Numbers 9:16

9:16 This is the way it used to be continually: The cloud would cover it by day, ¹  and there was a fiery appearance by night.

Numbers 11:5

11:5 We remember ²  the fish we used to eat ³  freely ⁴  in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.

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¹ tc The MT lacks the words “by day,” but a number of ancient versions have this reading (e.g., Greek, Syriac, Tg. Ps.-J., Latin Vulgate).

² tn The perfect tense here expresses the experience of a state of mind.

sn As with all who complain in such situations, their memory was selective. It was their bitter cries to the Lord from the suffering in bondage that God heard and answered. And now, shortly after being set free, their memory of Egypt is for things they do not now have. It is also somewhat unlikely that they as slaves had such abundant foods in Egypt.

³ tn The imperfect tense would here be the customary imperfect, showing continual or incomplete action in past time.

⁴ tn The adverb “freely” is from the word חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious”), from which is derived the noun “grace.” The word underscores the idea of “free, without cost, for no reason, gratis.” Here the simple sense is “freely,” without any cost. But there may be more significance in the choice of the words in this passage, showing the ingratitude of the Israelites to God for His deliverance from bondage. To them now the bondage is preferable to the salvation – this is what angered the Lord.