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.’
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.
- KJV 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.
- 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.
- 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 also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
- Isa 62:4You will not be called Forsaken any more; nor will your land be called Desolate any more: but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for Yahweh delights in you, and your land will be married.
- Num 13:27They told him, and said, “We came to the land where you sent us. Surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
- Deut 10:15Only Yahweh had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their offspring after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today.
- Ps 147:10–11He doesn’t delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
- Rom 8:31What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
- Ps 22:8“He trusts in Yahweh; let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, since he delights in him.”
- 1 Kgs 10:9Blessed is Yahweh your God, who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel. Because Yahweh loved Israel forever, therefore he made you king, to do justice and righteousness.”
- Zeph 3:17Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.
- Jer 32:41Yes, 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 15:25–26The king said to Zadok, “Carry God’s ark back into the city. If I find favor in Yahweh’s eyes, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation;
- Exod 3:8I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
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 14:8 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.