What Does Numbers 11:14 Mean?
Two renderings of the same sentence, the verses it belongs to, and what the passage is doing — so you can decide what it means rather than take someone's word for it.
"I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me." Numbers 11:14, King James Version
The same verse in modern English
"I cannot carry all these people by myself; it is too burdensome for me." Numbers 11:14, Berean Standard Bible
What it sits inside
A verse quoted on its own is the commonest way one gets misread. Here it is with what comes immediately before and after, in the King James Version.
Numbers 11:12 Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?
Numbers 11:13 Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.
Numbers 11:14 I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.
Numbers 11:15 And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.
Numbers 11:16 And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.
A conversation built on it
Admitting you cannot carry it feels like the moment you fail. Moses said almost exactly that and was not rebuked for it — the weight was lifted off him and spread across seventy others. The load did not shrink. It stopped being one person's. Nothing changed until he said it.
Questions people ask
What does Numbers 11:14 mean?
In modern English (Berean Standard Bible) it reads: “I cannot carry all these people by myself; it is too burdensome for me.” The King James rendering most people know is: “I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.”
What is the context of Numbers 11:14?
The verses immediately around it read: (Numbers 11:12) Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? (Numbers 11:13) Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. (Numbers 11:14) I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. (Numbers 11:15) And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness. (Numbers 11:16) And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.
How is Numbers 11:14 used in a conversation about this?
Admitting you cannot carry it feels like the moment you fail. Moses said almost exactly that and was not rebuked for it — the weight was lifted off him and spread across seventy others. The load did not shrink. It stopped being one person's. Nothing changed until he said it.
Reading it is one thing. Saying what it stirs up is another.
Start a Conversation →