Numbers 20:3

The people contended ¹  with Moses, saying, ²  “If only ³  we had died when our brothers died before the Lord!

They quarrelled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD!

The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD!

The people blamed Moses and said, "We wish we had died in the LORD’s presence with our brothers!

They attacked Moses: "We wish we'd died when the rest of our brothers died before GOD.

And the people were angry with Moses and said, If only death had overtaken us when our brothers came to their death before the Lord!

The people quarreled with Moses and said, "Would that we had died when our kindred died before the LORD!

And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: "If only we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!

The people contended ¹  with Moses, saying, ²  “If only ³  we had died when our brothers died before the Lord!

¹ tn The verb is רִיב (riv); it is often used in the Bible for a legal complaint, a law suit, at least in form. But it can also describe a quarrel, or strife, like that between Abram’s men and Lot’s men in Genesis 13. It will be the main verb behind the commemorative name Meribah, the place where the people strove with God. It is a far more serious thing than grumbling – it is directed, intentional, and well-argued. For further discussion, see J. Limburg, “The Root ‘rib’ and the Prophetic Lawsuit Speeches,” JBL 88 (1969): 291-304.

² tn Heb “and they said, saying.”

³ tn The particle לוּ (lu) indicates the optative nuance of the line – the wishing or longing for death. It is certainly an absurdity to want to have died, but God took them at their word and they died in the wilderness.