Numbers 14:23

23 will ever see the land I swore to [give] their fathers.^[a] None of those who have despised Me^[b] will see it.

Numbers 14:23 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:23

Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their
fathers
Not possess and enjoy the land of Canaan, which the Lord by an oath had promised their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give it to their seed; and now he swears that these men, who had so often tempted him, and been disobedient to him, should not inherit it; so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem take it for an oath; see ( Hebrews 3:11 Hebrews 3:18 ) ;

neither shall any of them that provoked me see it;
that provoked him by the ill report they had brought of the land, by their unbelief, by their murmurings, and mutiny.

Numbers 14:23 In-Context

21 Yet as surely as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord's glory,

22 none of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested Me these 10 times and did not obey Me,

23 will ever see the land I swore to [give] their fathers. None of those who have despised Me will see it.

24 But since My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me completely, I will bring him into the land where he has gone, and his descendants will inherit it.

25 Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the lowlands, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea."

Footnotes

• [a]. Gn 12:7; 13:14-17; 15:7; Ac 7:5
• [b]. Nm 14:11; Dt 31:20; Ps 74:18