Numbers 14:21

21 But truly, as I am living, and as all the earth will be full of the glory of the Lord;

Numbers 14:21 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:21

But [as truly as] I live
Which is the form of an oath, as the Targum; the Lord swears by his life, or by himself, because he could swear by no greater:

all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord;
this is not the thing sworn unto or confirmed, but that by which the oath is made and confirmed; and the sense is, that as sure as the earth "had been" filled with the glory of the Lord, as it may be rendered, as it had been with the fame of what he had done in Egypt, and at the Red sea; or as it "should be" filled with it in later times, especially in the kingdom of the Messiah in the latter day; see ( Isaiah 6:3 ) ( Habakkuk 1:14 ) ; so sure the men that had provoked him should not see the land of Canaan.

Numbers 14:21 In-Context

19 May the sin of this people have forgiveness, in the measure of your great mercy, as you have had mercy on them from Egypt up till now.

20 And the Lord said, I have had mercy, as you say:

21 But truly, as I am living, and as all the earth will be full of the glory of the Lord;

22 Because all these men, having seen my glory and the signs which I have done in Egypt and in the waste land, still have put me to the test ten times, and have not given ear to my voice;

23 They will not see the land about which I made an oath to their fathers; not one of these by whom I have not been honoured will see it.