Numbers 14:12 kjv
I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
Numbers 14:12 nkjv
I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."
Numbers 14:12 niv
I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they."
Numbers 14:12 esv
I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."
Numbers 14:12 nlt
I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are!"
Numbers 14 12 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Gen 12:2 | And I will make of you a great nation... | Original promise to Abraham to make him a great nation. |
| Exod 32:10 | Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, and that I may make of you a great nation. | Identical offer to Moses after the Golden Calf incident. |
| Lev 26:16 | I will appoint over you a panic, consumption and fever that waste the eyes and cause languishing of soul... | Warnings of plague for disobedience in the covenant curses. |
| Deut 9:14 | Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. | Moses recalls the Golden Calf offer, confirming its seriousness. |
| Deut 28:21 | The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land that you are entering to possess. | Plague as a consequence of unfaithfulness outlined in covenant curses. |
| Psa 78:38-40 | Yet He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them; He restrained His anger often... How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness! | God's frequent patience and occasional wrath toward Israel's rebellion. |
| Psa 106:23 | Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him, to turn away His wrath from destroying them. | Directly attributes Israel's survival to Moses' intercession after judgment threats. |
| Num 16:46 | "Take your censer and put fire in it from the altar... to make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the LORD..." | A later plague stopped by Aaron's swift intercession. |
| Jer 18:7-8 | If at any time I declare concerning a nation... to pluck up and to break down... if that nation turns from its evil, I will relent... | God's sovereign right to change course based on human response (relenting). |
| Ezek 20:13-14 | Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness... So I purposed to pour out My wrath on them... But I acted for My name's sake... | God's justice tempered by His commitment to His own Name and promises. |
| Hos 9:3 | They shall not remain in the LORD’s land, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt... | Threat of disinheritance and removal from the promised land. |
| Amos 8:2 | "The end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore." | Divine pronouncements of final judgment on a rebellious people. |
| 1 Cor 10:5-10 | Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness... Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted... | Israel's wilderness failures, including rebellion and tempting God, as a warning. |
| Heb 3:17-19 | And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? | Israel's failure to enter Canaan due to unbelief, falling in the wilderness. |
| Rom 9:6-8 | But it is not as though the word of God has failed... For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel... but "Through Isaac your offspring shall be named." | The concept of true Israel being based on divine promise, not mere lineage. |
| Mal 3:6 | "For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed." | God's immutability, balanced with His responsiveness to covenant obedience. |
| 2 Pet 2:9 | then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment. | God's ability to distinguish and execute judgment on the disobedient. |
| Matt 3:9 | "do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham." | John the Baptist's warning that God can raise up a new people. |
| Jer 24:7 | I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. | Promise of a faithful remnant or new covenant people. |
| Isa 43:1-2 | But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you..." | God's power to create a new beginning, even after previous failures. |
| Lam 3:22 | The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end... | Even amidst judgment, God's underlying covenant mercy endures. |
| Eph 2:10 | For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. | New creation in Christ as God's chosen people, walking in obedience. |
Numbers 14 verses
Numbers 14 12 Meaning
In Numbers 14:12, God, in response to Israel's rebellion and disbelief after the spies' report, expresses His intention to utterly destroy the current generation of Israelites through a severe plague. Following this judgment, He offers Moses a direct proposition: to initiate a new covenant lineage through Moses himself, promising to make his descendants into a nation that would be even larger and more powerful than the disobedient Israel had been intended to be. This verse showcases God's justice against rebellion, His faithfulness to His overarching covenant promises (albeit through a different channel), and the crucial role of Moses' impending intercession.
Numbers 14 12 Context
Numbers chapter 14 describes the immediate aftermath of the twelve spies' return from Canaan. Ten of the spies reported negatively, exaggerating the strength of the land's inhabitants and spreading fear among the Israelites. Only Joshua and Caleb provided a faithful report, urging the people to trust in the LORD. In response to the negative report, the entire congregation of Israel erupted in wailing, openly rebelled against Moses and Aaron, questioned God's deliverance, and desired to return to slavery in Egypt. They even proposed choosing a new leader to lead them back. Numbers 14:12 is God's direct and enraged response to this profound act of faithlessness and open mutiny against His divine plan and leadership, a repeated pattern of murmuring that had now escalated to outright rejection of the Promised Land. This offer to Moses serves as a stark consequence for the people's disobedience and rebellion, immediately preceding Moses' powerful intercession on their behalf.
