The Meaning of Numbers 14:33 Explained

Numbers 14:33

KJV: And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

YLT: and your sons are evil in the wilderness forty years, and have borne your whoredoms till your carcases are consumed in the wilderness;

Darby: And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

ASV: And your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms, until your dead bodies be consumed in the wilderness.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And your children  shall wander  in the wilderness  forty  years,  and bear  your whoredoms,  until your carcases  be wasted  in the wilderness. 

What does Numbers 14:33 Mean?

Context Summary

Numbers 14:26-45 - The Penalty Of Unbelief And Rashness
The old translation in Numbers 14:34 was unfortunate. "Breach of promise" is rendered in r.v. "my alienation." It is still better to notice the marginal reading, "the revoking of my promise." But even this hardly gives us the true meaning of the words, which teach us that God's promises are conditional on our faith. He cannot do what we fail to trust Him to do.
The key of faith will unlock every drawer and cupboard in the divine treasury, but we must use it. If we will not trust God with our life we shall be left to perish in the wilderness of drought, of restlessness and of peril. Unbelief paralyzes God's arm. See Matthew 13:58, And let us learn from the closing paragraph that the might of our own right hand will never avail to accomplish what is forfeited by unbelief. "It shall not prosper." [source]

Chapter Summary: Numbers 14

1  The people murmur at the news
6  Joshua and Caleb labor to still them
11  God threatens them
13  Moses intercedes with God, and obtains pardon
26  The Murmurers are debarred from entering into the land
36  The men who raised the evil report die by a plague
40  The people that would invade the land against the will of God are smitten

What do the individual words in Numbers 14:33 mean?

And your sons wandering shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and bear the brunt of your infidelity until are consumed your carcasses in the wilderness
וּ֠בְנֵיכֶם יִהְי֨וּ רֹעִ֤ים בַּמִּדְבָּר֙ אַרְבָּעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה וְנָשְׂא֖וּ אֶת־ זְנוּתֵיכֶ֑ם עַד־ תֹּ֥ם פִּגְרֵיכֶ֖ם בַּמִּדְבָּֽר

וּ֠בְנֵיכֶם  And  your  sons 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: בֵּן 
Sense: son, grandson, child, member of a group.
יִהְי֨וּ  wandering 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
רֹעִ֤ים  shall  be  shepherds 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine plural
Root: רָעָה 
Sense: to pasture, tend, graze, feed.
בַּמִּדְבָּר֙  in  the  wilderness 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִדְבָּר 
Sense: wilderness.
אַרְבָּעִ֣ים  forty 
Parse: Number, common plural
Root: אַרְבָּעִים  
Sense: forty.
שָׁנָ֔ה  years 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: שָׁנָה  
Sense: year.
וְנָשְׂא֖וּ  and  bear  the  brunt 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, third person common plural
Root: נָשָׂא  
Sense: to lift, bear up, carry, take.
זְנוּתֵיכֶ֑ם  your  infidelity 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: זְנוּת  
Sense: fornication, harlotry.
עַד־  until 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עַד  
Sense: as far as, even to, until, up to, while, as far as.
תֹּ֥ם  are  consumed 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: תָּמַם  
Sense: to be complete, be finished, be at an end.
פִּגְרֵיכֶ֖ם  your  carcasses 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: פֶּגֶר  
Sense: corpse, carcass, monument, stela.
בַּמִּדְבָּֽר  in  the  wilderness 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִדְבָּר 
Sense: wilderness.