And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?
Parallel translations
- WEB 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 worked among them?
- KJV And 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?
- NKJV Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?
- NASB And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people be disrespectful to Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs that I have performed in their midst?
- NLT And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?
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
God asked Moses how long the people would despise Him and refuse to believe despite His many signs. Their unbelief, not mere weakness, was the heart of their sin.
Overview
The LORD identified the rebellion as contempt and persistent unbelief in the face of overwhelming evidence of His power. After the plagues, the Red Sea, and daily provision, their failure to trust was inexcusable. Scripture treats unbelief as a grave sin, for it calls the faithful God a liar.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- Ps 78:32In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.
- Ps 106:24They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise.
- Ps 78:22because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.
- Deut 9:22–23You continued to provoke the LORD at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah.
- Ps 78:41–42Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
- Deut 1:32But in spite of all this, you did not trust the LORD your God,
- Heb 3:8do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,
- Num 14:27“How long will this wicked congregation grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints that the Israelites are making against Me.
- John 12:37Although Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still did not believe in Him.
- Num 14:23not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it.
- Deut 9:7–8Remember this, and never forget how you provoked the LORD your God in the wilderness. From the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place, you have been rebelling against the LORD.
- Heb 3:18And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed?
- Heb 3:16For who were the ones who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?
- Exod 16:28Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep My commandments and instructions?
- John 15:24If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.
- Jer 4:14Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
- Matt 17:17“O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to Me.”
- Hos 8:5He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?
- Zech 8:14For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Just as I resolved to bring disaster upon you when your fathers provoked Me to anger, and I did not relent,” says the LORD of Hosts,
- Exod 10:3So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.
- John 10:38But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works themselves, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father.”
- Ps 95:8do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness,
- Mark 9:19“O unbelieving generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to Me.”
- Prov 1:22“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 14:11 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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