Numbers 14:39

39 And Moses spoke all 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 Died and were struck in the sight of the Lord.

38 But Josue the son of Nun, and Caleb had gone to view the land.

39 And Moses spoke all these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned exceedingly.

40 And behold rising up very early in the morning, they went up to the top of the mountain, and said: We are ready to go up to the place, of which the Lord hath spoken: for we have sinned.

41 And Moses said to them: Why transgress you the word of the Lord, which shall not succeed prosperously with you?