Numbers 14:18 (WEB)

Passage

‘Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’

Nearby Context

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.’

Numbers 14:17 Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying,

Numbers 14:18 ‘Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’

Numbers 14:19 Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

Numbers 14:20 Yahweh said, “I have pardoned according to your word:

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "yahweh", "slow", "anger", "abundant", "loving", "kindness", "forgiving", and "iniquity". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "yahweh" and "slow", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Now please let the power of the..." into verse 19's "Please pardon the iniquity of this people...", so "yahweh" and "slow" 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 "yahweh" and "slow" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.