Numbers 14

1 Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept.

That night all the community wept loudly.

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!

All the people of Israel criticized Moses and Aaron. The whole community said to them, “We wish we had died in the land of Egypt, or here 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?”

Why did Yahweh bring us to this land to die by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become victims. 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.”

They said to each another, “Let us choose another leader, and let us return to Egypt.”

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

Then Moses and Aaron lay facedown before all the assembly of the community of the people 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

Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were some of those sent to examine the land, tore their clothes.

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

They spoke to all the community of the people of Israel. They said, “The land that we passed through and examined is a very good land.

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 Yahweh is pleased with us, then he will take us into this land and give it to us. The land 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!”

But do not rebel against Yahweh, and do not fear the people in the land, for they are bread to us. Their protection will be removed from them, because Yahweh is with us. Do not fear them.”

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.

Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of Yahweh appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people 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?

Yahweh said to Moses, “How long must this people despise me? How long must they fail to trust me, despite all the signs of my power that I have done 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 attack them with plague, disinherit them, and make from your own clan a nation that will be greater and mightier than they are.”

13 But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people from among them.

Moses said to Yahweh, “If you do this, then the Egyptians will hear about it, because you rescued this people from them by your power.

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.

They will tell it to this land's inhabitants. They have heard that you, Yahweh, are present with this people, because you are seen face to face. Your cloud stands over our people. You go before them in a pillar of cloud 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,

Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations that have heard of your fame will speak and say,

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 Yahweh could not take this people into the land that he swore to give them, he has killed them in the wilderness.'

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

Now, I beg you, use your great power. For you have said,

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.’

'Yahweh is slow to anger and abundant in covenant faithfulness. He forgives iniquity and transgression. He will by no means clear the guilty when he brings the punishment of the ancestors' sin on their descendants, 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.”

Pardon, I plead with you, this people's sin because of the greatness of your covenant faithfulness, just as you have always forgiven this people from the time they were in Egypt until now.”

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

Yahweh said, “I have pardoned them in keeping with your request,

21 “Yet as surely as I live and as surely as the whole earth is filled with the glory of the LORD,

but truly, as I live, and as all the earth will be filled with my glory,

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—

all those people who saw my glory and the signs of power that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness—they have still tempted me these ten times 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.

So I say that they will certainly not see the land about which I made an oath to their ancestors. Not one of them who despised me will 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.

except for my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit. He has followed me fully; I will bring him into the land which he went to examine. His descendants will 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.”

(Now the Amalekites and Canaanites lived in the valley.) Tomorrow turn and go to the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds.”

26 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron. He said,

27 “How long will this wicked congregation grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints that the Israelites are making against Me.

“How long must I tolerate this evil community that criticizes me? I have heard the complaining of the people of Israel against me.

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 Yahweh, 'as you have spoken in my hearing, I will do this 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 dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, all you who complained against me, you who were counted in the census, the whole number of the people from twenty years old and upward.

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 will certainly not go into the land that I promised to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua 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 who you said would be victims, I will take them into the land. They will experience the land that you have rejected!

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

As for you, your dead bodies will 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.

Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years. They must bear the consequences of your acts of rebellion until the end of your corpses 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.

Just as the number of the days during which you examined the land—forty days, you must likewise bear the consequences of your sins for forty years—one year for every day, and you must know what it is like for me to oppose you.

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, Yahweh, have spoken. I will certainly do this to all this evil community that is gathered together against me. They will be completely cut off, and here they will 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—

So the men Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made the entire community grumble against Moses by spreading a bad report about the land—

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

these men who had brought out a bad report about the land were struck down, and they died of a plague before Yahweh.

38 Of those men who had gone to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive.

Of those men who had gone to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive.

39 And when Moses relayed these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly.

When Moses reported these words to all the people of Israel, they mourned very deeply.

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.”

They rose up early in the morning and went to the top of the mountain and said, “Look, we are here, and we will go to the place that Yahweh has promised, for we have sinned.”

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

But Moses said, “Why are you now violating Yahweh's command? You will not succeed.

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

Do not go, because Yahweh is not with you to prevent you from being defeated by 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.”

The Amalekites and Canaanites are there, and you will die by the sword because you turned back from following Yahweh. So he 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.

But they presumed to go up into the hill country; however, neither Moses nor the ark of the covenant of Yahweh left 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 the Amalekites came down, and also the Canaanites who lived on those hills. They attacked the Israelites and defeated them all the way to Hormah.