Numbers 14:39

39 And Moses spoke words to all the {Israelites}, and the people mourned greatly.

Numbers 14:39 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:39

And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel,
&c.] That all that had murmured, who were of twenty years old and upwards, should die in the wilderness, and never see nor enter into the land of Canaan, on the borders of which they now were: and the people mourned greatly;
because of their unhappy case, that they should be cut off by death in the wilderness, and be deprived of the enjoyment of the good land; their sorrow seems to have been not a godly sorrow, or true repentance for sin committed, but a worldly sorrow that works death; it was not on account of the evil of sin, the pardon of which they did not seem to seek after, but on account of the evil that was likely to come to them by it.

Numbers 14:39 In-Context

37 the men who spread the evil report of the land died by the plague {before Yahweh}.
38 But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh lived from [among] the men who went to explore the land.
39 And Moses spoke words to all the {Israelites}, and the people mourned greatly.
40 They rose early in the morning and went to the top of the mount, saying, "Here we are. We will go up to the place that Yahweh said, because we have sinned."
41 But Moses said, "Why [are] you going against the command of Yahweh? It will not succeed.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.