“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me. Tell them, ‘As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,
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Numbers 14:27-29 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Yahweh said, “I have pardoned according to your word; but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with Yahweh’s glory— because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it. But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it. Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.” Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me. Tell them, ‘As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me, surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But I will bring your little ones that you said should be captured or killed in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’ I, Yahweh, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”
Parallel Translations
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“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me.
Tell them, ‘As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you.
Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,
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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.
Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
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,
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'How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that keep murmuring against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they keep murmuring against Me.
Say unto them: As I live, saith the LORD, surely as ye have spoken in Mine ears, so will I do to you:
your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, ye that have murmured against Me;
Cross-references (19)
- Numbers 14:21 (v28) but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with Yahweh’s glory—
- Exodus 16:12 (v27) “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At evening you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall…
- Numbers 1:45 (v29) So all those who were counted of the children of Israel by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go…
- Hebrews 3:17 (vv28–29) With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
- Numbers 26:64 (v29) But among these there was not a man of them who were counted by Moses and Aaron the priest, who counted the children of Israel in the…
Show all 18 cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 10:5 (v29) However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
- 1 Corinthians 10:10 (v27) Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.
- Exodus 16:28 (v27) Yahweh said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?
- Numbers 14:2 (v28) All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the…
- Numbers 14:11 (v27) Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have…
- Numbers 14:23 (v28) surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it.
- Numbers 26:64-65 (v28) But among these there was not a man of them who were counted by Moses and Aaron the priest, who counted the children of Israel in the…
- Mark 9:19 (v27) He answered him, “Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.”
- Numbers 14:32-33 (v29) But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall…
- Numbers 32:11 (v28) ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac,…
- Deuteronomy 1:35 (v28) “Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land which I swore to give to your fathers,
- Psalms 90:8-9 (v28) You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We…
- Jude 1:5 (v29) Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward…
18 distinct cross-references across this passage (19 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv28–29 Num 14:28 Say unto them, [As truly as] I…
Num 14:28 Say unto them, [As truly as] I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
Ver. 28. So will I do to you.] God took them at their words: so he may well do our desperate swearers, since the mercy they desire God to show is to damn them. This self-cursing seldom escapeth God’s visible vengeance: witness those Jews of old, who cried, "His blood be on us," &c., besides many others of late that might be instanced. Mr Perkins tells of certain English soldiers in King Edward VI’s time, who were cast upon the French shore by a storm, in which stress they went to prayer, that they might be delivered; but one soldier among the rest, instead of praying, cried out, Gallows take thy right, or claim thy due: when he came home he was hanged indeed. So was Sir Gervaise Ellowayes, Lieutenant of the Tower in King James’ time, whose usual word at his playing at cards and dice had been, as he sorrowfully confessed at the gallows, I would I might be hanged if it be not so or so. {a}
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{a} Looking glass for Malignants.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv27–28 Bear with, or pardon, as Num 14:19,20, or spare;…
Bear with, or pardon, as Num 14:19,20, or spare; which words are necessarily and easily understood. It is a short and imperfect speech, which is frequent in case of anger, as Exo 32:32; Psa 6:3; 90:13.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv27–29 Say unto them, as truly as I live, saith…
Say unto them, as truly as I live, saith the Lord,.... The form of an oath, as in Num 14:21,
as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you; what they had wished for, and expressed in the hearing of the Lord, he threatens them should be their case.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v28 As ye have spoken - When you wickedly wished…
As ye have spoken - When you wickedly wished you might die in the wilderness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v28 Num 14:28-30. As ye have spoken — When you…
Num 14:28-30. As ye have spoken — When you wickedly wished you might die in the wilderness. To make you dwell — That is, your nation; for God did not swear to do so to these particular persons.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv27, 29 THE FORMAL SENTENCE OF EXCLUSION, Num_14:26-35.
THE FORMAL SENTENCE OF EXCLUSION, Num_14:26-35.
27. Murmurings are especially offensive to God, because they impeach his wisdom and goodness. Trust in Christ is the cure for all heart troubles, enabling the sinner to rejoice in the forgiveness of the moral evils of his life, and the saint cheerfully to acquiesce in all providential trials as a part of that discipline wisely chosen for the development of the Christian graces. See Joh_14:1, note. Israel’s murmurings are the fruit of his unbelief.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv27–29 27. How long shall I bear with this evil…
27. How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur &c.] The words shall I bear represent no part of the Heb. text. Something has perhaps dropped out, but the R.V. gives the general sense.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv27–29 (27) How long shall I bear with this evil…
(27) How long shall I bear with this evil congregation . . .?—Or, How long shall I pardon (or forgive), &c. The verb is not expressed in the Hebrew. It is probable that one of the verbs in Num_14:19, pardon or forgive, should be supplied.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv27, 29 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation,…
How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? Literally, "How long this evil congregation, that they murmur against me." Septuagint, ewv tinov ththn ; The verb is supplied from the sense.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v28 as you have spoken in my hearing
as you have spoken in my hearing
"as I have heard you say"
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Your dead bodies will fall
Their dead bodies falling represents them dying. AT: "You will die" (See: Metonymy)
you who were counted in the census
This can be stated in active form. AT: "you whom Moses counted in the census" (See: Active or Passive)
from twenty years old and upward
"twenty years old and older"
translationWords
life
die
body
census
promise
Joshua
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v28 14:28 Israel’s disobedience brought on the consequences they feared…
14:28 Israel’s disobedience brought on the consequences they feared would come from obeying.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.