Numbers 14:29
in Numbers 14Your bodies will fall in this wilderness—all who were numbered in the census, everyone twenty years of age or older—because you have grumbled against Me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, that have murmured against me,
KJV
Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
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This verse in Numbers 14
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
I will do to you exactly as I heard you say
on Numbers 14:28-30
The sentence returns their own words to them. They had wished to die in this wilderness at verse 2, and verse 29 answers, Your bodies will fall in this wilderness. Everyone twenty years of age or older is included, except Caleb and Joshua, which is what Numbers 26:65 reports at the end of the forty years.
This site's exposition
all who were numbered in the census
The men counted in the census of Numbers 1:3 were counted as those able to go to war, and they are the men who refused the war. First Corinthians 10:5 recalls that most of them were struck down in the wilderness. Gill reads the oath as sworn to Abraham's seed.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
A commentator
Augustine of HippoON THE MERITS AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS AND ON INFANT BAPTISM 2.35.57 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
Of such inflexibility were those youths of twenty years, who foretokened in figure God's new people; they entered the land of promise; they, it is said, turned neither to the right hand nor to the left. Now this age of twenty is not to be compared with the age of children's innocence, but if I mistake not, this number is the shadow and echo of a mystery. For the Old Testament has its excellence in the five books of Moses, while the New Testament is most refulgent in the authority of the four Gospels. These numbers, when multiplied together, reach to the number twenty: four times five, or five times four, are twenty. Such a people (as I have already said), instructed in the kingdom of heaven by the two Testaments—the Old and the New—turning neither to the right hand, in a proud assumption of righteousness, nor to the left hand, in a reckless delight in sin, shall enter into the land of promise. [There] we shall have no longer either to pray that sins may be forgiven to us or to fear that they may be punished in us. [We have] been freed from them all by that Redeemer, who, not being "sold under sin," "has redeemed Israel out of all his iniquities," whether committed in the actual life or derived from the original transgression.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The frequent repetitions of the same things in it speak these resolves to be unalterable. Let us see the particulars. The extremity of the sentence is receded from (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness,....
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בַּמִּדְבָּ֣ר | bamidbar | in the wilderness | H4057 → | 270 times |
| הַ֠זֶּה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| יִפְּל֨וּ | yipelu | they will fall | H5307 → | 435 times |
| פִגְרֵיכֶ֜ם | figreikhem | corpses your | H6297 → | 22 times |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| פְּקֻדֵיכֶם֙ | pekudeikhem | enrolled [men] your | H6485 → | 303 times |
| לְכָל־ | lekhol | of all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מִסְפַּרְכֶ֔ם | misparkhem | number your | H4557 → | 134 times |
| מִבֶּ֛ן | miben | from a son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| עֶשְׂרִ֥ים | ʾesrim | twenty | H6242 → | 315 times |
| שָׁנָ֖ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וָמָ֑עְלָה | vamaelah | and up -wards | H4605 → | 140 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| הֲלִֽינֹתֶ֖ם | halinotem | you have grumbled | H3885 → | 84 times |
| עָלָֽי׃ | ʾalai | on me | H5921 → | 5755 times |
בַּמִּדְבָּ֣רin the wilderness
bamidbarH4057 →270 times
הַ֠זֶּה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
יִפְּל֨וּthey will fall
yipeluH5307 →435 times
פִגְרֵיכֶ֜םcorpses your
figreikhemH6297 →22 times
וְכָל־and all
vekholH3605 →5413 times
פְּקֻדֵיכֶם֙enrolled [men] your
pekudeikhemH6485 →303 times
לְכָל־of all
lekholH3605 →5413 times
מִסְפַּרְכֶ֔םnumber your
misparkhemH4557 →134 times
מִבֶּ֛ןfrom a son of
mibenH1121 →4930 times
עֶשְׂרִ֥יםtwenty
ʾesrimH6242 →315 times
שָׁנָ֖הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
וָמָ֑עְלָהand up -wards
vamaelahH4605 →140 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
הֲלִֽינֹתֶ֖םyou have grumbled
halinotemH3885 →84 times
עָלָֽי׃on me
ʾalaiH5921 →5755 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Jude 1:5Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe.
it leads to
- Numbers 26:64–65
Among all these, however, there was not one who had been numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Hebrews 3:16
For who were the ones who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?
- 1 Corinthians 10:1–12
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea.
- Psalms 106:26
So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness,
- Numbers 14:22–37
not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—
- Numbers 26:64–65
Through
1 Corinthians 10:5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.
it leads to
- Hebrews 3:17
And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jude 1:5
Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 14:37
those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD.
- Hebrews 3:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers

This page draws on Augustine of Hippo, ON THE MERITS AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS AND ON INFANT BAPTISM 2.35.57; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
