Numbers 14:29

29 1your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and 2of all your number, listed in the census 3from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me,

Numbers 14:29 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:29

Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness
They had wished they had died in it, ( Numbers 14:2 ) , and the Lord here declares they should, which is signified by the falling of their carcasses in it, or their bodies, which when dead fall to the ground, having no strength to support themselves:

and all that were numbered of you:
but a few months before this time, when their number was 603,550, ( Numbers 1:46 ) ;

according to your number from twenty years old and upward;
which is observed, as Jarchi thinks, to except the Levites, for they were not numbered with the other tribes; and when they were numbered by themselves, their number was taken from a month old and upwards; wherefore it need not be wondered at, if we find that there were of them who did not fall in the wilderness, but entered into the land of Canaan, as it is certain Eleazar the priest, the son of Aaron, did, ( Numbers 34:17 ) ( Joshua 14:1 ) ;

which have murmured against me;
which shows, that not the spies only, who caused the people to murmur, but the people themselves who murmured, and had been numbered, from twenty years old and upward, are the evil congregation the Lord thus threatened with death.

Numbers 14:29 In-Context

27 "How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me.
28 Say to them, 'As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you:
29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me,
30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.

Cross References 3

  • 1. 1 Corinthians 10:5; Hebrews 3:17
  • 2. Numbers 1:45; Numbers 26:64; Deuteronomy 1:35
  • 3. Numbers 1:3; Exodus 30:14
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.