Numbers 14:11-20
New American Standard Bible
Moses Pleads for the People
11 (A)And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people be disrespectful to Me? And how long will (B)they not [a]believe in Me, despite all the signs that I have performed in their midst? 12 I will strike them with [b](C)plague and dispossess them, and I (D)will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”
13 (E)But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people up from their midst, 14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are in the midst of this people, because (F)You, Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if You put this people to death [c]all at once, (G)then the nations who have heard of Your fame will [d]say, 16 ‘Since the Lord (H)could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ 17 So now, please, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, saying, 18 ‘(I)The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in mercy, forgiving wrongdoing and violation of His Law; but (J)He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, (K)inflicting the [e]punishment of the fathers on the children [f]to the third and the fourth generations.’ 19 Please (L)forgive the guilt of this people in accordance with the greatness of Your mercy, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
The Lord Pardons and Rebukes
20 So the Lord said, “(M)I have forgiven them in accordance with your word;
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Numbers 14:11 Or trust in
- Numbers 14:12 Lit the plague
- Numbers 14:15 Lit as one man
- Numbers 14:15 Lit say, saying
- Numbers 14:18 I.e., punishment for the wrongdoing
- Numbers 14:18 Lit on
Numbers 14:11-20
King James Version
11 And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
13 And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)
14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15 Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
16 Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
17 And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
18 The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
19 Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20 And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
Read full chapterNew American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
