But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Parallel translations
- WEB However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
- BSB Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.
- NKJV But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
- NASB Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased; for their dead bodies were spread out in the wilderness.
- NLT Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Despite all these blessings, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. Spiritual privilege did not prevent their judgment for unbelief and sin.
Overview
Here is the sobering climax of the recital: though all Israel shared in the cloud, the sea, the manna, and Christ the rock, the vast majority died under God's displeasure for their rebellion (Num 14). This is Paul's pointed warning to the self-assured Corinthians. Outward participation in God's gracious provisions—then or now—is no guarantee of final salvation apart from persevering, obedient faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Heb 3:17But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
- Jude 1:5I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
- Num 26:64–65But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
- Num 14:37Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.
- Num 14:11–12And 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?
- Ps 106:26Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:
- Ps 78:32–34For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.
- Num 14:28–35Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
- Deut 1:34–35And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
- Ps 95:11Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
- Deut 2:15–16For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.
- Ps 90:7–8For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
- Ps 90:1Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 10:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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