Numbers 32:15

15 If you turn away from him, he will abandon all these people in the desert. You would be responsible for their destruction."

Numbers 32:15 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 32:15

For if ye turn away from after him
From following him in the way of his commandments, from attending his word, worship, and ordinances, and from walking after him, who went before them in a pillar of cloud and fire, as it is suggested they would, should they stop short here and not go over Jordan into the land of Canaan:

he will yet again leave them in the wilderness;
as he did at the time of the affair of the spies, when they were ordered to turn and get into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, and where they had been ever since unto this time, ( Numbers 14:25 ) ,

and ye shall destroy all this people;
be the cause of their destruction, if the Lord should in such a manner resent this step of theirs, as to order them back into the wilderness again, though they were now as they were before, on the border of the land of Canaan.

Numbers 32:15 In-Context

13 Since the LORD was angry with the Israelites, he made them wander in the desert for 40 years until the whole generation of those who had done evil in the LORD's presence was gone.

14 "You're just like your parents! You're a bunch of sinners trying to make the LORD angry with Israel again.

15 If you turn away from him, he will abandon all these people in the desert. You would be responsible for their destruction."

16 Then the tribes of Gad and Reuben came up to Moses and said, "Allow us to build stone fences for our livestock and cities for our families here.

17 Then we'll be ready [to march] in battle formation ahead of the other Israelites until we have brought them to their land. Meanwhile our families will live in walled cities, safe from the other people who live here.