Numbers 14:29 (DBY)

Passage

In this wilderness shall your carcases fall; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number from twenty years old and upwards, who have murmured against me,

Nearby Context

Numbers 14:27 How long [shall I bear] with this evil assembly, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.

Numbers 14:28 Say unto them, As surely as I live, saith Jehovah, if I do not do unto you as ye have spoken in mine ears!

Numbers 14:29 In this wilderness shall your carcases fall; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number from twenty years old and upwards, who have murmured against me,

Numbers 14:30 shall in no wise come into the land, concerning which I have lifted up my hand to make you dwell in it; save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

Numbers 14:31 But your little ones, of whom ye said they should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land that ye have despised.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "wilderness", "shall", "carcases", "fall", "numbered", "whole", and "twenty". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "wilderness" and "shall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 28's "Say unto them As surely as I..." into verse 30's "shall in no wise come into the...", so "wilderness" and "shall" belong inside that flow. In Numbers context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "wilderness" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.