Numbers 14:12
I will strike them therefore with pestilence, and will consume them: but thee I will make a ruler over a great nation, and a mightier than this is.
Open Numbers 14:12 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Feriam igitur eos pestilentia, atque consumam : te autem faciam principem super gentem magnam, et fortiorem quam hæc est.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- πατάξω αὐτοὺς θανάτῳ καὶ ἀπολῶ αὐτούς, καὶ ποιήσω σὲ καὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός σου εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ τοῦτο.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- אַכֶּ֥נּוּ בַדֶּ֖בֶר וְאוֹרִשֶׁ֑נּוּ וְאֶֽעֱשֶׂה֙ אֹֽתְךָ֔ לְגוֹי גָּד֥וֹל וְעָצ֖וּם מִמֶּֽנּוּ
The Fathers on this verse
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter XII. We may make no promise that is wrong, and if we have made an unjust oath, we may not keep it. It is shown that Herod sinned in this respect. The vow taken by Jephtha is condemned, and so are all others which God does not desire to have paid to Him. Lastly, the daughter of Jephtha is compared with the two Pythagoreans and is placed before them
79. It is better to make no vow than to vow what God does not wish to be paid to Him to Whom the promise was made. In the case of Isaac we have an example, for the Lord appointed a ram to be offered up instead of him. Therefore it is not always every promise that is to be fulfilled. Nay, the Lord Himself often alters His determination, as the Scriptures point out. For in the book called Numbers He had declared that He would punish the people with death and destroy them, but afterwards, when besought by Moses, He was reconciled again to them. And again, He said to Moses and Aaron: “Separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment.” And when they separated from the assembly the earth suddenly clave asunder and opened her mouth and swallowed up Dathan and Abiram.