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If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Numbers 14:8 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey.
  • BSB If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us.
  • NKJV If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’
  • NASB If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey.
  • NLT And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey.

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

They declared that if the LORD delighted in Israel, He would surely give them the rich land. Victory depended on God's favor, not Israel's strength.

Overview

Joshua and Caleb grounded their confidence in God's delight and faithfulness rather than military odds. The land's abundance was a gift God was eager to grant a trusting people. This points to grace: the inheritance is received from God's pleasure, not earned by human power.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • 2 Sam 22:20He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
  • Isa 62:4Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
  • Num 13:27And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
  • Deut 10:15Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
  • Ps 147:10–11He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.
  • Rom 8:31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
  • Ps 22:8He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
  • 1 Kgs 10:9Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.
  • Zeph 3:17The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
  • Jer 32:41Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.
  • 2 Sam 15:25–26And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation:
  • Exod 3:8And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (10)

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 14:8YouTube · 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 14:8 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.