Numbers 14:31 (DBY)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

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.

Numbers 14:32 And as to you, your carcases shall fall in this wilderness.

Numbers 14:33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "little", "ones", "said", "should", "prey", "bring", "shall", and "land". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "little" and "ones", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 30's "shall in no wise come into the..." into verse 32's "And as to you your carcases shall...", so "little" and "ones" 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 "little" and "ones" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.