Numbers 14:20

The LORD Pardons and Rebukes

20 So the LORD said, "¹I have pardoned them according to your word;

Numbers 14:20 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:20

And the Lord said, I have pardoned, according to thy word.
] So as not to kill them utterly as one man: which is an instance of his being plenteous in mercy, and ready to forgive; and of the virtue and efficacy of the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, and of the great regard the Lord has to the prayers of a good man for others. The Jerusalem Targum is,

``and the Word of the Lord said, lo, I have remitted and forgiven according to thy word;''

which must be understood of Christ, the essential Word, and shows, according to the sense of the Targumist, that he has a power to forgive sin, and must be a divine Person, for none can forgive sin but God; see ( Mark 2:7 Mark 2:10 ) .

Numbers 14:20 In-Context

18 'The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.'

19 "Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now."

20 So the LORD said, "I have pardoned them according to your word;

21 but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD .

22 "Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice,

Cross References

• 1. Micah 7:18-20