What Does Numbers 14:1 Mean in the King James?

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

Numbers 14:1 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The crowd’s voice is not simply raised; it is given, so anguish becomes something the whole community puts into the night.

THE MEANING

When anguish fills a community, many voices gather into one sound, and grief keeps speaking through the night. This verse makes shared pain visible without pretending the night has already lifted.

THE ROOT

וַיִּתְּנוּ

wayyittenu

GROWS FROM

נתן

give, set, place

The phrase translated “cried” literally says they gave their voice, using ⁨נָתַן⁩ (natan, to give, set, or place). That adds an image of the whole people placing their voice into the night together.

ALSO GROWS

mattanah: gift

מַתָּנָה

A gift is something given; this noun shows the same root moving from the act of giving into what is placed in another’s hands.

netinim: given ones; assigned temple attendants

נְתִינִים

This form describes people as given or assigned, extending the root’s sense of placing something into a shared role.

וַתִּשָּׂא

wattissa

GROWS FROM

נשא

lift, carry, bear

“lifted up” in this verse is wattissa. The verb carries an upward image, while the same root forms ⁨מַשָּׂא⁩ (massa, a burden) and ⁨נָשִׂיא⁩ (nasi, a leader or prince, one elevated). The congregation’s voice rises, yet the shared grief still has weight.

ALSO GROWS

massa: burden, load; sometimes an utterance or oracle

מַשָּׂא

What is lifted can also be what is borne, giving the congregation’s rising voice an undertone of shared weight.

nasi: leader, prince; one elevated

נָשִׂיא

This word for a leader grows from the image of being lifted up, echoing the verse’s upward motion.

וַיִּבְכּוּ

wayyivku

GROWS FROM

בכה

weep

⁨וַיִּבְכּוּ⁩ (wayyivku, they wept) and ⁨בְּכִי⁩ (bekhi, weeping) are action and noun from the same root. The root lets grief be named both as something people do and as the condition filling the night.

ALSO GROWS

bekhi: weeping

בְּכִי

The noun form makes the act into a named span or condition, as in the night of weeping in Psalm 30:5.

Bochim: weepers

בֹּכִים

This related form can name a place as well as people, showing how the root can mark a whole setting with weeping.

THE PATTERN

Scripture lets grief be shared and witnessed without requiring it to resolve on the same page.

Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

1 Samuel 30:4 · KJVThe people raise one voice together and keep weeping until their strength is spent.

So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.

Job 2:13 · KJVHis companions remain present through a long stretch of grief without trying to explain it away.

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

Romans 12:15 · KJVWeeping is shared as part of being with another person in their sorrow.

THE THREAD

For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Psalm 30:5 · KJV

The word “weeping” is ⁨בְּכִי⁩ (bekhi, weeping), from the same root ⁨בכה⁩ (bakah, to weep) as the people who weep here. The psalm lets that same root carry the night toward morning, opening a horizon beyond this verse’s grief while honoring the night itself.

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