3:17

And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?: In this verse there are another two rhetorical questions about the people who were “in the rebellion” (3:15). As in 3:16, the second question answers the first question. The meaning is that the people who angered God were those who sinned. They were the ones who died in the wilderness because they sinned against God.

Some other ways to translate this meaning are:

• Use a rhetorical question and a statement for an answer. For example:

17 And with whom was God angry for forty years? He was angry with those who sinned, who died in the desert. (New Century Version)
-or-
With whom was God angry for forty years? With the people who sinned, who fell down dead in the desert. (Good News Translation)

• Use two statements. For example:

And you know that these are the people God became angry with because they committed sin during forty years. Therefore all of these people died there in the desert.

Translate the rhetorical questions in a natural way in your language. See Numbers 14:29, 14:32 for an account of this event.

3:17a

And: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And introduces a question that has a similar meaning as the one in 3:16. Most English versions have And here or do not use a conjunction. Do what is natural in your language.

with whom was God angry for forty years: This rhetorical question implies that the people angered God many times during the forty years when he was leading them through the wilderness. It does not imply that he held onto his anger over one particular sin for forty years. Translate in a way that will imply the right meaning. For example:

who was he angry with during those forty years?
-or-
who was it who angered God ⌊repeatedly⌋ during forty years?

3:17b–c

Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness: This part of the verse answers the rhetorical question in 3:17a. It indicates that the people who sinned were the ones who made God angry. Because God was angry with them, he let them die in the wilderness. Some other ways to translate this part of the verse are:

And you know that these are the people God became angry with because they sinned, and they died there in the desert.
-or-
They were the same descendants of Israel who sinned against God and because of this, He punished them and they died there in the land where no people live.

whose bodies fell: The phrase whose bodies fell is figurative. It indicates that the people died. Some other ways to translate it are:

• Use a different figurative expression that has the same meaning in your language. For example:

fell down dead in the desert (Good News Translation)

• Translate the meaning directly. For example:

died in the desert (God’s Word)

Translate the phrase in a natural way in your language.

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