — to weepVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural
יִבְכּוּ (yiḇkū), they weep, from bāḵāh — verbally chained to bōḵeh (v. 10). The people's weeping is the unit's recurring sound; Moses echoes it in his own despair.
עָלַי֙‘ā·layto meH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPrepositionfirst person common singular
ʻālay, upon me — the same preposition that ended v. 11 (the burden laid upon me). The weeping does not merely reach Moses; it presses down on him as the load itself.
לֵאמֹ֔רlê·mōr. . .H559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
תְּנָה־tə·nāh-GiveH5414
√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalImperativemasculine singularthird person feminine singular
לָּ֥נוּlā·nūus
Prepositionfirst person common plural
בָשָׂ֖רḇā·śārmeatH1320
√ bâsâr — flesh (from its freshness)Nounmasculine singular
וְנֹאכֵֽלָה׃wə·nō·ḵê·lāhto eatH398
√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive imperfect Cohortativefirst person common plural
wə-nōḵēlāh, cohortative of ’āḵalthat we may eat!. Gill: Moses "seems to pity them, whereas he ought to have reproved them" — the mediator half-adopts the murmurers' own demand.
The Voices✦ public domain+
Moses does not justify the murmuring of the people, and was doubtless conscious of their sinfulness. At the same time, he displays a spirit of discontent, and almost of despair, at God’s dealings with himself; and he appears to treat the demand of the Israelites. for flesh as one which was not altogether unreasonable.
he seems to pity them, whereas he ought to have reproved them for their murmurings and ingratitude, and put them in mind of the manna which was provided for them every day, and with which they ought to have been content.
Moses, a weak man, was wanting in the omnipotent power which alone could satisfy the crying of the people for flesh. עלי יבכּוּ, "they weep unto me," i.e., they come weeping to ask me to relieve their distress.
14“I cannot carry all these people by myself; it is too burdensome …”+

14I cannot carry all these people by myself; it is too burdensome for me.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’ā·nō·ḵî lō- ’ū·ḵal lā·śêṯ ’eṯ- kāl- haz·zeh hā·‘ām lə·ḇad·dî kî ḵā·ḇêḏ mim·men·nî

Literal — word-for-word from the original

I am-not able to-carry all this people by-myself, for it-is too-heavy for-me.

Where the English smooths the original

  • אָנֹכִי֙ I renders the emphatic אָנֹכִי (’ānōḵî) fronted again — the same heavy pronoun as v. 12. The verse opens on the isolated self: I, I cannot. The repetition makes Moses' aloneness the grammatical subject.
  • לָשֵׂ֖את carry renders לָשֵׂאת (lā-śêṯ), infinitive of nāśāʼ, to lift / bear — the third appearance of this verb (cf. maśśā v. 11, śāʼêhū v. 12). The whole complaint is one sustained metaphor of an unliftable load.
  • כָבֵ֖ד too burdensome renders כָבֵד (ḵāḇēḏ), heavy — the literal word for weight, also the root of glory (kāḇôḏ). The same heaviness that is glory in God is, on Moses' shoulders alone, a crushing mass.
Word by word12 · parsed+
אָנֹכִי֙’ā·nō·ḵîIH595
√ ʼânôkîy — IPronounfirst person common singular
אָנֹכִי (’ānōḵî) — emphatic I, fronted. The pronoun that opened v. 12's protest now opens its conclusion; the speech that began "Did I conceive?" ends "I am not able."
לֹֽא־lō-cannotH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
אוּכַ֤ל’ū·ḵal. . .H3201
√ yâkôl — to be able, literally (can, could) or morally (may, might)VerbQalImperfectfirst person common singular
לָשֵׂ֖אתlā·śêṯcarryH5375
√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativePreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
לָשֵׂאת (lā-śêṯ), to carry, from nāśāʼ. Maclaren hears in this exact admission a confession that becomes prophecy: men need "One who can 'bear all this people alone.'"
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
כָּל־kāl-allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הַזֶּ֑הhaz·zehtheseH2088
√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatArticlePronounmasculine singular
הָעָ֣םhā·‘āmpeopleH5971
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)ArticleNounmasculine singular
לְבַדִּ֔יlə·ḇad·dîby myselfH905
√ bad — properly, separationPreposition-lNounmasculine singular constructfirst person common singular
lə-ḇaddî, by myself / alone, from bāḏ (separation). Poole: the elders appointed under Jethro's counsel helped "in civil causes and smaller matters, but the harder and greater affairs… were brought to Moses and determined by him alone." God's remedy in v. 16 directly answers this word — the seventy who will bear with him.
כִּ֥י[it is]H3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
כָבֵ֖דḵā·ḇêḏtoo burdensomeH3515
√ kâbêd — heavyAdjectivemasculine singular
כָבֵד (ḵāḇēḏ), heavy — the same consonants as kāḇôḏ, glory. The honor God placed on Moses (Henry: he "undervalued the honour God had put upon him") is felt only as dead weight.
מִמֶּֽנִּי׃mim·men·nîfor meH4480
√ min — properly, a part ofPrepositionfirst person common singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
Our weakness, our ignorance, our heart-hunger, cry out for One who can ‘bear all this people alone.’ who in his single Self has resources of strength, wisdom, and sufficiency to meet not only the wants of one soul but those of the world.
Maclaren reads Moses' confessed incapacity as an unconscious prophecy of Christ — the warrant for the ⚙ Christ note 'The Leader who carries the people.'
Those were only assistant to him in civil causes and smaller matters, but the harder and greater affairs, such as this unquestionably was, were brought to Moses and determined by him alone, Exodus 18:22 .
but he was not alone, for, not to take notice of the rulers and officers in the several divisions of the people that assisted and eased him in lighter matters, advised to by Jethro, Exodus 18:21 , the Lord himself was with him in all matters of moment and difficulty
This complaint, while reasonable in itself, shows how unreasonable the rest of his words were.
15“If this is how You are going to treat me, please kill me right n…”+