Numbers 14 12 Word analysis
I will strike them: (Hebrew: Akkenu, from nakah - to strike, smite, attack, slay, kill). This signifies divine judgment, immediate and deadly. It implies an act of divine punishment, directly administered by God, swift and comprehensive in its effect. The use of "strike" often appears in biblical accounts of plague or military defeat when God directly intervenes to mete out judgment.
with the pestilence: (Hebrew: baddever, from dever - pestilence, plague). Dever refers to a widespread, severe, often fatal disease, usually viewed as a specific divine affliction. It's a common instrument of God's wrath in the Old Testament, bringing death and disruption on a mass scale, seen previously in Egypt and promised as a consequence for disobedience (Exod 9; Lev 26; Deut 28). Its invocation here suggests an intention for mass casualty, eliminating the entire rebellious generation.
and disinherit them: (Hebrew: ve'orishénu, from yarash - to possess, inherit, dispossess, disinherit). In Hiphil stem, it means "to cause to be dispossessed" or "to disinherit." This phrase indicates that God would remove the current generation's covenant right to enter and possess the land of Canaan. Despite being the physical descendants of Abraham and part of the Exodus, their persistent unbelief and rebellion effectively nullified their inheritance, demonstrating that covenant blessings are conditional on faithfulness. It means cutting them off from their intended legacy.
and I will make of you: (Hebrew: ve'e'eseh otkha, from asah - to make, do; otkha - you, singular masculine). This phrase echoes God's original promise to Abraham (Gen 12:2). Here, it presents a renewal of that foundational covenant promise, but pivoting away from the unfaithful majority of Israel to center it on Moses himself. It highlights God's sovereignty in fulfilling His promises, even if He chooses a new lineage due to the failures of the previous one. It emphasizes God's creative and covenant-establishing power.
a nation: (Hebrew: le-goy, from goy - nation, people). This denotes a distinct ethnic and national entity. The Abrahamic covenant centered on the formation of a great nation. This reaffirmation suggests that God's plan for a chosen people, through whom His blessings would flow, would still come to pass, albeit through a different source within the lineage of Abraham (Moses, also a descendant).
greater and mightier: (Hebrew: gadol - great; ve'atzum - and strong, mighty, numerous). This signifies a population that would be more numerous, stronger, and more prominent than the currently unfaithful generation. It indicates God's boundless ability to grow a nation from humble beginnings, emphasizing His sovereign power and unwavering commitment to His long-term redemptive plan. It contrasts sharply with the weakness and fear shown by the present generation.
Words-group by words-group analysis:
- "I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them": This segment expresses a divine judicial act of definitive judgment. It combines immediate physical destruction (pestilence) with a severing of their spiritual and land inheritance rights. This reveals the extreme gravity of their sin—it wasn't just a grievance but an affront worthy of immediate extermination and exclusion from the very purpose of their exodus. It highlights God's holiness and zero-tolerance for sustained rebellion against His commands and provision.
- "and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they": This proposition is a demonstration of God's unswerving faithfulness to His covenant, even when one party (Israel) fails profoundly. While ready to annul His agreement with them, He would re-establish it through Moses. It tests Moses' character and demonstrates God's sovereignty to continue His redemptive plan through an alternative means. This mirrors the Abrahamic promise and showcases God's commitment to producing a righteous people, rather than abandoning His purpose due to human failure. The contrast between "them" (the rebellious current nation) and "you" (Moses, and the nation born from him) underscores the absolute disparity between faithlessness and faithfulness.
Numbers 14 12 Bonus section
- This verse underscores God's justice being intertwined with His holiness. Repeated grumbling and a profound rejection of His leadership crossed a line from general discontent to a direct repudiation of His redemptive plan for them, warranting such a severe judgment.
- The offer to Moses, previously made after the Golden Calf incident (Exod 32:10), highlights a recurring pattern of testing both Israel's faithfulness and Moses' integrity as a leader. It implies a true testing of Moses' commitment to his people over personal aggrandizement.
- The concept of 'disinheriting' emphasizes the conditional aspect of the covenant given at Sinai. While the Abrahamic covenant was unconditional, the Sinai covenant outlined the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, and exclusion from the land was a major curse.
- This passage functions as a stark contrast, highlighting God's boundless power to both destroy and to build, contingent upon human faithfulness. He can raise up nations and bring them down at His will, showing that His purposes are not dependent on any single human group, but on His sovereign choice and steadfast love towards a righteous remnant.
Numbers 14 12 Commentary
Numbers 14:12 is a powerful statement of divine righteous indignation following profound human unfaithfulness. God's immediate response to Israel's rebellion, expressed through a proposed annihilation by "pestilence" and their subsequent "disinheritance" from the Promised Land, underlines the serious consequences of covenant breaking and rejection of His divine leading. This wrath is not arbitrary; it is a just reaction to deep-seated disbelief, ingratitude, and overt defiance (implied rebellion by seeking new leadership and return to Egypt) that bordered on an attempt to nullify God's redemptive work. The offer to raise a new, "greater and mightier" nation from Moses alone (a precise echo of Exod 32:10) serves several purposes: it demonstrates God's absolute sovereignty and capacity to fulfill His covenant promises regardless of human failure; it functions as a test for Moses' leadership and humility; and critically, it sets the stage for Moses' monumental intercession, a turning point that would demonstrate God's readiness to relent due to the fervent prayer of a faithful mediator. The episode underscores that access to God's promises is not automatic but is predicated on faith and obedience, even as His ultimate redemptive purposes will prevail. This severe proposition underscores the immense gravity of grumbling and rebellion against the Lord, serving as a solemn warning against such actions.