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Numbers 14:21

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Numbers 14:21 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah;” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah;
Numbers 14:21 — American Standard Version

Context — Numbers 14

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
18Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; and that will by no means clear [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.
19Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy lovingkindness, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
21but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah;
22because all those men that have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it:
24but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
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What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“But [as truly as] I live, etc.] Which is the form of an oath, as the Targum; the Lord swears by his life, or by himself, because he could swear by no greater: all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord; this is not the thing sworn unto or confirmed, but that by which the oath is made and confirmed; and the sense is, that as sure as the earth “had been” filled with the glory of the Lord, as it may be rendered, as it had been with the fame of what he had done in Egypt, and at the Red sea; or as it “should be” filled with it in later times, especially in the kingdom of the Messiah in the latter day; (see <230603>Isaiah 6:3 <350114>Habakkuk 1:14); so sure the men that had provoked…”
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Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord--This promise, in its full acceptation, remains to be verified by the eventual and universal prevalence of Christianity in the world. But the terms were used restrictively in respect to the occasion, to the report which would spread over all the land of the "terrible things in righteousness" [Psa 65:5] which God would do in the infliction of the doom described, to which that rebellious race was now consigned.”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“Render: But as truly as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord; Numbers 14:22 all those men, etc.; Numbers 14:23 shall not see, etc. Numbers 14:22 These ten times - Ten is the number which imports completeness. Compare Genesis 31:7. The sense is that the measure of their provocation was now full: the day of grace was at last over. However, some enumerate 10 different occasions on which the people had tempted God since the exodus. Psalms 90:0, which is entitled “a Prayer of Moses,” has been most appropriately regarded as a kind of dirge upon those sentenced thus awfully by God to waste away in the wilderness. return to 'Top of Page'”
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Wesley's Explanatory Notes
John Wesley (1703–1791) · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Old Testament notes · 18th-century historical commentary
“With the glory of the Lord - With the report of the glorious and righteous acts of God in punishing this rebellious people. Numbers 14:22”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“as truly: Deu 32:40; Isa 49:18; Jer 22:24; Eze 5:11, Eze 18:3, Eze 33:11, Eze 33:27; Zep 2:9 all the: Psa 72:19; Hab 2:14; Mat 6:10 Numbers 14:22”
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Related study paths

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Sources and verification