CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Numbers 14
Chapter 14 of 36
Chapter Overview
What happens in Numbers 14
The people weep all night and want to go back to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb beg them to trust God, but the people want to stone them. God threatens to destroy the nation, but Moses pleads for mercy. God forgives but declares that the entire adult generation will die in the wilderness over forty years.
Scripture
Numbers 14
The People Refuse to Enter the Land
Study note
After hearing the bad report from the ten spies, the whole community broke into loud weeping. They cried all night and complained against Moses and Aaron. They wished they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness rather than have their families killed by the sword in Canaan. They even talked about choosing a new leader to take them back to Egypt.
1 That night, the entire community broke down. Everyone raised their voices and wept all through the night. And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2 Every Israelite directed their complaints at Moses and Aaron. The whole community said, "We wish we had died in Egypt! We wish we had died right here in the wilderness!" And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
3 "Why is the Lord taking us to that land just to be slaughtered? Our wives and children will be captured! Would it not be better to go back to Egypt?" And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
4 People started telling each other, "Let us pick a new leader and head back to Egypt." And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Joshua and Caleb Plead with the People
Study note
Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the people. Joshua and Caleb, who had also explored the land, tore their clothes in grief. They told the people the land was extremely good and that God would give it to them if he was pleased with them. They begged the people not to rebel and not to be afraid. But the people talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting.
5 Moses and Aaron dropped to the ground. They fell face down before the entire Israelite group. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of the scouts, ripped their clothes in anguish. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
7 They pleaded with the whole community, "The land we explored is exceedingly good!" And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
8 "If the Lord is happy with us, he will bring us safely into that land and hand it over to us. It is a land overflowing with milk and honey." If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
9 "Do not rebel against the Lord! And do not be terrified of the people there. We will sweep right over them. They have lost their protection, but the Lord is on our side. Do not fear them!" Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
10 But the whole community started talking about stoning Joshua and Caleb. Then, the Lord's glory appeared at the tent of meeting for every Israelite to see. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
God Threatens to Destroy Israel
Study note
God asked Moses how long the people would refuse to believe in him despite all the miracles they had seen. He said he would strike them with a plague and destroy them, then make Moses into a greater and stronger nation.
11 The Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people keep disrespecting me? How long will they refuse to trust me, even after all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?" And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
12 "I will send a plague to wipe them out. Then I will build you into a nation that is greater and more powerful than they are." I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
Moses Pleads for the People
Study note
Moses argued that if God destroyed Israel, the Egyptians and surrounding nations would hear about it and say God was unable to bring his people into the Promised Land. Moses appealed to God's own character, quoting God's own words about being slow to anger and full of faithful love. He asked God to forgive the people just as he had forgiven them from Egypt until now.
13 Moses replied to the Lord, "But the Egyptians will find out about it! After all, you used your great power to bring these people out from among the Egyptians." And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)
14 "And the Egyptians will tell the people living in this land. They already know that you, Lord, are present among your people. They know you have appeared face to face, that your cloud hovers over them, and that you lead them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night." And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15 "If you destroy all these people at once, the nations that have heard about your fame will say," Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
16 "'The Lord did not have the power to bring those people into the land he promised them, so he killed them out in the wilderness.'" Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
17 "So now, Lord, please demonstrate your great power, just as you promised when you said," And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
18 "'The Lord is patient and overflowing with faithful love. He forgives sin and rebellion. But he does not let the guilty escape punishment. He holds children accountable for their parents' sins to the third and fourth generation.'" The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
19 "Please forgive this people's sin, because your faithful love is so great. You have been forgiving them ever since they left Egypt." Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
God's Judgment: Forty Years in the Wilderness
Study note
God forgave the people but declared a consequence: none of the adults who saw his glory and miracles but still tested him would see the Promised Land. Only Caleb and Joshua would enter it. The people would wander in the wilderness for forty years, one year for each day the spies explored the land. The ten spies who brought the bad report died immediately from a plague.
