Bible Strands
Numbers 20:12
But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses Moses and Aaron immediately after Moses strikes the rock twice to provide water for the congregation and their livestock.
The words — יַ֚עַן (Ya'an) translates literally as "because," introducing the divine judgment that follows the immediate action. לֹא\־ (lo') renders "not," negating their future role in leading the assembly into the promised land.
The thread — The exclusion from the land recurs in Numbers 20:24 regarding Aaron and in Numbers 27:14, where both leaders are noted for rebelling against the command to show God's holiness. Deuteronomy 1:37 records the LORD's anger toward Moses alone regarding the same boundary.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that leadership failure to trust God publicly results in the loss of promised privilege. It requires readers to recognize that obedience in action must align with reverence in motive.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 1:37 The LORD was also angry with me on your account, and He said, “Not even you shall enter the land.
- Numbers 27:14 for when the congregation contended in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you rebelled against My command to show My holiness in their sight regarding the waters.” Those were the waters of Meribah in Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin.
- Numbers 20:24 “Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will not enter the land that I have given the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah.
- Ezekiel 36:23 I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes.
- Deuteronomy 3:23 At that time I also pleaded with the LORD:
- Deuteronomy 32:49 “Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession.
- Deuteronomy 34:4 And the LORD said to him, “This is the land that I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross into it.”
- Joshua 1:2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, you and all these people, and cross over the Jordan into the land that I am giving to the children of Israel.
- Isaiah 8:13 The LORD of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded.
- Matthew 17:20 “Because you have so little faith,” He answered. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”