¹¹ Then ^(A)they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, ^[a]bringing us out of Egypt? ^12 (B)Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘^[b]Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

The People Rebel

14 Then all the congregation ^[a]lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept ^[b]that night. ² All the sons of Israel ^(A)grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “^(B)Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, ^(C)to fall by the sword? ^(D)Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to one another, “^(E)Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

^16 (A)Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he ^(B)cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since ^(C)the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’