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 aloud; and the people wept 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 people murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole congregation said unto them, Oh who would grant that we had died in the land of Egypt! or that we might but die in this wilderness!

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?”

And wherefore doth the Lord bring us unto yonder land, to fall by the sword? that our wives and our children may become a prey? is it not better for us to return to 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 appoint a chief, and let us return to Egypt.

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel.

Then fell Moses and Aaron on their faces before all the assembly of 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

And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Yephunneh, of those that had spied out the land, rent their garments.

7 and said to the whole congregation of Israel, “The land we passed through and explored is an exceedingly good land.

And they said unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, as followeth, The land, through which we have passed to spy it out, this land is exceedingly 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 have delight in us, then will he bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which is flowing 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 against the Lord do ye not rebel; and then ye need not fear the people of the land; for they are our bread: their shadow is departed from them, while the Lord is with 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.

But all the congregation said to stone them with stones: when the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation unto 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 unto Moses, How long yet shall this people provoke me? and how long yet will they not believe in me, with all the signs which I have shown in the midst of 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 smite them with the pestilence, and root them out, and I will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.

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 unto the Lord, But when the Egyptian hear, from the midst of whom thou hast brought up in thy might this people; —

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.

And when they tell to the inhabitants of this land, who have heard that thou, Lord, art in the midst of this people, that face to face thou, Lord, art seen, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that in a pillar of cloud thou goest before them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night; —

15 If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say,

That thou hast killed this people as one man: then will the nations that have heard thy fame, say in this manner,

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.’

That because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he had sworn unto them, hath he slain them in the wilderness.

17 So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared:

And now, I beseech thee, let the greatness of the power of the Lord be made manifest, as thou hast spoken, 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 Eternal is long-suffering, and abundant in beneficence, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the 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.”

Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of thy beneficence, and as thou hast been indulgent to this people, from Egypt even until hitherto.

20 “I have pardoned them as you requested,” the LORD replied.

And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy 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 truly as I live, and as all the earth is filled with the glory of the Lord: —

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—

That all the men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I have displayed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened 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.

Shall surely not see the land which I have sworn unto their fathers, yea all those that have provoked me shall not 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 Caleb, as a reward that he had another spirit with him, and followed me fully, —therefore will I bring him into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess 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.”

And the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley: tomorrow turn you, and set forward into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.

26 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

And the Lord spoke unto Moses and unto 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 indulgence be given] to this evil congregation, that murmur against me? the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me, have I heard.

28 So tell them: As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you exactly as I heard you say.

Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in 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.

In this wilderness shall your carcasses fall, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward; ye who have 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.

Truly ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I have lifted up my hand to let you dwell therein; save Caleb the son of Yephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

31 But I will bring your children, whom you said would become plunder, into the land you have rejected—and they will enjoy it.

But your little ones of which ye said, They would become a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.

32 As for you, however, your bodies will fall in this wilderness.

But as for you, your carcasses 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 children shall wander about in the wilderness forty years, and bear your backslidings, until your carcasses be spent 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.

After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, forty days, yea, each one day for a year, shall ye bear for your iniquities, forty years; and ye shall experience my withdrawal [of protection].

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 it, surely, this will I do unto all this evil congregation that have assembled against me: in this wilderness shall they be spent, and therein shall they 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 had sent to spy out the land, and who returned, and caused all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land,

37 those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD.

Even these men, that had brought up the evil report of the land, died by 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.

But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Yephunneh, remained alive of those men, who had gone 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 unto all the children of Israel; and the people mourned greatly.

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 up early in the morning, and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, here we are, and we will go up unto the place of which the Lord hath spoken; for we have sinned.

41 But Moses said, “Why are you transgressing the commandment of the LORD? This will not succeed!

And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the order of the Lord? and it will not prosper.

42 Do not go up, lest you be struck down by your enemies, because the LORD is not among you.

Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye may not be smitten before 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 the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye will fall by the sword; since, because ye are turned away from the Lord, the Lord also will not be with 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.

Yet they persisted to go up unto the top of the mountain; but the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, did not move 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.

Then came down the Amalekites, and the Canaanites that dwelt on that mountain, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Chormah.