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 aloud; and the people wept 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 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 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?

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 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 appoint a chief, and let us return to Egypt.

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

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

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

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

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 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 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 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 smite them with the pestilence, and root them out, and I will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.

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 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 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.

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 Now if you put to death all this people as one man, then the nations who have had word of your glory 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 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.

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

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 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 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 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.

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

And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word.

21 But truly, as I am living, and as all the earth will be full of 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 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;

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 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.

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 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 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 the Amalekites and the Canaanites are in the valley; tomorrow, turning round, go into the waste land by the way 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 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 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 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 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 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,

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 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.

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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

And Moses spoke these words unto all the children of Israel; and the people mourned greatly.

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

And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the order of the Lord? and it will 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.

Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye may not be smitten before 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 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 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.

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

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