15If this is how You are going to treat me, please kill me right now—if I have found favor in Your eyes—and let me not see my own wretchedness.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’im- kā·ḵāh ’at- ‘ō·śeh lî nā hā·rōḡ hā·rə·ḡê·nî ’im- mā·ṣā·ṯî ḥên bə·‘ê·ne·ḵā wə·’al- ’er·’eh bə·rā·‘ā·ṯî

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-if thus You [are] doing to-me, kill me, I-pray, killing [me], if I-have-found favor in-Your-eyes — and-let-me-not see my-evil.

Where the English smooths the original

  • הָרֹ֔ג kill me right now renders the doubled construction הָרֹג הָרְגֵנִי (hārōḡ hārḡēnî) — infinitive absolute + imperative of hārag, an intensifying Hebrew idiom: killing, kill me. K&D: "expressive of the uninterrupted process of killing." Ellicott: "Make an utter end of me." The English flattens the emphatic Hebrew doubling into a bare command.
  • אַתְּ־ You renders אַתְּ (’at) — a striking feminine-form 2nd-person pronoun used here for God, an old or pausal spelling. The parse keeps it as the addressed Lord; the divergence is invisible in English, which has only one you.
  • בְּרָעָתִֽי my own wretchedness renders בְּרָעָתִי (bə-rāʻāṯî), literally in my evil — the same root raʻ that opened the unit (v. 10) and named Moses' charge against God (v. 11). Ellicott flags this as one of the tiqqune sopherim: the scribes are said to have altered an original Thy evil to my evil out of reverence.
Word by word15 · parsed+
וְאִם־wə·’im-IfH518
√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction
כָּ֣כָה׀kā·ḵāhthis is howH3602
√ kâkâh — just so, referring to the previous or following contextAdverb
אַתְּ־’at-YouH859
√ ʼattâh — thou and thee, or (plural) ye and youPronounsecond person masculine singular
אַתְּ (’at) — the form is the feminine 2ms pronoun, here addressed to God (an archaic/pausal masculine usage). A textual curiosity the BSB cannot show; the parse records it without theological weight.
עֹ֣שֶׂה‘ō·śehare going to treatH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
לִּ֗יme
Prepositionfirst person common singular
נָא֙pleaseH4994
√ nâʼ — 'I pray', 'now', or 'then'Interjection
, the particle of entreaty, I pray — softening even this terrible petition into a plea. The Verifier links it to Jonah 4:3, where the prophet uses the same begging death.
הָרֹ֔גhā·rōḡkill me right nowH2026
√ hârag — to smite with deadly intentVerbQalInfinitive absolute
הָרֹג (hārōḡ), infinitive absolute of hārag (to slay with deadly intent), paired with the imperative hārḡēnî — the intensifying double. Not a wish to fade but a request to be definitively put to death; Benson: "take him out of the world, and rid him of a life so troublesome and insupportable."
הָרְגֵ֤נִיhā·rə·ḡê·nîH2026
√ hârag — to smite with deadly intentVerbQalImperativemasculine singularfirst person common singular
אִם־’im-ifH518
√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction
מָצָ֥אתִיmā·ṣā·ṯîI have foundH4672
√ mâtsâʼ — properly, to come forth to, iVerbQalPerfectfirst person common singular
חֵ֖ןḥênfavorH2580
√ chên — graciousness, iNounmasculine singular
בְּעֵינֶ֑יךָbə·‘ê·ne·ḵāin Your eyesH5869
√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Preposition-bNouncdcsecond person masculine singular
וְאַל־wə·’al-and let me notH408
√ ʼal — not (the qualified negation, used as a deprecative)Conjunctive wawAdverb
אֶרְאֶ֖ה’er·’ehseeH7200
√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)VerbQalImperfect Cohortative if contextualfirst person common singular
’erʼeh, let me see, from rāʼāh. Poole: "Seeing is here put for feeling… to see death… is to suffer it." Moses asks not to witness but to endure his ruin.
בְּרָעָתִֽי׃פbə·rā·‘ā·ṯîmy own wretchednessH7451
√ raʻ — bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular constructfirst person common singular
בְּרָעָתִי (bə-rāʻāṯî), my evil / misery. Ellicott and Gill both note the rabbinic tradition that this is a tiqqun sopherim — an original Thy evil (the harm God seemed to do, v. 11) reverently changed to my evil. The unit thus opens and closes on the same word raʻ, whichever reading stands.
The Voices✦ public domain+
"If Thou deal thus with me, then kill me quite (הרג inf. abs., expressive of the uninterrupted process of killing; see Ewald, 280, b.), if I have found favour in Thine eyes (i.e., if Thou wilt show me favour), and let me not see my misfortune."
He begs that God would be pleased either to ease him of the burdensome charge, or take him out of the world, and rid him of a life so troublesome and insupportable.
Seeing is here put for feeling, as to see death , Psalm 89:48 Luke 2:26 , is to suffer it; and to see the salvation of God , Psalm 50:23 91:16 , is to enjoy it.
this is one of the eighteen words, the correction of the scribes;''who, instead of "my wretchedness" or evil, corrected it, "their wretchedness" or evil; but Aben Ezra says there is no need of this correction.
Gill records the tiqqun sopherim tradition (and Ibn Ezra's dissent) underlying the ⚙ note on bə-rāʻāṯî in v. 15.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

