Verse Lens · Context pointer
Numbers 14:12 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 12. 12I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Numbers 14:12 within “Moses Appeals against Destruction,” advances the leadership movement through this speaker and response; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a greater nation and mightier than they.
Read It With
- Numbers 14:11–19
Read Numbers 14:12 with 14:11–19. It within “Moses Appeals against Destruction,” advances the leadership movement through this speaker and response; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a greater nation and mightier than they. The complete unit establishes this contextual meaning: The LORD proposes striking Israel and making Moses a greater nation; Moses argues that Egypt and Canaan will hear, appeals to divine presence and reputation, invokes proclaimed patience and justice, and asks pardon according to great mercy.
Why It Needs Context
Numbers 14:12 within “Moses Appeals against Destruction,” advances the leadership movement through this speaker and response; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a greater nation and mightier than they. Its responsible force depends on 14:11–19; isolated from “Moses Appeals against Destruction,” the verse's actor, action, reason, object, or transition could be mistaken for independent teaching.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Numbers 14:11–19 — Moses Appeals against DestructionSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Numbers 14:11–19, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Numbers
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, release 2.2, 2021
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, numbers, speeches, poems, legal clauses, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Num.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 14:11–19
Open source ↗