Numbers 14

1 Then all the people gave load cries of grief, and all that night they gave themselves up to weeping.

And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried; and the people wept all that night.

2 And all the children of Israel, crying out against Moses and Aaron, said, If only we had come to our death in the land of Egypt, or even in this waste land!

And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron; and all the congregation said to them,

3 Why is the Lord taking us into this land to come to our death by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will get into strange hands: 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 And they said to one another, Let us make a captain over us, and go back to Egypt.

And they said one to another, Let us make a ruler, and return into Egypt.

5 Then Moses and Aaron went down on their faces before the meeting of the people.

And Moses and Aaron fell upon their face before all the congregation of the children of Israel.

6 And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, two of those who had been to see the land, giving signs of grief,

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 Said to all the children of Israel, This land which we went through to see is a very good land.

and spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we surveyed is indeed extremely good.

8 And if the Lord has delight in us, he will take us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

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 go against the Lord or go in fear of the people of the land, for they will be our food; their strength has been taken from them and the Lord is with us: have no fear 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 all the people said they were to be stoned. Then the glory of the Lord was seen in the Tent of meeting, before the eyes of all the children of Israel.

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 have no respect for me? how long will they be without faith, in the face of all the signs I have done 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 send disease on them for their destruction, and take away their heritage, and I will make of you a nation greater and stronger than they.

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 And Moses said to the Lord, Then it will come to the ears of the Egyptians; for by your power you took this people out 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 give the news to the people of this land: they have had word that you, Lord, are present with this people, letting yourself be seen face to face, and that your cloud is resting over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in 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 Now if you put to death all this people as one man, then the nations who have had word of your glory 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 not able to take this people into the land which he made an oath to give them, he sent destruction on them in the waste land.

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, may my prayer come before you, and let the power of the Lord be great, as you said:

And now, O Lord, let your strength be exalted, as you spoke, saying,

18 The Lord is slow to wrath and great in mercy, overlooking wrongdoing and evil, and will not let wrongdoers go free; sending punishment on children for the sins of their fathers, 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 May the sin of this people have forgiveness, in the measure of your great mercy, as you have had mercy on them from Egypt up till now.

Forgive this people their sin according to your great mercy, as you were favourable to them from Egypt until now.

20 And the Lord said, I have had mercy, as you say:

And the Lord said to Moses, I am gracious to them according to your word.

21 But truly, as I am living, and as all the earth will be full of 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 Because all these men, having seen my glory and the signs which I have done in Egypt and in the waste land, still have put me to the test ten times, and have not given ear to my voice;

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 They will not see the land about which I made an oath to their fathers; not one of these by whom I have not been honoured 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 my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit in him, and has been true to me with all his heart, him I will take into that land into which he went, and his seed will have it for their heritage.

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 the Amalekites and the Canaanites are in the valley; tomorrow, turning round, go into the waste land by the way 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 am I to put up with this evil people and their outcries against me? The words which they say against me have come to my ears.

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 Say to them, By my life, says the Lord, as certainly as your words have come to my ears, so certainly will I do this to you:

Say to them, [As] I live, says the Lord: surely as you spoke into my ears, so will I do to you.

29 Your dead bodies will be stretched out in this waste land; and of all your number, all those of twenty years old and over who have been crying out 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 Not one will come into the land which I gave my word you would have for your resting-place, but only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the 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 And your little ones, whom you said would come into strange hands, I will take in, and they will see the land which you would not have.

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 But as for you, your dead bodies will be stretched in this waste land.

And your carcases shall fall in this wilderness.

33 And your children will be wanderers in the waste land for forty years, undergoing punishment for your false ways, till your bodies become dust in the waste land.

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 And as you went through the land viewing it for forty days, so for forty years, a year for every day, you will undergo punishment for your wrongdoing, and you will see that I am against you.

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 said it, and this I will certainly do to all this evil people who have come together against me: in this waste land destruction will come on them, and death will be their fate.

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 And the men whom Moses sent to see the land, and who, by the bad account they gave of the land, were the cause of the outcry the people made against Moses,

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 same men who said evil of the land, came to their death by disease before the Lord.

the men that spoke evil reports against the land, even died of the plague before the Lord.

38 But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, of those who went to see the land, were not touched by disease.

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 put these words before the children of Israel, the people were full of grief.

And Moses spoke these words to all the children of Israel; and the people mourned exceedingly.

40 And early in the morning they got up and went to the top of the mountain, saying, We are here and we will go up to the place which the Lord said he would give us: for we have done wrong.

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 And Moses said, Why are you now acting against the Lord's order, seeing that no good will come of it?

And Moses said, Why do you transgress the word of the Lord? you shall not prosper.

42 Go not up, for the Lord is not with you, and you will be overcome by those who are fighting against you.

Go not up, for the Lord is not with you; so shall you fall before the face of your enemies.

43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will be put to death by their swords: because you have gone back from the way of the Lord, the Lord 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 gave no attention to his words and went to the top of the mountain, though Moses and the ark of the Lord's agreement did not go out of the tent-circle.

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 came down, and the Canaanites who were living in the hill-country, and overcame them completely, driving them back as far as 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.