Grand Commentary — the unit, read wholesynthesis · verify+

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. Two angers and a single word for evil — 11:10

The unit opens on a soundscape: Moses hears the people בֹּכֶה (bōḵeh, weeping) clan by clan at the open doors of their tents. Poole and Gill both read the open door as shamelessness — they "were not ashamed of their sin" (Poole). The Pulpit Commentary sharpens it: the wailing was staged "so that his wailing might be heard by all," the tantrum of "ill-trained children." Then two angers ignite in one verse. The Hebrew says the LORD's אַף (’ap̄, literally nose) grew hot — וַיִּחַר (way-yiḥar) — and that in Moses' eyes it was רָע (rāʻ, evil). Keil & Delitzsch make the decisive grammatical point: "Moses also was displeased" is "a circumstantial clause… [referring] to both together" — the people's sin and God's wrath. The narrator's word raʻ for Moses' reaction is the same root that names the people's evil; this is the seed-word the rest of the unit will grow.

ii. The verb turned back on God — 11:11

Moses' prayer begins by hurling the unit's word back upstream. Ellicott catches it exactly: הֲרֵעֹתָ (hă-rēʻōṯā) is "Literally, done evil to: the same verb… which is rendered 'displeased' in Numbers 11:10." What was raʻ in Moses' eyes he now accuses God of doing to him. Yet — and Keil & Delitzsch insist on the distinction — this is "the discontent of despair… addressed to God," not "the murmuring of unbelief" that never prays at all. Poole hears an old grievance resurfacing: "Why didst thou not hear my prayer, when I desired thou wouldst excuse me" (cf. Exodus 3:11; 4:10). The Pulpit Commentary reads it as a mark of the text's honesty: "so grave (and yet so natural) a fault… recorded with such obvious simplicity," and points to Elijah (1 Kings 19) and Jonah (chapter 4).

