Numbers 14:39

39 When Moses told these things to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly, as if someone had died.

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 They died because they had returned and made the whole community complain about Moses by spreading lies about the land.

38 Of all the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua (son of Nun) and Caleb (son of Jephunneh) survived.

39 When Moses told these things to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly, as if someone had died.

40 Early the next morning they headed into the mountain region. They said, "We have sinned. Now we'll go to the place the LORD promised."

41 But Moses asked, "Why are you disobeying the LORD's command? Your plan won't work!