Numbers 14:43

Summary

Numbers 14:43 announces that the Amalekites and Canaanites will confront the people and defeat them by the sword. The verse gives the reason for this defeat: the people have turned back from following Yehovah, and as a result Yehovah will not be present with them in battle.

Key words

• ki ("for", H3588A) — subordinating particle opening the first clause, introducing the description of the enemies awaiting them.
• lifnei ("before", H6440G construct + H9005) — construct noun with preposition, forming the idiom "before you," meaning the enemies stand in confrontation, facing them.
• nefaltem ("you will fall", H5307J) — sequential (waw-consecutive) perfect, continuing the narrative sequence begun by the first clause; grammatically it marks the consequence of the enemies being there.
• shavtem ("you have turned back", H7725I) — qal perfect, a completed action; describes the people's prior turning away as the cause behind the coming defeat.
• me'acharei ("from after", H0310A construct + H9006) — construct plural of "after," combined with the preposition "from," forming the idiom "turned back from following [Yehovah]."

What the text says

The verse is built on two parallel ki clauses (word 1 and word 15), each translated "for," creating a chain of cause and consequence. The first ki-clause states a fact: the Amalekite and the Canaanite are "there, before you" (sham lifnei-khem), using the construct noun lifnei with the pronominal suffix "you" to express direct confrontation. This is followed by the sequential perfect nefaltem, "you will fall," linked to the prior clause by the narrative vav, showing that the falling is the immediate continuation of the enemies' presence.

The second ki-clause (word 15), reinforced by 'al-ken ("since/thus"), shifts to explanation: the qal perfect shavtem, "you have turned back," is joined to me'acharei Yehovah, "from after Yehovah," an idiom built on the construct plural of 'acharei ("after") that denotes abandoning a course of following. The final clause uses the qal imperfect yihyeh, "he will be," negated by lo', to state that Yehovah's presence will not continue with them ('immakhem, "with you," preposition plus suffix). The imperfect here marks this absence as an ongoing state rather than a single past event, contrasting with the completed action of "turning back."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders shavtem ("you have turned back") with the participle ἀπειθοῦντες ("disobeying"), shifting from an action of turning away to one of active disobedience. The Vulgate similarly interprets this clause as nolueritis acquiescere Domino ("you were unwilling to submit to the Lord"), adding the notion of unwillingness not explicit in the Hebrew idiom "turned back from after Yehovah." The LXX also renders ki-'al-ken with οὗ εἵνεκεν ("because of which"), a looser causal link than the Hebrew's doubled ki structure.