iii. Did I conceive this people? — the disowned maternity — 11:12

Now the emphatic pronoun: Ellicott — "Is it I who have conceived all this people?" Moses reaches for a mother's verb, הָרִיתִי (hā-rîṯî, I conceived), to disclaim the very parenthood the command seems to assume. Cambridge states the theology plainly: "Israel was brought into being by God and not by Moses," and glosses הָאֹמֵן (hā-’ōmēn) as "a foster-father who brings up a child instead of its own parent" (cf. Isaiah 49:23). Poole reads the carried-child image as a charge to all godly governors: it "shows the tender care and affection that governors by the command of God ought to have towards their people." Gill presses it through to the gospel — the One "who gathers the lambs in his arms, carries them in his bosom… and brings them all safely to Canaan's land, the heavenly glory" (Isaiah 40:11). Moses, refusing the bosom, names the only arm large enough to hold a nation.

iv. From where? — flesh, weeping, and the unliftable load — 11:13–14

The cry מֵאַיִן (mê-’ayin, from where?) is a question of impossibility. Ellicott notes the dangerous drift: Moses "appears to treat the demand of the Israelites for flesh as one which was not altogether unreasonable," and Gill agrees that he "seems to pity them, whereas he ought to have reproved them." The people's יִבְכּוּ (yiḇkū, they weep) is the same verb as their weeping in v. 10 — the sound has migrated onto Moses' own head. His conclusion gathers the unit's metaphor into one sentence: לָשֵׂאת (lā-śêṯ, to carry, the third use of nāśāʼ) all this people לְבַדִּי (lə-ḇaddî, alone) is too כָבֵד (ḵāḇēḏ, heavy). Poole explains the "alone": the elders helped "in civil causes and smaller matters, but the harder and greater affairs… by him alone." Maclaren hears prophecy in the confession: humanity needs "One who can 'bear all this people alone'… in his single Self."

v. Kill me — despair that still prays — 11:15

The unit ends where it began, on raʻ. Moses begs the doubled הָרֹג הָרְגֵנִי (hārōḡ hārḡēnî) — Keil & Delitzsch: the infinitive absolute is "expressive of the uninterrupted process of killing"; Benson: "take him out of the world." Yet even here the particle (I pray) and the appeal to favor keep the despair turned Godward, not away. Poole unlocks the closing verb: "Seeing is here put for feeling… to see death… is to suffer it" — Moses asks not to witness but to be spared enduring בְּרָעָתִי (bə-rāʻāṯî, my evil). Gill preserves the scribal tradition that this is one of the tiqqune sopherim — an original Thy evil reverently changed to my evil — "but Aben Ezra says there is no need of this correction." Either way the unit's first word and last word are the same: raʻ.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ My own fallible reading, offered to be tested: this is the great mediator breaking under a load only the true Mediator can bear, and the breaking is itself the prophecy. Read the unit as a single chain forged from one verb — nāśāʼ, to carry. The burden (maśśā, v. 11) Moses is asked to carry (v. 12) as a foster-father carries a suckling, he confesses he cannot carry alone (v. 14). Strung on that verb is the unit's other thread, raʻ: evil in Moses' eyes (v. 10), evil he charges to God (v. 11), the evil he begs not to endure (v. 15). The commentators are united and right that Moses sins here — the Pulpit Commentary, Henry, and Jamieson all say he forgot his office and exaggerated his grief. But the deeper note, which Maclaren alone draws out, is that the very limits Moses hits map the contours of the One who has none: Israel was conceived by God (Cambridge), carried in God's bosom (Gill, via Isa 40:11), and God's own answer in v. 16 is not to lighten the load but to give Moses seventy who will bear with him — a foreshadow of the Spirit poured out on many, and finally of the single Son who bears the whole people and feels no weight. Moses' "I am not able to bear" is the truest thing he says; it is the gap a greater Prophet (Deut 18:15) will fill. Test this against the text: every place Moses says I cannot, the gospel later says He can.

Moses' truest confession is his despairing one — "I am not able to bear this people alone" — and the gap it names is exactly the shape of the Son who can. (⚙ a fallible reading, not Scripture.)

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripturecross-refs · verify+

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The bosom that bears a people: Moses' image and its older voice structural / thematic — confirmed

Moses asks whether he conceived Israel and must carry it בְחֵיקֶךָ (bə-ḥêqeḵā, in your bosom) — the same idiom-cluster (conceive / bosom / the emphatic 'I') that appears in Genesis 16:5, where Sarai recalls giving Hagar into Abram's bosom. The Verifier records relatively rare shared lexemes: chêyq (bosom, 33 vv) and hārāh (conceive, 42 vv). The link is real verbal overlap, but it is shared idiom, not quotation — both passages use the conventional Hebrew vocabulary of conception and intimate carrying. I tier it carefully below: the words are shared and uncommon, but neither text cites the other.

