Numbers 14:12 (DRB)

Passage

I will strike them therefore with pestilence, and will consume them: but thee I will make a ruler over a great nation, and a mightier than this is.

Nearby Context

Numbers 14:10 And when all the multitude cried out, and would have stoned them, the glory of the Lord appeared over the tabernacle of the covenant to all the children of Israel.

Numbers 14:11 And the Lord said to Moses: How long will this people detract me? how long will they not believe me for all the signs that I have wrought before them?

Numbers 14:12 I will strike them therefore with pestilence, and will consume them: but thee I will make a ruler over a great nation, and a mightier than this is.

Numbers 14:13 And Moses said to the Lord: That the Egyptians, from the midst of whom thou hast brought forth this people,

Numbers 14:14 And the inhabitants of this land, (who have heard that thou, O Lord, art among this people, and art seen face to face, and thy cloud protecteth them, and thou goest before them in a pillar of a cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night,)

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "strike", "therefore", "pestilence", "consume", "thee", "make", "ruler", and "over". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "strike" and "therefore", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "And the Lord said to Moses How..." into verse 13's "And Moses said to the Lord That...", so "strike" and "therefore" 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 "strike" and "therefore" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.