Verse 16
‘For who, when they heard, did provoke? No, did not all those who came out of Egypt by Moses?’
And who of those who heard these words, provoked God? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt through the activity of Moses? The situation was appalling. It was not the few who provoked God, but the many. Indeed (nearly) all of them. Let his readers not think that, because they were all agreed, it proved that what they were thinking of doing was right. For Israel had all been agreed in provoking God and murmuring against Moses, even though it was through Moses that they had been delivered, and they were all in the wrong.
‘No, did not all --’. The first question gave the impression that it might have been just some, so he firmly asserts, no, it was not only some, but all.
‘All.’ That is the large majority sufficient to be seen as almost all, a regular use of all.
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