Numbers 14:20
in Numbers 14“I have pardoned them as you requested,” the LORD replied.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
KJV
And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
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This verse in Numbers 14
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
I have pardoned according to thy word
The pardon is granted in six words and the rest of the chapter still falls on them. Israel is not destroyed and is not disinherited, and every adult who murmured still dies in the desert. Commentators divide over how to hold those two together, some reading the pardon as remitting the nation's destruction while leaving the generation's discipline, and the chapter states both facts and reconciles neither.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Here is a whole nation rescued from ruin by the effectual fervent prayer of one righteous man. See how ready God is to forgive sin, and how easy to be entreated: Pardon, says Moses (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And the Lord said, I have pardoned, according to thy word. So as not to kill them utterly as one man: which is an instance of his being plenteous in mercy, and ready to forgive; and of the virtue and efficacy of the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, and of the great regard the Lord has to the prayers of a good man for others.
David found him thus swift to show mercy, Ps. xxxii. He deals not with us after our sins, Ps. ciii. The glorifying of God's name is, in the general, resolved upon,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
I have pardoned - That is, They shall not be cut off as they deserve, because thou hast interceded for their lives.
The words behind it
4 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֣אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| סָלַ֖חְתִּי | salachti | I have forgiven [them] | H5545 → | 46 times |
| כִּדְבָרֶֽךָ׃ | kidvarekha | according to word your | H1697 → | 1440 times |
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
סָלַ֖חְתִּיI have forgiven [them]
salachtiH5545 →46 times
כִּדְבָרֶֽךָ׃according to word your
kidvarekhaH1697 →1440 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
James 5:16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 29:12–13
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
- Proverbs 15:29
The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.
- Matthew 21:22
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
- Psalms 34:15
The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry.
- John 9:31
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will.
- Jeremiah 29:12–13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.