Numbers 14:17 — Meaning and Application

Now {if} thou shalt kill {all} this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,

Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.

And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,

The LORD {is} longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing {the guilty}, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth {generation}.

Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. {until...: or, hitherto}