Numbers 14:16

16 'Since God couldn't get these people into the land which he had promised to give them, he slaughtered them out in the wilderness.'

Numbers 14:16 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:16

Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the
land which he sware unto them
That though he brought them out of Egypt, he was not able to bring them through the wilderness into Canaan; and that though he had wrought many signs and wonders for them, he could work no more, his power failed him, he had exhausted all his might, and could not perform the promise and oath he had made:

therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness;
because he could not fulfil his word, and so made short work of it, destroying them all together, which Moses suggests would greatly reflect dishonour on him; and in this he shows, that he was more concerned for the glory of God than for his own.

Numbers 14:16 In-Context

14 The Egyptians will tell everyone. They've already heard that you are God, that you are on the side of this people, that you are present among them, that they see you with their own eyes in your Cloud that hovers over them, in the Pillar of Cloud that leads them by day and the Pillar of Fire at night.

15 If you kill this entire people in one stroke, all the nations that have heard what has been going on will say,

16 'Since God couldn't get these people into the land which he had promised to give them, he slaughtered them out in the wilderness.'

17 "Now, please, let the power of the Master expand, enlarge itself greatly, along the lines you have laid out earlier when you said,

18 God, slow to get angry and huge in loyal love, forgiving iniquity and rebellion and sin; Still, never just whitewashing sin. But extending the fallout of parents' sins to children into the third, even the fourth generation.