And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days,.... According both to Josephus (n) and the Samaritan Chronicle (o), they cried and wept in a very vehement manner, when he signified to them his approaching death, and took his leave of them; and when he was dead they mourned for him, in a public manner, the space of time here mentioned, the time of mourning for his brother Aaron, Num 20:29, so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended; on the eighth of Nisan or March, as says the Targum of Jonathan, and on the "ninth" they prepared their vessels and their cattle for a march, and on the tenth passed over Jordan, and on the "sixteenth" the manna ceased, according to the said paraphrase. (n) Ut supra. (De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 49.) (o) Apud Hottinger, p. 456.