Numbers 14:32-34

14:32 But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, 14:33 and your children will wander ¹  in the wilderness forty years and suffer for your unfaithfulness, ²  until your dead bodies lie finished ³  in the wilderness. 14:34 According to the number of the days you have investigated this land, forty days – one day for a year – you will suffer for ⁴  your iniquities, forty years, and you will know what it means to thwart me. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 1:3

1:3 However, it was not until ⁶  the first day of the eleventh month ⁷  of the fortieth year ⁸  that Moses addressed the Israelites just as ⁹  the Lord had instructed him to do.

Deuteronomy 2:7

2:7 All along the way I, the Lord your God, ¹⁰  have blessed your every effort. ¹¹  I have ¹²  been attentive to ¹³  your travels through this great wasteland. These forty years I have ¹⁴  been with you; you have lacked for nothing.’”

Deuteronomy 2:14

2:14 Now the length of time it took for us to go from Kadesh Barnea to the crossing of Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, time for all the military men of that generation to die, just as the Lord had vowed to them.

Deuteronomy 8:4

8:4 Your clothing did not wear out nor did your feet swell all these forty years.

Psalms 95:10-11

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted ¹⁵  with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ¹⁶ 

they do not obey my commands.’ ¹⁷ 

95:11 So I made a vow in my anger,

‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’” ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 2:2

2:2 “Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem: ¹⁹  ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have fond memories of you, ²⁰  how devoted you were to me in your early years. ²¹  I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.

¹ tn The word is “shepherds.” It means that the people would be wilderness nomads, grazing their flock on available land.

² tn Heb “you shall bear your whoredoms.” The imagery of prostitution is used throughout the Bible to reflect spiritual unfaithfulness, leaving the covenant relationship and following after false gods. Here it is used generally for their rebellion in the wilderness, but not for following other gods.

³ tn The infinitive is from תָּמַם (tamam), which means “to be complete.” The word is often used to express completeness in a good sense – whole, blameless, or the like. Here and in v. 35 it seems to mean “until your deaths have been completed.” See also Gen 47:15; Deut 2:15.

⁴ tn Heb “you shall bear.”

⁵ tn The phrase refers to the consequences of open hostility to God, or perhaps abandonment of God. The noun תְּנוּאָה (tÿnu’ah) occurs in Job 33:10 (perhaps). The related verb occurs in Num 30:6 HT (30:5 ET) and 32:7 with the sense of “disallow, discourage.” The sense of the expression adopted in this translation comes from the meticulous study of R. Loewe, “Divine Frustration Exegetically Frustrated,” Words and Meanings, 137-58.

⁶ tn Heb “in” or “on.” Here there is a contrast between the ordinary time of eleven days (v. 2) and the actual time of forty years, so “not until” brings out that vast disparity.

⁷ sn The eleventh month is Shebat in the Hebrew calendar, January/February in the modern (Gregorian) calendar.

⁸ sn The fortieth year would be 1406 b.c. according to the “early” date of the exodus. See E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 66-75.

⁹ tn Heb “according to all which.”

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text does not have the first person pronoun; it has been supplied for purposes of English style (the Lord is speaking here).

¹¹ tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”

¹² tn Heb “he has.” This has been converted to first person in the translation in keeping with English style.

¹³ tn Heb “known” (so ASV, NASB); NAB “been concerned about.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “the Lord your God has.” This has been replaced in the translation by the first person pronoun (“I”) in keeping with English style.

¹⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.

¹⁶ tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7), wander.

¹⁸ tn Heb “my resting place.” The promised land of Canaan is here viewed metaphorically as a place of rest for God’s people, who are compared to sheep (see v. 7).

¹⁹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

²⁰ tn Heb “I remember to/for you.”

²¹ tn Heb “the loyal love of your youth.”