'People' in the Bible

(then the priest shall have the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people by the Lord’s making your thigh waste away and your abdomen swell;

When he has made her drink the water, then it shall come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will waste away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet neglects to observe the Passover, that person shall then be cut off from his people, for he did not present the offering of the Lord at its appointed time. That man will bear his sin.

Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died out.

The people would go about and gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil.

Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each man at the doorway of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, and Moses was displeased.

So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me?

Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers’?

Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat that we may eat!’

I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me.

The Lord therefore said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.

Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone.

Say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, “Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well-off in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat.

But Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are 600,000 on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, so that they may eat for a whole month.’

So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. Also, he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and stationed them around the tent.

But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!”

The people spent all day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers) and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very severe plague.

So the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy.

From Kibroth-hattaavah the people set out for Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.

So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again.

Afterward, however, the people moved out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many.

Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.”

But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.”

So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.

Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.

Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?

But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst,

and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for You, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say,

‘Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

When Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly.

So all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be forgiven, with the alien who sojourns among them, for it happened to all the people through error.

But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from among his people.

But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people.”

Then Aaron took it as Moses had spoken, and ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people. So he put on the incense and made atonement for the people.

Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there.

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

“Aaron will be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah.

and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron will be gathered to his people, and will die there.”

So Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”

Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey.

The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.”

The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.

From there they continued to Beer, that is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Assemble the people, that I may give them water.”

“The well, which the leaders sank,Which the nobles of the people dug,With the scepter and with their staffs.”And from the wilderness they continued to Mattanah,

But Sihon would not permit Israel to pass through his border. So Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.

“Woe to you, O Moab!You are ruined, O people of Chemosh!He has given his sons as fugitives,And his daughters into captivity,To an Amorite king, Sihon.

Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out with all his people, for battle at Edrei.

But the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.”

So they killed him and his sons and all his people, until there was no remnant left him; and they possessed his land.

So Moab was in great fear because of the people, for they were numerous; and Moab was in dread of the sons of Israel.

So he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, at Pethor, which is near the River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they cover the surface of the land, and they are living opposite me.

Now, therefore, please come, curse this people for me since they are too mighty for me; perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

‘Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt and they cover the surface of the land; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them out.’”

God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”

for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then, curse this people for me.’”

Then it came about in the morning that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of Baal, and he saw from there a portion of the people.

“As I see him from the top of the rocks,And I look at him from the hills;Behold, a people who dwells apart,And will not be reckoned among the nations.

“Behold, a people rises like a lioness,And as a lion it lifts itself;It will not lie down until it devours the prey,And drinks the blood of the slain.”

And now, behold, I am going to my people; come, and I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the days to come.”

While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab.

For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”

The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian.

“Take a census of the people from twenty years old and upward, as the Lord has commanded Moses.”Now the sons of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt were:

When you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was;

“Take full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people.”

Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian.

For if you turn away from following Him, He will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”

They journeyed from Alush and camped at Rephidim; now it was there that the people had no water to drink.