Numbers 14:1-19

The People Rebel

1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people ¹wept that night.

2 And all the people of Israel ²grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or ³would that we had died in this wilderness!

3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? ⁴Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?"

4 And they said to one another, ⁵"Let us choose a leader and ⁶go back to Egypt."

5 Then ⁷Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel.

6 ⁸And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes

7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, ⁹"The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.

8 If ¹⁰the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, ¹¹a land that flows with milk and honey.

9 Only ¹²do not rebel against the LORD. And ¹³do not fear the people of the land, for ¹⁴they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them."

10 ¹⁵Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But ¹⁶the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

11 And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people ¹⁷despise me? And how long will they not ¹⁸believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?

12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I ¹⁹will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."

Moses Intercedes for the People

13 But ²⁰Moses said to the LORD, "Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them,

14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. ²¹They have heard that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people. For you, O LORD, are seen face to face, and ²²your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

15 Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say,

16 'It is because the LORD ²³ was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.'

17 And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying,

18 ²⁴'The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, ²⁵visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.'

19 Please ²⁶pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just ²⁷as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now."

Numbers 14:1-19 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.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 11:4
• 2. ver. 27, 29, 33; Numbers 16:41; Exodus 15:24; Exodus 16:2; Exodus 17:3; Psalms 106:25; [Joshua 9:18]
• 3. [ver. 27-29]
• 4. ver. 31
• 5. Nehemiah 9:17
• 6. [Deuteronomy 17:16; Acts 7:39]
• 7. Numbers 16:4, 22; Numbers 20:6
• 8. ver. 30; Numbers 13:6, 8
• 9. Numbers 13:27; Deuteronomy 1:25
• 10. Deuteronomy 10:15; 2 Samuel 22:20; 1 Kings 10:9; Psalms 18:19; Psalms 22:8; Isaiah 62:4
• 11. See Exodus 3:8
• 12. Josh. 22:16, 18, 19, 29
• 13. Deuteronomy 7:18; Deuteronomy 20:3
• 14. Numbers 24:8; [Psalms 14:4; Psalms 74:14]
• 15. Exodus 17:4
• 16. See Leviticus 9:23
• 17. ver. 23; Numbers 16:30
• 18. Deuteronomy 1:32; Deuteronomy 9:23; Psalms 78:22, 32; Psalms 106:24; Hebrews 3:18; [John 12:37]
• 19. Exodus 32:10
• 20. Exodus 32:12; [Deuteronomy 9:28; Deuteronomy 32:27; Psalms 106:23; Ezekiel 20:9, 14]
• 21. Joshua 5:14">Ex. 1Joshua 5:14; Joshua 2:9, 10; Joshua 5:1
• 22. See Exodus 13:21
• 23. Deuteronomy 9:28; [Joshua 7:9]
• 24. See Exodus 34:6, 7
• 25. See Exodus 20:5
• 26. Exodus 34:9
• 27. Psalms 78:38; Psalms 106:45