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Numbers 14:27-34

“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.’

World English Bible · Public Domain
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Numbers 14:27-34 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.”

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    “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.’

  • KJV King James Version

    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,

    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.

    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.

    But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.

    And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

    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.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    '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;

    surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I lifted up My hand that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

    But your little ones, that ye said would be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected.

    But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness.

    And your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your strayings, until your carcasses be consumed in the wilderness.

    After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know My displeasure.

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Cross-references (69)

  • Ezekiel 4:6 (v34) “Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have…
  • Numbers 14:21 (v28) but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with Yahweh’s glory—
  • Numbers 13:25 (v34) They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.
  • 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…
Show all 65 cross-references
  • Numbers 32:13 (v33) Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation who…
  • Deuteronomy 1:39 (v31) Moreover your little ones, whom you said would be captured or killed, your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, shall go…
  • Jeremiah 18:9-10 (v34) At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight,…
  • Ezekiel 23:35 (v33) “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore you also bear your lewdness and…
  • Hebrews 3:17 (vv28, 29, 32) With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
  • Numbers 26:64 (vv29, 31) 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…
  • 1 Corinthians 10:5 (vv29, 32) However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
  • Deuteronomy 2:14 (v33) The days in which we came from Kadesh Barnea until we had come over the brook Zered were thirty-eight years: until all the generation of…
  • Psalms 106:24 (v31) Yes, they despised the pleasant land. They didn’t believe his word,
  • Psalms 107:40 (v33) He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in a trackless waste.
  • Daniel 9:24 (v34) “Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make…
  • 1 Corinthians 10:10 (v27) Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.
  • Genesis 14:22 (v30) Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,
  • 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 14:29 (v32) 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…
  • Numbers 14:38 (v30) But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
  • 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…
  • Numbers 26:65 (v30) For Yahweh had said of them, “They shall surely die in the wilderness.” There was not a man left of them, except Caleb the son of…
  • Deuteronomy 1:36-38 (v30) except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it. I will give the land that he has trodden on to him and to his children, because he has…
  • Deuteronomy 31:16-17 (v34) Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up and play the prostitute after the strange gods…
  • 1 Samuel 2:30 (v34) “Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever.’ But…
  • 2 Chronicles 36:21 (v34) to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to…
  • Psalms 95:10 (v34) Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart. They have not known my ways.”
  • Zechariah 11:10 (v34) I took my staff Favor, and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples.
  • 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.”
  • Hebrews 4:1 (v34) Let’s fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest.
  • Leviticus 20:19 (v34) “ ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, nor of your father’s sister, for he has made his close relative naked. They…
  • Numbers 5:31 (v33) The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’ ”
  • Numbers 14:3 (v31) Why does Yahweh bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be…
  • 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 18:23 (v34) But the Levites shall do the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout…
  • Numbers 26:6 (v31) of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the family of the Carmites.
  • 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,…
  • Numbers 32:12 (v30) except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, because they have followed Yahweh completely.’
  • Numbers 33:38 (v33) Aaron the priest went up into Mount Hor at the commandment of Yahweh and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel had…
  • Deuteronomy 1:3 (v33) In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that…
  • 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,
  • Joshua 14:10 (v33) “Now, behold, Yahweh has kept me alive, as he spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that Yahweh spoke this word to Moses, while…
  • 1 Kings 8:56 (v34) “Blessed be Yahweh, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his…
  • Psalms 38:4 (v34) For my iniquities have gone over my head. As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
  • Psalms 77:8 (v34) Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations?
  • 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…
  • Psalms 105:42 (v34) For he remembered his holy word, and Abraham, his servant.
  • Psalms 107:4 (v33) They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way. They found no city to live in.
  • Jeremiah 3:1-2 (v33) “They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that…
  • Lamentations 3:31-33 (v34) For the Lord will not cast off forever. For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving…
  • Ezekiel 14:10 (v34) They will bear their iniquity. The iniquity of the prophet will be even as the iniquity of him who seeks him;
  • Ezekiel 23:45-49 (v33) Righteous men will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood; because they are…
  • Hosea 9:1 (v33) Don’t rejoice, Israel, to jubilation like the nations; for you were unfaithful to your God. You love the wages of a prostitute at every…
  • 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…
  • Revelation 11:3 (v34) I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
  • Genesis 25:34 (v31) Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
  • Proverbs 1:25 (v31) but you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof;
  • Proverbs 1:30 (v31) They wanted none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.
  • Matthew 22:5 (v31) But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise,
  • Acts 13:41 (v31) ‘Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which you will in no way believe, if one declares it…
  • Hebrews 12:16-17 (v31) lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. For you know that even when…

65 distinct cross-references across this passage (69 total citations).

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (17 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv33–34 Your infidelity and disobedience against God.

Your infidelity and disobedience against God.

The word signifieth to be shepherds, or to wander like shepherds to and fro.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 34 Num 14:28 Say unto them, [As truly as] I…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv27, 28, 30, 33, 34 Bear with, or pardon, as Num 14:19,20, or spare;…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv27–34 Say unto them, as truly as I live, saith…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv28, 30, 32, 33, 34 As ye have spoken - When you wickedly wished…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v34 Verse 34. After the number of the days] The…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv28, 32, 33, 34 Num 14:28-30. As ye have spoken — When you…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv33–34 Your whoredoms - Their several rebellions had been so…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv30, 33, 34 Hand, the posture of one taking an oath, Genesis…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv30, 34 save Caleb . . . and Joshua--These are specially…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv27, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34 THE FORMAL SENTENCE OF EXCLUSION, Num_14:26-35.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv27, 28, 29, 33, 34 27. How long shall I bear with this evil…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34 (27) How long shall I bear with this evil…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv27, 29, 30, 33, 34 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation,…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v33 Each day for a year, shall ye bear your…
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv28, 31, 34 as you have spoken in my hearing
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv28, 34 14:28 Israel’s disobedience brought on the consequences they feared…
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