Numbers 14:17 (LSB)

Passage

So now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared,

Nearby Context

Numbers 14:15 Now if You put this people to death as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say,

Numbers 14:16 ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which He swore to them, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

Numbers 14:17 So now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared,

Numbers 14:18 ‘Yahweh is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’

Numbers 14:19 Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "pray", "power", "lord", "great", "just", and "declared". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "pray" and "power", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "Because Yahweh was not able to bring..." into verse 18's "Yahweh is slow to anger and abundant...", so "pray" and "power" 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 "pray" and "power" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.