Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.
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The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.
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Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.
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.
‘From Yahweh not being able to bring this people to the land that he swore to them, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’
unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).
Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.
Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.
‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’
‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’
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.
Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
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.
Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the lande, which he sware vnto them, therefore hath he slaine them in the wildernesse.
He could not bring the people into the land for which he had sworn, therefore did he kill them in the wilderness.
From Jehovah's want of ability to bring in this people unto the land which He hath sworn to them -- He doth slaughter them in the wilderness.
From YHWH’s want of ability to bring in this people to the land which He has sworn to them, He slaughters them in the wilderness.
'Because Yahweh could not take this people into the land that he swore to give them, he has killed them in the wilderness.'
‘From Yahweh not being able to bring this people to the land that he swore to them, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’
Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land that he had sworn unto them, he has therefore slain them in the wilderness.
‘Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’
Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
‘The Lord killed these people in the desert because he wasn't able to take them to the country he promised to give them. He's killed them all in desert!’
Because the Lord was not able to take this people into the land which he made an oath to give them, he sent destruction on them in the waste land.
Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which He swore unto them, therefore He hath slain them in the wilderness.
Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).
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These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →
Grammatical profile
Verb forms
Hebrew & Septuagint length
In English translation the verse runs 25 words from the Hebrew and 23 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.
A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.
Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.
In the original languages it is 14 Hebrew tokens and 20 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.
Topical passages linked to Numbers 14:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.
Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).
The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.
These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.
מִבִּלְתִּ֞י יְכֹ֣לֶת יְהוָ֗ה לְהָבִיא֙ אֶת הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה אֶל הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּ֣ע לָהֶ֑ם וַיִּשְׁחָטֵ֖ם בַּמִּדְבָּֽר
Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.
World English Bible · Public Domain
παρά ὁ μή δύναμαι κύριος εἰςἄγω ὁ λαός οὗτος εἰς ὁ γῆ ὅς ὄμνυμι αὐτός καταστρώννυμι αὐτός ἐν ὁ ἔρημος
Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which he swore to them, he has overthrown them in the wilderness.
LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain
Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →
The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.
מִדְלֵית יוּכְלָא קֳדָם יְיָ לְאָעָלָא יָת עַמָא הָדֵין לְאַרְעָא דִי קַיֵם לְהוֹן וְקַטְלִנוּן בְּמַדְבְּרָא
(no public-domain English translation for this verse)
Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
מִן בִּגְלַל דְלָא הֲוָת יוּכְלָא מִן קֳדָם יְיָ לְאַעֲלָאָה יַת עַמָא הָדֵין לְאַרְעָא דְקַיֵים לְהוֹן וּקְטָלִינוּן בְּמַדְבְּרָא
Because there was no (more) strength with the Lord to bring this people into the land which swearing He a promised to them, He hath killed them in the wilderness!
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.
Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 14 words (13 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is shâchaṭ (“to slaughter”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Commentary
Notes on Numbers 14:16 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.
Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →
Joseph Benson's Commentary
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill's Exposition
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Matthew Poole's English Annotations
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
Daniel D. Whedon
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Wesley's Explanatory Notes
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Rashi
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)
Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.