1. At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries, and the people wept into the night.
2. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, the whole community saying to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt,” or “If only we would die here in the wilderness!
3. Why is the Lord bringing us into this land only to have us fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will be taken as spoil. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”
4. So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”
5. But Moses and Aaron fell prostrate before the whole assembled community of the Israelites;