Numbers 14:36-37

14:36 The men whom Moses sent to investigate the land, who returned and made the whole community murmur against him by producing ¹  an evil report about the land, 14:37 those men who produced the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord.

Deuteronomy 1:28

1:28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage ²  by describing people who are more numerous ³  and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven ⁴  itself! Moreover, they said they saw ⁵  Anakites ⁶  there.”

Matthew 23:13

23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law ⁷  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ⁸  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ⁹  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

¹ tn The verb is the Hiphil infinitive construct with a lamed (ל) preposition from the root יָצָא (yatsa’, “to bring out”). The use of the infinitive here is epexegetical, that is, explaining how they caused the people to murmur.

² tn Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”

³ tn Heb “greater.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “stronger,” NAB, NIV, NRSV; “bigger,” NASB).

⁴ tn Or “as the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

⁵ tn Heb “we have seen.”

⁶ tn Heb “the sons of the Anakim.”

⁷ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

⁸ tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so throughout this chapter).

⁹ tn Grk “because you are closing the kingdom of heaven before people.”