Numbers 14:29

29 your carrions, or dead bodies, shall lie in this wilderness. All ye that be numbered, from twenty years and above, and have grouched against me, (all your corpses shall lie here in this wilderness. All ye who be listed, or registered, from twenty years of age and older, and have grumbled against me,)

Numbers 14:29 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:29

Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness
They had wished they had died in it, ( Numbers 14:2 ) , and the Lord here declares they should, which is signified by the falling of their carcasses in it, or their bodies, which when dead fall to the ground, having no strength to support themselves:

and all that were numbered of you:
but a few months before this time, when their number was 603,550, ( Numbers 1:46 ) ;

according to your number from twenty years old and upward;
which is observed, as Jarchi thinks, to except the Levites, for they were not numbered with the other tribes; and when they were numbered by themselves, their number was taken from a month old and upwards; wherefore it need not be wondered at, if we find that there were of them who did not fall in the wilderness, but entered into the land of Canaan, as it is certain Eleazar the priest, the son of Aaron, did, ( Numbers 34:17 ) ( Joshua 14:1 ) ;

which have murmured against me;
which shows, that not the spies only, who caused the people to murmur, but the people themselves who murmured, and had been numbered, from twenty years old and upward, are the evil congregation the Lord thus threatened with death.

Numbers 14:29 In-Context

27 How long groucheth this worst multitude against me? I have heard the grouching plaints of the sons of Israel. (How long grumbleth this worst multitude against me? I have heard all the grumbling and the complaints of the Israelites.)
28 Therefore say thou to them, (As) I live, saith the Lord; as ye spake while I heard, so I shall do to you;
29 your carrions, or dead bodies, shall lie in this wilderness. All ye that be numbered, from twenty years and above, and have grouched against me, (all your corpses shall lie here in this wilderness. All ye who be listed, or registered, from twenty years of age and older, and have grumbled against me,)
30 shall not enter into the land, upon which I have raised (up) mine hand, that I should make you to dwell there (where I would have you live), except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun.
31 Forsooth I shall lead in your little children, of which ye said that they should be preys, either ravens, to (thine) enemies, that they see the land which displeased you. (But I shall lead in your little children, they of whom ye said would become your enemies? spoils, so that they can have the land which hath so displeased you.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.