Numbers 14:28

Num 14:28 Say unto them, [As truly as] I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:

Ver. 28. So will I do to you.] God took them at their words: so he may well do our desperate swearers, since the mercy they desire God to show is to damn them. This self-cursing seldom escapeth God’s visible vengeance: witness those Jews of old, who cried, "His blood be on us," &c., besides many others of late that might be instanced. Mr Perkins tells of certain English soldiers in King Edward VI’s time, who were cast upon the French shore by a storm, in which stress they went to prayer, that they might be delivered; but one soldier among the rest, instead of praying, cried out, Gallows take thy right, or claim thy due: when he came home he was hanged indeed. So was Sir Gervaise Ellowayes, Lieutenant of the Tower in King James’ time, whose usual word at his playing at cards and dice had been, as he sorrowfully confessed at the gallows, I would I might be hanged if it be not so or so. {a}

{a} Looking glass for Malignants.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 14:28-30. As ye have spoken — When you wickedly wished you might die in the wilderness. To make you dwell — That is, your nation; for God did not swear to do so to these particular persons.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:28 Israel’s disobedience brought on the consequences they feared would come from obeying.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(28) As ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do unto you.—The Israelites had exclaimed in their sinful murmuring against God, “Would God we had died in the wilderness” (Num_14:2); and God declares in His wrathful displeasure that the judgment which they had thus invoked should be inflicted upon them, and that their carcases should fall in the wilderness.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28. as ye have spoken] i.e. in Num_14:2.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness,.... They had wished they had died in it, Num 14:2, and the Lord here declares they should, which is signified by the falling of their carcasses in it, or their bodies, which when dead fall to the ground, having no strength to support themselves:

and all that were numbered of you: but a few months before this time, when their number was 603,550, Num 1:46,

according to your number from twenty years old and upward; which is observed, as Jarchi thinks, to except the Levites, for they were not numbered with the other tribes; and when they were numbered by themselves, their number was taken from a month old and upwards; wherefore it need not be wondered at, if we find that there were of them who did not fall in the wilderness, but entered into the land of Canaan, as it is certain Eleazar the priest, the son of Aaron, did, Num 34:17,

which have murmured against me; which shows, that not the spies only, who caused the people to murmur, but the people themselves who murmured, and had been numbered, from twenty years old and upward, are the evil congregation the Lord thus threatened with death.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

As you wickedly wished you might have died in the wilderness, Num 14:2, I will bring your imprecations upon your heads.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

As ye have spoken - When you wickedly wished you might die in the wilderness.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

as you have spoken in my hearing

"as I have heard you say"

Your dead bodies will fall

Their dead bodies falling represents them dying. AT: "You will die" (See: Metonymy)

you who were counted in the census

This can be stated in active form. AT: "you whom Moses counted in the census" (See: Active or Passive)

from twenty years old and upward

"twenty years old and older"

translationWords

life

die

body

census

promise

Joshua

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

חי אני AS TRULY AS I LIVE — This is a formula of taking an oath: If I do not do so, then — if this were at all possible to say of God — I do not live.

כאשר דברתם AS YE HAVE SPOKEN … [YOUR CARCASSES WILL FALL IN THE WILDERNESS] — because you made the request of Me: “Would that we had died in this wilderness” (Numbers 14:2).

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.

IM LO’ (IF NOT) AS YE HAVE SPOKEN IN MINE EARS. The meaning thereof is as an expression of wonder: “Will I not do to you as ye have spoken?” Such is the way of the [Sacred] Language: [Thou art sent] not to many people of an unintelligible speech and of a slow tongue, whose words thou canst not understand. ‘Im lo’ (would they not) have hearkened unto thee if I sent thee to them? Similarly, ‘im lo’ (if not) as I have thought did it come to pass?

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.