Numbers 14:21

21 You can be sure that I live. You can be sure that my glory fills the whole earth.

Numbers 14:21 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:21

But [as truly as] I live
Which is the form of an oath, as the Targum; the Lord swears by his life, or by himself, because he could swear by no greater:

all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord;
this is not the thing sworn unto or confirmed, but that by which the oath is made and confirmed; and the sense is, that as sure as the earth "had been" filled with the glory of the Lord, as it may be rendered, as it had been with the fame of what he had done in Egypt, and at the Red sea; or as it "should be" filled with it in later times, especially in the kingdom of the Messiah in the latter day; see ( Isaiah 6:3 ) ( Habakkuk 1:14 ) ; so sure the men that had provoked him should not see the land of Canaan.

Numbers 14:21 In-Context

19 "Lord, your love is great. So forgive the sin of these people. Forgive them just as you have done from the time they left Egypt until now."

20 The LORD replied, "I have forgiven them, just as you asked.

21 You can be sure that I live. You can be sure that my glory fills the whole earth.

22 "And you can be just as sure that these men will not see the land I promised to give them. They have seen my glory. They have seen the miraculous signs I did in Egypt. And they have seen what I did in the desert. But they did not obey me. And they have put me to the test ten times.

23 So not even one of them will ever see the land I promised with an oath to give to their people of long ago. No one who has made fun of me will ever see it.