Numbers 14:15 (GNV)

Passage

That thou wilt kill this people as one man: so the heathen which haue heard the fame of thee, shall thus say,

Nearby Context

Numbers 14:13 But Moses saide vnto the Lord, When the Egyptians shall heare it, (for thou broughtest this people by thy power from among them)

Numbers 14:14 Then they shall say to the inhabitants of this land, (for they haue heard that thou, Lord, art among this people, and that thou, Lord, art seene face to face, and that thy cloude standeth ouer them, and that thou goest before them by day time in a pillar of a cloude, and in a pillar of fire by night)

Numbers 14:15 That thou wilt kill this people as one man: so the heathen which haue heard the fame of thee, shall thus say,

Numbers 14:16 Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the lande, which he sware vnto them, therefore hath he slaine them in the wildernesse.

Numbers 14:17 And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "wilt", "kill", "people", "heathen", "haue", "heard", and "fame". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "wilt", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "Then they shall say to the inhabitants..." into verse 16's "Because the Lord was not able to...", so "thou" and "wilt" 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 "thou" and "wilt" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.