Numbers 32:15

15 If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.”

Numbers 32:15 in Other Translations

15 For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.

15 For if you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people."

15 If you turn away from him like this and he abandons them again in the wilderness, you will be responsible for destroying this entire nation!”

15 If you won't follow him, he'll do it again. He'll dump them in the desert and the disaster will be all your fault."

15 If you turn back from following Him, He will once again leave this people in the wilderness, and you will destroy all of them."

Numbers 32:15 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 32:15

For if ye turn away from after him
From following him in the way of his commandments, from attending his word, worship, and ordinances, and from walking after him, who went before them in a pillar of cloud and fire, as it is suggested they would, should they stop short here and not go over Jordan into the land of Canaan:

he will yet again leave them in the wilderness;
as he did at the time of the affair of the spies, when they were ordered to turn and get into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, and where they had been ever since unto this time, ( Numbers 14:25 ) ,

and ye shall destroy all this people;
be the cause of their destruction, if the Lord should in such a manner resent this step of theirs, as to order them back into the wilderness again, though they were now as they were before, on the border of the land of Canaan.

Numbers 32:15 In-Context

13 The LORD’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.

14 “And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the LORD even more angry with Israel.

15 If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.”

16 Then they came up to him and said, “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children.

17 But we will arm ourselves for battle and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our women and children will live in fortified cities, for protection from the inhabitants of the land.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 30:17-18; 2 Chronicles 7:20