All night long the people cried out in distress.

They complained against Moses and Aaron, and said, "It would have been better to die in Egypt or even here in the wilderness!

There in the desert they all complained to Moses and Aaron

and said to them, "We wish that the LORD had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death."

They complained to Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses answered, "Why are you complaining? Why are you putting the LORD to the test?"

Curse that night for letting me be born, for exposing me to trouble and grief.

I wish I had died in my mother's womb or died the moment I was born.

The people began to complain to the LORD about their troubles. When the LORD heard them, he became angry and sent fire on the people. It burned among them and destroyed one end of the camp.

While there was still plenty of meat for them to eat, the LORD became angry with the people and caused an epidemic to break out among them.

That place was named Kibroth Hattaavah (which means "Graves of Craving"), because there they buried the people who had craved meat.

The men Moses had sent to explore the land brought back a false report which caused the people to complain against the LORD. And so the LORD struck them with a disease, and they died.

(SEE 14:36)

As soon as he had finished speaking, the ground under Dathan and Abiram split open

So they went down alive to the world of the dead, with their possessions. The earth closed over them, and they vanished.

Then the LORD sent a fire that blazed out and burned up the 250 men who had presented the incense.

Those who died in the war were better off than those who died later, who starved slowly to death, with no food to keep them alive.