When Moses reported the Lord’s words to all the Israelites, the people were filled with grief.
Parallel translations
- WEB Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
- KJV And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
- BSB And when Moses relayed these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly.
- NKJV Then Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
- NASB Now when Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly.
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
When Moses reported God's judgment, the people mourned deeply. Their grief, however, came too late and lacked true repentance.
Overview
Hearing the sentence of forty years' wandering, the people were overcome with sorrow. Yet their mourning was for the consequences rather than genuine turning from sin, as the next verses show. Worldly grief over punishment differs from godly repentance that submits to God's will.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Exod 33:4When the people heard this evil news, they mourned: and no one put on his jewelry.
- Matt 8:12but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- Prov 19:3The foolishness of man subverts his way; his heart rages against Yahweh.
- Heb 12:17For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.
- Isa 26:16Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.
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 14:39 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.