Numbers 14:42

42 Do not ye go up, for the Lord is not with you, lest ye fall before your enemies. (Do not ye go up, for the Lord is not with you, and ye shall fall before your enemies.)

Numbers 14:42 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:42

Go not up, for the Lord [is] not among you
And therefore could not expect success, for victory is of the Lord; the Targum of Jonathan adds,

``the ark, and the tabernacle, and the cloud of glory move not,''

which were a plain indication that the Lord would not go with them, and therefore could not hope to prevail over their enemies and enter the land, but on the contrary might expect to be defeated by them, as follows:

that ye be not smitten before your enemies;
of which they would be in great danger should they attempt to go up the hill, and the Lord not with them.

Numbers 14:42 In-Context

40 And, lo! they rose in the morrowtide first, and they went up into the top of the hill, and said, We be ready to go up to the place, of which the Lord spake, for we have sinned. (And lo! they rose up early the next morning, and left to go up into the heights of the hill country, saying, See, now we be ready to go up to the place, of which the Lord hath spoken, and we confess, that we have sinned.)

41 To whom Moses said, Why over-pass ye the word of the Lord, that shall not befall to you into prosperity? (To whom Moses said, Why pass ye over the word of the Lord? this shall not befall to you into any prosperity, or any success, but only evil.)

42 Do not ye go up, for the Lord is not with you, lest ye fall before your enemies. (Do not ye go up, for the Lord is not with you, and ye shall fall before your enemies.)

43 Amalek and Canaanites be before you, by the sword of which ye shall fall, for ye would not assent to the Lord, neither the Lord shall be with you. (The Amalekites and the Canaanites be before you, by whose sword ye shall fall, for ye would not assent to the Lord, and so the Lord shall not be with you.)

44 And they were made dark, that is, blinded in their sin, and went up into the top of the hill; forsooth the ark of the testament of the Lord and Moses went not away from the tents. (But they were blinded by their sin, and they went up anyway into the heights of the hill country; but neither the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, that is, the Ark of the Witnessing, nor Moses, left the camp.)