Do not go up, lest you be struck down by your enemies, because the LORD is not among you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t go up, for Yahweh isn’t among you; that you not be struck down before your enemies.
- KJV Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.
- NKJV Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the Lord is not among you.
- NASB Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, to prevent you from being defeated by your enemies.
- NLT Do not go up into the land now. You will only be crushed by your enemies because the Lord is not with you.
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
Moses cautioned them not to go up, for the LORD was not among them and they would be defeated. God's presence, not Israel's resolve, was decisive for victory.
Overview
Moses warned that without the LORD's presence the people would fall before their enemies. Earlier they refused to advance when God was with them; now they presumed to advance when He was not. The lesson endures: success comes only when God goes with His people, never by human effort against His will.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Deut 1:42But the LORD said to me, “Tell them not to go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from defeat by your enemies.”
- Josh 7:8O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?
- Josh 7:12This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they themselves have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you whatever is devoted to destruction.
- Ps 44:1–11For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 14:42 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.