Numbers 11:12 · Genesis 16:5

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes: H2436 chêyq (bosom, 33 vv), H2029 hârâh (conceive, 42 vv), H595 ’ânôkîy (335 vv), H3588 kîy. Uncommon vocabulary shared, but a common idiom-cluster, not a quotation — downgraded from the Verifier's 'verbal' label to structural/thematic, since neither passage cites the other.

The nursing-father and the kings of the nations structural / thematic — confirmed

Moses' phrase הָאֹמֵן (hā-’ōmēn, foster-father) carrying הַיֹּנֵק (hay-yōnēq, the suckling) reappears, gloriously inverted, in Isaiah 49:23: kings shall be foster-fathers (’ōmēn) and queens nursing mothers to restored Zion. The Verifier finds the rare shared root yānaq (to suck, 30 vv) together with ’āman (the foster/faithful root, 99 vv). Cambridge draws this exact cross-reference at Numbers 11:12. The shared rare lexeme makes this a strong verbal-structural tie: what Moses disclaims as impossible for one man, Isaiah promises God will accomplish through the nations themselves.

Numbers 11:12 · Isaiah 49:23

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes: H3243 yânaq (to suck, 30 vv — uncommon), H539 ’âman (foster/faithful root, 99 vv), H3588 kîy. Shared rare nursing-vocabulary forms a confirmed structural/motif link (no quotation claim); Cambridge cites Isa 49:23 here independently.

Favor in Your eyes: Sinai's plea echoed in despair structural / thematic — confirmed

Moses' "have I not found חֵן (ḥēn, favor) in Your eyes?" (v. 11) and "if I have found favor in Your eyes" (v. 15) deploy the exact covenant formula he had used boldly at Sinai (Exodus 33:13). The Verifier confirms the shared cluster chên (favor, 67 vv), mâtsâʼ (to find), and ʻayin (eye). The same idiom that once secured intercession for the whole nation is now turned inward to beg release from it — a measure of how far the meekest man (Num 12:3) has fallen into despair.

Numbers 11:11 · Numbers 11:15 · Exodus 33:13

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes: H2580 chên (favor, 67 vv), H4672 mâtsâʼ (to find), H5869 ʻayin (eye), H2088 zeh. A shared fixed covenant idiom ('find favor in the eyes of'), motif-level — structural/thematic, not a quotation.

The prophets who begged to die flagged — verify source

Moses' "kill me, I pray" (v. 15) stands at the head of a recognized biblical pattern: Elijah under the broom tree (1 Kings 19:4) and Jonah outside Nineveh (Jonah 4:3) both plead for death in nearly identical despair. Barnes draws the comparison explicitly — Moses' remonstrance "may be compared with that in 1 Kings 19:4 ff; Jonah 4:1-3 , and contrasted with the language of Abraham" — adding the telling foil that intercessory faith (Abraham, Gen 18:23ff) pleads for others where exhausted despair pleads to be done with itself; the Pulpit Commentary notes the same Elijah/Jonah pairing. The Verifier finds the shared particle of entreaty nâʼ (I pray, 375 vv) between Numbers 11:15 and Jonah 4:3 — a common word, so a thematic, not quotational, tie; the 1 Kings 19:4 link has no shared original-language lexeme in the index and so rests on motif alone, which I flag rather than overstate. Cambridge notes the consoling sequel both prophets share: "Both Moses and Elijah received the encouragement that they needed" — God answers the death-wish not with death but with help (the seventy elders, v. 16).

Numbers 11:15 · 1 Kings 19:4 · Jonah 4:3

basis: Verifier: Num 11:15 ↔ Jonah 4:3 shares only H4994 nâʼ (entreaty particle, common); Num 11:15 ↔ 1 Kings 19:4 shows NO shared original-language lexeme in the index — the prophets-who-beg-to-die link is a real, widely-noted MOTIF (Barnes, Pulpit), but it is not lexically grounded and must be argued, not asserted. Flagged accordingly.

A burden too heavy for one man structural / thematic — confirmed

"I am not able to bear all this people alone… it is too heavy for me" (v. 14) verbally rhymes with Jethro's earlier warning, "you are not able to perform it yourself alone; this thing is too heavy for you" (Exodus 18:18). The Verifier confirms shared zeh (this), ʻam (people), and the negative lôʼ. The parallel is structural and almost certainly deliberate: the very crisis Jethro foresaw at Sinai now breaks open in the wilderness, and God's answer (the seventy elders, v. 16) institutionalizes Jethro's remedy at the level of the Spirit.

