Numbers 14:26-34

26 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

27 "How long * shall I bear with this evil congregation who are ¹grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me.

28 "Say to them, '²As I live,' says the LORD, 'just as ³you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you;

29 ⁴your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all ⁵your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me.

30 'Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore * to settle you, ⁶except * Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

31 '⁷Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey -I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected.

32 '⁸But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness.

33 'Your sons shall be shepherds for ⁹forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness.

34 'According to the ¹⁰number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition.

Numbers 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.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 11:1
• 2. Numbers 14:21
• 3. Numbers 14:2; Deuteronomy 2:14, 15; Hebrews 3:17
• 4. Hebrews 3:17
• 5. Numbers 1:45, 46
• 6. Numbers 14:24
• 7. Numbers 14:3
• 8. Numbers 26:64, 65; Numbers 32:13; 1 Corinthians 10:5
• 9. Deuteronomy 2:7; Deuteronomy 8:2, 4; Deuteronomy 29:5
• 10. Numbers 13:25

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "complaining"
• [b]. Lit "mustered"
• [c]. Lit "raised My hand"
• [d]. Lit "bear"
• [e]. Lit "fornications"
• [f]. Lit "are finished"
• [g]. Or "iniquities"