Numbers 14:39

39 And Moses speaketh these words unto all the sons of Israel, and the people mourn exceedingly,

Numbers 14:39 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:39

And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel,
&c.] That all that had murmured, who were of twenty years old and upwards, should die in the wilderness, and never see nor enter into the land of Canaan, on the borders of which they now were: and the people mourned greatly;
because of their unhappy case, that they should be cut off by death in the wilderness, and be deprived of the enjoyment of the good land; their sorrow seems to have been not a godly sorrow, or true repentance for sin committed, but a worldly sorrow that works death; it was not on account of the evil of sin, the pardon of which they did not seem to seek after, but on account of the evil that was likely to come to them by it.

Numbers 14:39 In-Context

37 even the men bringing out an evil account of the land die by the plague before Jehovah;
38 and Joshua son of Nun, and Caleb son of Jephunneh, have lived of those men who go to spy out the land.
39 And Moses speaketh these words unto all the sons of Israel, and the people mourn exceedingly,
40 and they rise early in the morning, and go up unto the top of the mountain, saying, `Here we [are], and we have come up unto the place which Jehovah hath spoken of, for we have sinned.'
41 And Moses saith, `Why [is] this? -- ye are transgressing the command of Jehovah, and it doth not prosper;
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.