Deuteronomy 1:39

39 And your little children, who you thought shall become plunder, and your sons, who do not today know good or bad, shall themselves[a] go there, and I will give it to them, and they shall take possession of it.

Deuteronomy 1:39 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 1:39

Moreover, your little ones, which ye said should be a prey,
&c.] To the Amorites, into whose hands they expected to be delivered, ( Deuteronomy 1:27 ) see ( Numbers 14:3 )

and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and
evil;
not being at years of understanding, and which is a common description of children; it is particularly expressed "in that day", for now they were the very persons Moses was directing his speech unto, and relating this history, it being thirty eight years ago when this affair was, so that now they were grown up to years of discretion:

they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall
possess it:
the relation of which now might serve greatly to encourage their faith, as well as it would be a fulfilment of the promise of the land made unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which was not made of none effect through the unbelief of the Israelites, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, since their posterity was to enjoy it, and did.

Deuteronomy 1:39 In-Context

37 Even with me Yahweh was angry because of you, saying, 'Not even you shall enter there.
38 Joshua, the son of Nun, {your assistant}, will go there; encourage him because he will cause Israel to inherit it.
39 And your little children, who you thought shall become plunder, and your sons, who do not today know good or bad, shall themselves go there, and I will give it to them, and they shall take possession of it.
40 But you turn and set out [in the direction of] the wilderness by way of the {Red Sea}.'
41 "You replied and said to me, 'We have sinned against Yahweh, [and now] we will go up and fight according to all that Yahweh our God commanded us'; and [so] each man fastened on {his battle gear}, and you regarded [it] as easy to go up [into] the hill country.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. The Hebrew pronoun is used for emphasis
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.