Numbers 14:11

The Punishment from God

14:11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise ¹  me, and how long will they not believe ²  in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?

Numbers 20:12

The Lord’s Judgment

20:12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough ³  to show me as holy ⁴  before ⁵  the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.” ⁶ 

Deuteronomy 1:26-32

Disobedience at Kadesh Barnea

1:26 You were not willing to go up, however, but instead rebelled against the Lord your God. ⁷  1:27 You complained among yourselves privately ⁸  and said, “Because the Lord hates us he brought us from Egypt to deliver us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us! 1:28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage ⁹  by describing people who are more numerous ¹⁰  and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven ¹¹  itself! Moreover, they said they saw ¹²  Anakites ¹³  there.” 1:29 So I responded to you, “Do not be terrified ¹⁴  of them! 1:30 The Lord your God is about to go ¹⁵  ahead of you; he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt ¹⁶  1:31 and in the desert, where you saw him ¹⁷  carrying you along like a man carries his son. This he did everywhere you went until you came to this very place.” 1:32 However, through all this you did not have confidence in the Lord your God,

Deuteronomy 9:23

9:23 And when he ¹⁸  sent you from Kadesh-Barnea and told you, “Go up and possess the land I have given you,” you rebelled against the Lord your God ¹⁹  and would neither believe nor obey him.

Psalms 106:24-26

106:24 They rejected the fruitful land; ²⁰ 

they did not believe his promise. ²¹ 

106:25 They grumbled in their tents; ²² 

they did not obey ²³  the Lord.

106:26 So he made a solemn vow ²⁴ 

that he would make them die ²⁵  in the desert,

[14:11]  ¹ tn The verb נָאַץ (na’ats) means “to condemn, spurn” (BDB 610 s.v.). Coats suggests that in some contexts the word means actual rejection or renunciation (Rebellion in the Wilderness, 146, 7). This would include the idea of distaste.

[14:11]  ² tn The verb “to believe” (root אָמַן, ’aman) has the basic idea of support, dependability for the root. The Hiphil has a declarative sense, namely, to consider something reliable or dependable and to act on it. The people did not trust what the Lord said.

[20:12]  ³ tn Or “to sanctify me.”

[20:12]  ⁴ sn Using the basic meaning of the word קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be separate, distinct, set apart”), we can understand better what Moses failed to do. He was supposed to have acted in a way that would have shown God to be distinct, different, holy. Instead, he gave the impression that God was capricious and hostile – very human. The leader has to be aware of what image he is conveying to the people.

[20:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[20:12]  ⁶ tn There is debate as to exactly what the sin of Moses was. Some interpreters think that the real sin might have been that he refused to do this at first, but that fact has been suppressed from the text. Some think the text was deliberately vague to explain why they could not enter the land without demeaning them. Others simply, and more likely, note that in Moses there was unbelief, pride, anger, impatience – disobedience.

[1:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God.” To include “the mouth” would make for odd English style. The mouth stands by metonymy for the Lord’s command, which in turn represents the Lord himself.

[1:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “in your tents,” that is, privately.

[1:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”

[1:28]  ¹⁰ 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).

[1:28]  ¹¹ tn Or “as the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[1:28]  ¹² tn Heb “we have seen.”

[1:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “the sons of the Anakim.”

[1:29]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “do not tremble and do not be afraid.” Two synonymous commands are combined for emphasis.

[1:30]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew participle indicates imminent future action here, though some English versions treat it as a predictive future (“will go ahead of you,” NCV; cf. also TEV, CEV).

[1:30]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “according to all which he did for you in Egypt before your eyes.”

[1:31]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun (“him”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.

[9:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God,” that is, against the commandment that he had spoken.

[106:24]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a land of delight” (see also Jer 3:19; Zech 7:14).

[106:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “his word.”

[106:25]  ²² sn They grumbled in their tents. See Deut 1:27.

[106:25]  ²³ tn Heb “did not listen to the voice of.”

[106:26]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he lifted his hand to [or “concerning”] them.” The idiom “to lift a hand” here refers to swearing an oath. One would sometimes solemnly lift one’s hand when making such a vow (see Ezek 20:5-6, 15).

[106:26]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to cause them to fall.”