Numbers 14:19-29

19 "¹Pardon, 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."

The LORD Pardons and Rebukes

20 So the LORD said, "²I have pardoned them according to your word;

21 but indeed, ³as I live, ⁴all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD.

22 "Surely ⁵all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet ⁶have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice,

23 ⁷shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.

24 "But My servant Caleb, ⁸because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, ⁹I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.

25 "¹⁰Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the Red * Sea."

26 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

27 "How long * shall I bear with this evil congregation who are ¹¹grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me.

28 "Say to them, '¹²As I live,' says the LORD, 'just as ¹³you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you;

29 ¹⁴your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all ¹⁵your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me.

Numbers 14:19-29 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 14

This chapter treats or the murmurings of the children of Israel upon the evil report of the spies, which greatly distressed Moses and Aaron, Nu 14:1-5; and of the endeavours of Joshua and Caleb to quiet the minds of the people with a good account of the land, and of the easy conquest of it, but to no purpose, Nu 14:6-10; and of the Lord's threatening to destroy the people with the pestilence, Nu 14:11,12; and of the intercession of Moses for them, which so far succeeded as to prevent their immediate destruction, Nu 14:13-20; nevertheless they are assured again and again, in the strongest terms, that none of them but Joshua and Caleb should enter into the land, but their carcasses should fall in the wilderness, even all the murmurers of twenty years old and upwards, Nu 14:21-35; and the ten men that brought the evil report of the good land died of a plague immediately, but the other two lived, Nu 14:36-38; and the body of the people that attempted to go up the mountain and enter the land were smitten and discomfited by their enemies, after they had with concern heard what the Lord threatened them with, Nu 14:39-45.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 32:32; Exodus 34:9
• 2. Micah 7:18-20
• 3. Numbers 14:28; Deuteronomy 32:40; Isaiah 49:18
• 4. Isaiah 6:3; Habakkuk 2:14
• 5. 1 Corinthians 10:5
• 6. Exodus 5:21; Exodus 14:11; Exodus 15:24; Exodus 16:2; Exodus 17:2, 3; Exodus 32:1; Numbers 11:1, 4; Numbers 12:1; Numbers 14:2
• 7. Numbers 26:65; Numbers 32:11; Hebrews 3:18
• 8. Numbers 14:6-9
• 9. Numbers 26:65; Numbers 32:12; Deuteronomy 1:36; Joshua 14:6-15
• 10. Numbers 13:29
• 11. Numbers 11:1
• 12. Numbers 14:21
• 13. Numbers 14:2; Deuteronomy 2:14, 15; Hebrews 3:17
• 14. Hebrews 3:17
• 15. Numbers 1:45, 46

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "and all"
• [b] Lit "him I"
• [c] Lit "where"
• [d] Lit "seed"
• [e] Lit "Sea of Reeds"
• [f] Lit "complaining"
• [g] Lit "mustered"