Numbers 14:28 (YLT)

Passage

say unto them, I live--an affirmation of Jehovah--if, as ye have spoken in Mine ears--so I do not to you;

Nearby Context

Numbers 14:26 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying,

Numbers 14:27 `Until when hath this evil company that which they are murmuring against Me? the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they are murmuring against Me, I have heard;

Numbers 14:28 say unto them, I live--an affirmation of Jehovah--if, as ye have spoken in Mine ears--so I do not to you;

Numbers 14:29 in this wilderness do your carcases fall, even all your numbered ones, to all your number, from a son of twenty years and upward, who have murmured against Me;

Numbers 14:30 ye--ye come not in unto the land which I have lifted up My hand to cause you to tabernacle in it, except Caleb son of Jephunneh, and Joshua son of Nun.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "live--an", "affirmation", "jehovah--if", "spoken", "mine", and "ears--so". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "live--an" and "affirmation", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 27's "Until when hath this evil company that..." into verse 29's "in this wilderness do your carcases fall...", so "live--an" and "affirmation" 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 "live--an" and "affirmation" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.