20 The Lord said, "I forgive them, just as you asked." And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
21 "But I swear by my own life, and by my glory that fills the entire earth," But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
22 "Not a single person who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I did in Egypt and in the wilderness will enter the land. They tested me over and over again, ten times. They refused to listen to me." Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23 "none of them will ever see the land I promised to their ancestors. Not one person who has treated me with disrespect will see it." Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
24 "My servant Caleb, however, is different. He has a completely different attitude. He has been fully devoted to me. So I will bring him into the land he explored, and his descendants will own it." But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
25 "Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn around tomorrow. Head back into the wilderness toward the Red Sea." (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
26 The Lord also told Moses and Aaron, And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
27 "How much longer will this wicked community keep complaining about me? I have heard every one of their complaints." How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
28 "Tell them: 'I swear by my own life,' says the Lord, 'the very words you have spoken against me will come true for you.'" Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
29 "Every last one of you will die in this desert. Everyone counted in the census will die. Everyone twenty years old or older who grumbled against me will die." Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
30 "'Not one of you will enter the land I promised you as a home. The only exceptions are Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.'" Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
31 "'But your children -- the ones you said would be taken captive -- I will bring them in. They will get to enjoy the land you turned your backs on.'" But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.
32 "'As for you yourselves, you will drop dead in this wilderness.'" But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.
33 "'Your children will wander this wilderness for forty years. They will pay the price for your unfaithfulness until the last one of you has died out here.'" And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
34 "'You will suffer for your sins for forty years, one year for each of the forty days you spent exploring the land. Then you will understand what it means to have me working against you.'" After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
35 "'I, the Lord, have spoken. I will do all of this to this entire wicked community that conspired against me. Their journey ends right here in the wilderness. This is where they will die.'" I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
A Failed Attempt to Enter Canaan
Study note
When the people heard God's judgment, they mourned greatly. The next morning they decided to go up and attack the land on their own. But Moses warned them that God was not with them and they would fail. They went anyway, without the ark or Moses, and the Amalekites and Canaanites defeated them badly.
36 The scouts Moses had sent to look at the land came back with a bad report. They turned the whole community against Moses. And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,
37 those men who spread the bad report about the land were struck dead by a plague from the Lord. Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.
38 Many men had gone to explore the land. But only two survived. Joshua son of Nun lived. Caleb son of Jephunneh lived. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.
39 When Moses told all of this to the Israelites, the people were overwhelmed with grief. And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
40 Early the next morning, they headed up toward the hill country, saying, "Here we are! We will go up to the place the Lord promised. We know we were wrong." And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned.
41 Moses warned them, "Why are you going against the Lord's command? This is not going to work!" And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper.
42 "Do not go up there! The Lord is not with you, and your enemies will crush you." Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.
43 "The Amalekites and Canaanites are up there waiting, and they will cut you down with the sword. You turned your backs on the Lord, so the Lord will not be there to help you." For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.
44 They pushed ahead toward the hill country anyway, even though they were told not to. Neither the ark of the Lord's covenant nor Moses went with them. But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.
45 The Amalekites and Canaanites living in that hill country swept down and attacked them, chasing them all the way back to Hormah. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.
Key Themes
Themes in Numbers 14
Unbelief has devastating consequencesThe power of intercessory prayerGod's patience has limitsA generation lost to disobedience
Prophetic Connections
How this chapter points to Christ
Numbers 14:21-23 Hebrews 3:18-19
The generation that could not enter the Promised Land because of unbelief is cited in Hebrews as a warning to Christians not to harden their hearts against God.
Apply This Today
Living Numbers 14
Israel's refusal to enter the land stands as one of Scripture's greatest warnings about unbelief. Yet Moses' intercession shows the power of standing in the gap for others. God's mercy delayed judgment, but the consequences of distrust still played out. Our choices today shape whether we enter God's best or wander in the wilderness.
Go Deeper
Study Numbers in Covenant Path
Read every chapter with study aids, bookmarks, and daily reading plans — free in the app.