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Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.
Numbers 14:37 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Yahweh.
  • BSB those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD.
  • NKJV those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord.
  • NASB those men who brought the bad report of the land also died by a plague in the presence of the Lord.
  • NLT were struck dead with a plague before the Lord.

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

The ten faithless spies died at once by plague before the LORD. Their swift judgment confirmed the seriousness of spreading unbelief.

Overview

The men who spread the evil report were struck dead immediately, a visible sign of God's judgment on those who led Israel astray. Their fate stood as a warning to the whole nation. Sin against God's truth, especially when it ensnares others, invites severe and sudden consequences.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 8

  • 1 Cor 10:10Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
  • Num 16:49Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah.
  • Heb 3:17But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
  • Num 14:12I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
  • Num 25:9And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
  • Jer 28:16–17Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD.
  • Jer 29:32Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.
  • 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.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Numbers videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Numbers 14:37YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on NumbersMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 14:37 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.