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,)
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,)
Numbers 14:15 May hear that thou hast killed so great a multitude as it were one man and may say:
Numbers 14:16 He could not bring the people into the land for which he had sworn, therefore did he kill them in the wilderness.
The verse centers on "inhabitants", "land", "heard", "thou", "lord", "people", "seen", and "face". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "inhabitants" and "land", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 13's "And Moses said to the Lord That..." into verse 15's "May hear that thou hast killed so...", so "inhabitants" and "land" 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 "inhabitants" and "land" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.