They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are among this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
Numbers 14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
Numbers 14:13 Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them.
Numbers 14:14 They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are among this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
Numbers 14:15 Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,
Numbers 14:16 ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’
The verse centers on "tell", "inhabitants", "land", "heard", "yahweh", "people", and "seen". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "tell" and "inhabitants", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 13's "Moses said to Yahweh Then the Egyptians..." into verse 15's "Now if you killed this people as...", so "tell" and "inhabitants" 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 "tell" and "inhabitants" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.