Numbers 14
1 Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept.
And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried; and the people wept all that night.
2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron; and all the congregation said to them,
3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
Would we had died in the land of Egypt! or in this wilderness, would we had died! and why does the Lord bring us into this land to fall in war? our wives and our children shall be for a prey: now then it is better to return into Egypt.
4 So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”
And they said one to another, Let us make a ruler, and return into Egypt.
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel.
And Moses and Aaron fell upon their face before all the congregation of the children of Israel.
6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes
But Joshua the [son] of Naue, and Chaleb the [son] of Jephonne, of [the number of] them that spied out the land, tore their garments,
7 and said to the whole congregation of Israel, “The land we passed through and explored is an exceedingly good land.
and spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we surveyed is indeed extremely good.
8 If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us.
If the Lord choose us, he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which flows with milk and honey.
9 Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”
Only depart not from the Lord; and fear you not the people of the land, for they are meat for us; for the season [of prosperity] is departed from them, but the Lord [is] among us: fear them not.
10 But the whole congregation threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting.
And all the congregation bade stone them with stones; and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud on the tabernacle of witness to all the children of Israel.
11 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?
And the Lord said to Moses, How long does this people provoke me? and how long do they refuse to believe me for all the signs which I have wrought among them?
12 I will strike them with a plague and destroy them—and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.”
I will strike them with death, and destroy them; and I will make of you and of your father's house a great nation, and much greater than this.
13 But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people from among them.
And Moses said to the Lord, So Egypt shall hear, for you have brought up this people from them by your might.
14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
Moreover all the dwellers upon this land have heard that you are Lord in the midst of this people, who, O Lord, are seen [by them] face to face, and your cloud rests upon them, and you go before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire.
15 If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say,
And [if] you shall destroy this nation as one man; then all the nations that have heard your name shall speak, saying,
16 ‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’
Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which he sware to them, he has overthrown them in the wilderness.
17 So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared:
And now, O Lord, let your strength be exalted, as you spoke, saying,
18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’
The Lord [is] longsuffering and merciful, and true, removing transgressions and iniquities and sins, and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation.
19 Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”
Forgive this people their sin according to your great mercy, as you were favourable to them from Egypt until now.
20 “I have pardoned them as you requested,” the LORD replied.
And the Lord said to Moses, I am gracious to them according to your word.
21 “Yet as surely as I live and as surely as the whole earth is filled with the glory of the LORD,
But [as] I live and my name is living, so the glory of the Lord shall fill all the earth.
22 not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—
For all the men who see my glory, and the signs which I wrought in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and have tempted me this tenth time, and have not listened to my voice,
23 not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it.
surely they shall not see the land, which I sware to their fathers; but their children which are with me here, as many as know not good or evil, every inexperienced youth, to them will I give the land; but none who have provoked me shall see it.
24 But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it.
But my servant Chaleb, because there was another spirit in him, and he followed me, I will bring him into the land into which he entered, and his seed shall inherit it.
25 Now since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”
But Amalec and the Chananite dwell in the valley: to-morrow turn and depart for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.
26 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
27 “How long will this wicked congregation grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints that the Israelites are making against Me.
How long [shall I endure] this wicked congregation? I have heard their murmurings against me, [even] the murmuring of the children of Israel, which they have murmured concerning you.
28 So tell them: As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you exactly as I heard you say.
Say to them, [As] I live, says the Lord: surely as you spoke into my ears, so will I do to you.
29 Your bodies will fall in this wilderness—all who were numbered in the census, everyone twenty years of age or older—because you have grumbled against Me.
Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all those of you that were reviewed, and those of you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, all that murmured against me,
30 Surely none of you will enter the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
you shall not enter into the land for which I stretched out my hand to establish you upon it; except only Chaleb the son of Jephonne, and Joshua the [son] of Naue.
31 But I will bring your children, whom you said would become plunder, into the land you have rejected—and they will enjoy it.
And your little ones, who you said should be a prey, them will I bring into the land; and they shall inherit the land, which you rejected.
32 As for you, however, your bodies will fall in this wilderness.
And your carcases shall fall in this wilderness.
33 Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.
And your sons shall be fed in the wilderness forty years, and they shall bear your fornication, until your carcases be consumed in the wilderness.
34 In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.
According to the number of the days during which you spied the land, forty days, a day for a year, you shall bear your sins forty years, and you shall know my fierce anger.
35 I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this entire wicked congregation, which has conspired against Me. They will meet their end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”
I the Lord have spoken, Surely will I do thus to this evil congregation that has risen up together against me: in this wilderness they shall be utterly consumed, and there they shall die.
36 So the men Moses had sent to spy out the land, who had returned and made the whole congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report about the land—
And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, and who came and murmured against it to the assembly so as to bring out evil words concerning the land, —
37 those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD.
the men that spoke evil reports against the land, even died of the plague before the Lord.
38 Of those men who had gone to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive.
And Joshua the son of Naue and Chaleb the son of Jephonne [still] lived of those men that went to spy out the land.
39 And when Moses relayed these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly.
And Moses spoke these words to all the children of Israel; and the people mourned exceedingly.
40 Early the next morning they got up and went up toward the ridge of the hill country. “We have indeed sinned,” they said, “but we will go to the place the LORD has promised.”
And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, Behold, we that are here will go up to the place of which the Lord has spoken, because we have sinned.
41 But Moses said, “Why are you transgressing the commandment of the LORD? This will not succeed!
And Moses said, Why do you transgress the word of the Lord? you shall not prosper.
42 Do not go up, lest you be struck down by your enemies, because the LORD is not among you.
Go not up, for the Lord is not with you; so shall you fall before the face of your enemies.
43 For there the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned away from the LORD, He will not be with you.”
For Amalec and the Chananite [are] there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have disobeyed the Lord and turned aside, and the Lord will not be among you.
44 But they dared to go up to the ridge of the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the covenant of the LORD moved from the camp.
And having forced their passage, they went up to the top of the mountain; but the ark of the covenant of the Lord and Moses stirred not out of the camp.
45 Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them all the way to Hormah.
And Amalec and the Chananite that lived in that mountain came down, and routed them, and destroyed them to Herman; and they returned to the camp.
