Numbers 14:39

39 And Moses spoke these words to all the children of Israel; and the people mourned 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 the men that spoke evil reports against the land, even died of the plague before the Lord.
38 And Joshua the son of Naue and Chaleb the son of Jephonne lived of those men that went to spy out the land.
39 And Moses spoke these words to all the children of Israel; and the people mourned exceedingly.
40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, Behold, we that are here will go up to the place of which the Lord has spoken, because we have sinned.
41 And Moses said, Why do ye transgress the word of the Lord? ye shall not prosper.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.