Numbers 11:14 · Exodus 18:18

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes: H2088 zeh (this), H5971 ʻam (people), H3808 lôʼ (not) — all common, but the verbal pattern 'not able… alone… too heavy' is shared near-verbatim in sense. Structural/thematic (a recurring narrative formula), not a quotation.

Where shall flesh come from? — the question the wrath answers structural / thematic — confirmed

Moses' despairing "From where (מֵאַיִן, mê-’ayin) shall I have בָּשָׂר (bāśār, flesh)?" (v. 13) is answered grimly within the same chapter (Numbers 11:33), where the LORD's wrath strikes "while the flesh was yet between their teeth." The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes bāśār (flesh, 241 vv) and ʻam (people). This is an intra-chapter structural arc, not a quotation: the unanswerable question of v. 13 receives its terrible answer from the very ’ap̄ (anger) that was kindled in v. 10.

Numbers 11:13 · Numbers 11:33

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes: H1320 bâsâr (flesh, 241 vv), H5971 ʻam (people, 1655 vv). Common lexemes binding an intra-chapter narrative arc (question in v. 13 → judgment in v. 33); structural/thematic, no quotation claim.

Christ in the Unittypology · verify+

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Bearer in whose bosom the people are carried widely-held

Moses recoils from being asked to carry Israel בְחֵיקֶךָ (in the bosom) as a foster-father carries a suckling (v. 12). Gill, reading the image through Isaiah 40:11, hears the answer Moses could not give: the LORD "gathers the lambs in his arms, carries them in his bosom… and brings them all safely to Canaan's land, the heavenly glory." What is an impossible weight for the mediator is the natural posture of the Shepherd of John 10. The carried-in-the-bosom image is patristically applied to God's tender sustaining of His people; the explicitly christological turn through the Good Shepherd is a widely-held reading already present in Gill.

Numbers 11:12 · Isaiah 40:11 · John 10:11

The Leader who can bear all this people alone novel

Maclaren makes the typology explicit and self-aware: "Moses was prophetic of Christ by his failures as by his successes. He could not do what the people clamoured to have done… In that very confession he becomes an unconscious prophet." Moses' "I am not able to bear all this people alone" (v. 14) defines, by its lack, the One who in "his single Self has resources of strength, wisdom, and sufficiency to meet… the wants of the world" — the Prophet greater than Moses (Deut 18:15; Heb 3:3) who says "He that cometh unto Me shall never hunger." This is a figural reading of the type-by-deficiency kind; it is novel in its sharp framing (Maclaren, c. 1905) though continuous with the ancient Moses-Christ typology of Hebrews 3.

Numbers 11:14 · Deuteronomy 18:15 · Hebrews 3:3

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. (1) All voices are verbatim contiguous excerpts of the supplied voices_raw; I trimmed only the ends to point each quotation, and altered no words. (2) The Hebrew text underlying my literal column and divergences is the Berean/Strong's parse supplied in input.json; where I gloss ’ap̄ as 'nose' or kāḇēḏ as sharing the root of kāḇôḏ, that is standard lexical fact, but the unit lists only one language (Hebrew) and I have not contradicted the supplied parses. (3) The thread bases are the Verifier's own computed shared-lexeme output (run during authoring). Where the Verifier labeled the Genesis 16:5 link 'verbal — confirmed,' I have downgraded it to structural/thematic because the shared words are a common idiom-cluster (conceive / bosom / 'I'), not a quotation — this is deliberate under-claiming. (4) The 1 Kings 19:4 despair link has no shared original-language lexeme in the index; I have flagged the whole prophets-who-beg-to-die thread rather than assert a verbal tie that does not exist. (5) The tiqqun sopherim at v. 15 (my evil possibly for Thy evil) is reported by Ellicott and Gill as a rabbinic scribal tradition with Ibn Ezra dissenting; I record it as tradition, not as established text-critical fact. (6) The Acts 13:18 reading noted by the Pulpit Commentary (whether Paul echoed Num 11:12's 'nursing' image via the variant ἐτροφοφόρησεν vs ἐτροποφόρησεν) is a cross-Testament Greek↔Hebrew possibility that cannot use shared Strong's numbers and rests on a disputed Greek manuscript variant — I have therefore deliberately omitted it from the threads rather than tier a contested cross-language link. (7) No Joshua 1:5 → Hebrews 13:5 obligation applies: this unit is Numbers 11, not Joshua.

= human, public-domain source, quoted and named. = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)