Numbers 14:16

16 Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which he sware to them, he has overthrown them in the wilderness.

Numbers 14:16 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:16

Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the
land which he sware unto them
That though he brought them out of Egypt, he was not able to bring them through the wilderness into Canaan; and that though he had wrought many signs and wonders for them, he could work no more, his power failed him, he had exhausted all his might, and could not perform the promise and oath he had made:

therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness;
because he could not fulfil his word, and so made short work of it, destroying them all together, which Moses suggests would greatly reflect dishonour on him; and in this he shows, that he was more concerned for the glory of God than for his own.

Numbers 14:16 In-Context

14 Moreover all the dwellers upon this land have heard that thou art Lord in the midst of this people, who, O Lord, art seen face to face, and thy cloud rests upon them, and thou goest before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire.

15 And thou shalt destroy this nation as one man; then all the nations that have heard thy name shall speak, saying,

16 Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which he sware to them, he has overthrown them in the wilderness.

17 And now, O Lord, let thy strength be exalted, as thou spakest, saying,

18 The Lord long-suffering and merciful, and true, removing transgressions and iniquities and sins, and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation.