Numbers 14
1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried, and the people wept that night.
Then everybody there cried out loud all night.
2 And all the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in this wilderness!
All the Israelites went and complained to Moses and Aaron, telling them, “If only we'd died in Egypt, or here in this desert!
3 And why does Jehovah bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey. Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to get us killed? Our wives and children will be captured and taken away as slaves! Wouldn't we be better off going back to Egypt?”
4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
They said to one another, “Let's choose a new leader us and go back to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.
Moses and Aaron fellfacedown on the ground in front of all the assembled Israelites.
6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.
Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, were there. They had been part of the group who had gone to spy out the land. They ripped their clothes,
7 And they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
and told the Israelites, “The country we traveled through and explored has very good land.
8 If Jehovah delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey.
If the Lord is happy with us, he will take us there and give it to us, a land that's so productive it's like flowing with milk and honey.
9 Only do not rebel against Jehovah, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and Jehovah is with us. Fear them not.
Don't rebel and fight against the Lord. You don't need to be afraid of the people living there in the country—we can take them easily! They're defenseless and the Lord is with us. Don't be frightened of them!”
10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of Jehovah appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.
In reply all the people shouted out, “Stone them!” But the glory of the Lord suddenly appeared in the Tent of Meeting, right in the middle of the Israelites.
11 And Jehovah said to Moses, How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them?
The Lord told Moses, “How long are these people going to reject me? How long are these people going to refuse to trust in me despite all the miracles I have done right in front of them?
12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.
I'm going to make them sick with a disease and kill them. Then I will make you into a nation that's greater and strong than them.”
13 And Moses said to Jehovah, Then the Egyptians will hear it, for thou brought up this people in thy might from among them,
But Moses told the Lord, “The Egyptians will find out about it! It was by your power that you led the Israelites out from among them.
14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that thou Jehovah are in the midst of this people, for thou Jehovah are seen face to face, and thy cloud stands over them, and thou go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
They will tell the people living in this country all about it. They've already heard that you, Lord, are with us Israelites, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, that your cloud stands guard over them, and that you lead them by a pillar of cloud during day and a pillar of fire at night.
15 Now if thou shall kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
If you kill all these people in one go, the nations who have heard about you will say,
16 Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.
‘The Lord killed these people in the desert because he wasn't able to take them to the country he promised to give them. He's killed them all in desert!’
17 And now, I pray thee, let the power of the Lord be great, according as thou have spoken, saying,
Now, Lord, please demonstrate the extent of your power just as you have said:
18 Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.
The Lord is slow to become angry and is full of trustworthy love, forgiving sin and rebellion. However, he will not allow the guilty to go unpunished, bringing the consequences of the parents' sin on their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
19 Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy loving kindness, and according as thou have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
Please forgive the sin of these people since your trustworthy love is so great, in the same way that you have forgiven them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
20 And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word,
“I have forgiven them as you asked,” the Lord replied.
21 but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah,
“But even so, as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord's glory,
22 because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have challenged me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice,
not a single one of the those who saw my glory and the miracles I did in Egypt and in the desert—but provoked me and refused to obey me time and time again—
23 surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of them who despised me see it.
not a single one of them is ever going to see the country I promised to give their forefathers. None of those who rejected me will see it.
24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land into which he went, and his seed shall possess it.
But because my servant Caleb has a totally different spirit and is fully committed to me, I will lead him to the country he visited, and his descendants will own it.
25 Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley. Tomorrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.
Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, tomorrow you are to turn around and head back into the desert, taking the route towards the Red Sea.”
26 And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
The Lord told Moses and Aaron,
27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against me.
“How much longer are these wicked people going to criticize me? I've heard what they're saying, making complaints against me.
28 Say to them, As I live, says Jehovah, surely as ye have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you.
Go and tell them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, I'll do just what I heard you say you wanted, believe me!
29 Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me,
All of you will die in this desert, everyone who was registered in the census that counted those aged twenty or over, because you made complaints against me.
30 surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell in it, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
Absolutely none of you will enter the country I promised to give you to live in, except for Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun.
31 But your little ones, that ye said would be a prey, them I will bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected.
However, I will take your children—those you said would be taken away as plunder—into the country you rejected, and they will appreciate it.
32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
But you—you are all going to die in this desert.
33 And your sons shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms, until your dead bodies be consumed in the wilderness.
Your children will wander in the desert for forty years, suffering because of your lack of trust until all your bodies lie buried in the desert.
34 After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, ye shall bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my alienation.
Just as you explored the country for forty days, so shall your punishment for your sins be forty years, a year for every day, and you will see what happens when I oppose you.
35 I, Jehovah, have spoken, surely I will do this to all this evil congregation that are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
I, the Lord, have spoken! Just see if I won't do this to all these wicked Israelites who have got together to oppose me! They will end their lives in the desert—they will die there.’”
36 And the men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land,
The men that Moses had sent to explore the country—those who came back and because they gave a bad report they made all the Israelites complain against the Lord—
37 even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Jehovah.
those men who gave the bad report died before the Lord from plague.
38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
The only ones who lived were Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh of those who went to explore the country.
39 And Moses told these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
When Moses told the Israelites what the Lord had said they were very, very sad.
40 And they rose up early in the morning, and got up to the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we are here, and will go up to the place which Jehovah has promised, for we have sinned.
They got up early the next morning planning to go into the hill country. “Yes we really did sin,” they said, “but now we're here and we'll go where the Lord told us.”
41 And Moses said, Why do ye now transgress the commandment of Jehovah, seeing it shall not prosper?
But Moses objected. “Why are you disobeying the Lord's command? You won't succeed in your plan!
42 Do not go up, for Jehovah is not among you, that ye be not smitten down before your enemies.
Don't try and go, otherwise you will be killed by your enemies, because the Lord isn't with you.
43 For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and ye shall fall by the sword. Because ye have turned back from following Jehovah, therefore Jehovah will not be with you.
The Amalekites and Canaanites living there will attack you, and you will die by the sword. Because you rejected the Lord, he won't help you.”
44 But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain, nevertheless the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and Moses, did not depart out of the camp.
But they were arrogant and went up into the hill country, even though Moses and the Ark of the Lord's Agreement didn't move from the camp.
45 Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain, and smote them and beat them down, even to Hormah.
The Amalekites and Canaanites who lived there in the hill country came down and attacked the Israelites and defeated them, and chased them all the way to Hormah.
