🔢WEB · Numbers 14:29
What does Numbers 14:29 mean?
"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 murmured against me,"
— Numbers 14:29 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
Tell them, ‘As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I 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 murmured 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 your little ones, that you said should be captured or killed, them I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
Explanation
Numbers 14:29 comes in the middle of God's response to Israel's rebellion at Kadesh-barnea. In plain terms, the verse declares that every Israelite man twenty years old and older who had grumbled against the Lord would die in the wilderness rather than enter the Promised Land. It is a sentence of judgment, spoken directly by God, fixing the fate of an entire generation because of their unbelief and complaint.
The context is essential to understanding the weight of this statement. Moses had sent twelve spies into Canaan, and ten of them returned with a report emphasizing the strength of the land's inhabitants, sparking widespread fear and despair among the people. Rather than trusting God's promise to give them the land, the Israelites wept, rebelled, and even talked of stoning Moses and returning to Egypt. This was not the first time they had complained against God's provision and leadership, but it was the decisive moment—after seeing God's power displayed repeatedly through the plagues in Egypt and the
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.