Bamidbar 14:26-34

26 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe and unto Aharon, saying,

27 How long shall I bear with this Edah Hara’ah, which murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the Bnei Yisroel, which they murmur against Me.

28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith Hashem, as ye have spoken in Mine ears, so will I do to you:

29 Your corpses shall fall in this midbar; and all that were numbered of you, according to your entire mispar (number, census), from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against Me.

30 Not one of you shall come into HaAretz, concerning which I swore to make you dwell therein, except for Kalev ben Yephunneh, and Yehoshua ben Nun.

31 But your little ones, which ye said would be plunder, them will I bring in, and they shall know HaAretz which ye have rejected.

32 But as for you, your corpses, they shall fall in this midbar.

33 And your banim shall wander [wandering ro’im] in the midbar arba’im shanah, and bear [the penalty of] your whoredoms [zenut, spiritual disloyalty and rebellion], until the last of your corpses lies in the midbar.

34 After the number of the days in which ye explored HaAretz, even arba’im, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even arba’im shanah, and ye shall know My Tenu’a (Opposition).

Bamidbar 14:26-34 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 14

This chapter treats or the murmurings of the children of Israel upon the evil report of the spies, which greatly distressed Moses and Aaron, Nu 14:1-5; and of the endeavours of Joshua and Caleb to quiet the minds of the people with a good account of the land, and of the easy conquest of it, but to no purpose, Nu 14:6-10; and of the Lord's threatening to destroy the people with the pestilence, Nu 14:11,12; and of the intercession of Moses for them, which so far succeeded as to prevent their immediate destruction, Nu 14:13-20; nevertheless they are assured again and again, in the strongest terms, that none of them but Joshua and Caleb should enter into the land, but their carcasses should fall in the wilderness, even all the murmurers of twenty years old and upwards, Nu 14:21-35; and the ten men that brought the evil report of the good land died of a plague immediately, but the other two lived, Nu 14:36-38; and the body of the people that attempted to go up the mountain and enter the land were smitten and discomfited by their enemies, after they had with concern heard what the Lord threatened them with, Nu 14:39-45.