Numbers 14
1 Wherefore the whole multitude crying wept that night.
Then everybody there cried out loud all night.
2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying:
All the Israelites went and complained to Moses and Aaron, telling them, “If only we'd died in Egypt, or here in this desert!
3 Would God that we had died in Egypt and would God we may die in this vast wilderness, and that the Lord may not bring us into this land, lest we fall by the sword, and our wives and children be led away captives. Is it not better to return into Egypt?
Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to get us killed? Our wives and children will be captured and taken away as slaves! Wouldn't we be better off going back to Egypt?”
4 And they said one to another: Let us appoint a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
They said to one another, “Let's choose a new leader us and go back to Egypt.”
5 And when Moses and Aaron heard this, they fell down flat upon the ground before the multitude of the children of Israel.
Moses and Aaron fellfacedown on the ground in front of all the assembled Israelites.
6 But Josue the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephone, who themselves also had viewed the land, rent their garments,
Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, were there. They had been part of the group who had gone to spy out the land. They ripped their clothes,
7 And said to all the multitude of the children of Israel: The land which we have gone round is very good:
and told the Israelites, “The country we traveled through and explored has very good land.
8 If the Lord be favourable, he will bring us into it, and give us a land flowing with milk and honey.
If the Lord is happy with us, he will take us there and give it to us, a land that's so productive it's like flowing with milk and honey.
9 Be not rebellious against the Lord: and fear ye not the people of this land, for we are able to eat them up as bread. All aid is gone from them: the Lord is with us, fear ye not.
Don't rebel and fight against the Lord. You don't need to be afraid of the people living there in the country—we can take them easily! They're defenseless and the Lord is with us. Don't be frightened of them!”
10 And when all the multitude cried out, and would have stoned them, the glory of the Lord appeared over the tabernacle of the covenant to all the children of Israel.
In reply all the people shouted out, “Stone them!” But the glory of the Lord suddenly appeared in the Tent of Meeting, right in the middle of the Israelites.
11 And the Lord said to Moses: How long will this people detract me? how long will they not believe me for all the signs that I have wrought before them?
The Lord told Moses, “How long are these people going to reject me? How long are these people going to refuse to trust in me despite all the miracles I have done right in front of them?
12 I will strike them therefore with pestilence, and will consume them: but thee I will make a ruler over a great nation, and a mightier than this is.
I'm going to make them sick with a disease and kill them. Then I will make you into a nation that's greater and strong than them.”
13 And Moses said to the Lord: That the Egyptians, from the midst of whom thou hast brought forth this people,
But Moses told the Lord, “The Egyptians will find out about it! It was by your power that you led the Israelites out from among them.
14 And the inhabitants of this land, (who have heard that thou, O Lord, art among this people, and art seen face to face, and thy cloud protecteth them, and thou goest before them in a pillar of a cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, )
They will tell the people living in this country all about it. They've already heard that you, Lord, are with us Israelites, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, that your cloud stands guard over them, and that you lead them by a pillar of cloud during day and a pillar of fire at night.
15 May hear that thou hast killed so great a multitude as it were one man and may say:
If you kill all these people in one go, the nations who have heard about you will say,
16 He could not bring the people into the land for which he had sworn, therefore did he kill them in the wilderness.
‘The Lord killed these people in the desert because he wasn't able to take them to the country he promised to give them. He's killed them all in desert!’
17 Let their the strength of the Lord be magnified, as thou hast sworn, saying:
Now, Lord, please demonstrate the extent of your power just as you have said:
18 The Lord is patient and full of mercy, taking away iniquity and wickedness, and leaving no man clear, who visitest the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
The Lord is slow to become angry and is full of trustworthy love, forgiving sin and rebellion. However, he will not allow the guilty to go unpunished, bringing the consequences of the parents' sin on their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
19 Forgive, I beseech thee, the sins of this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast been merciful to them from their going out of Egypt unto this place.
Please forgive the sin of these people since your trustworthy love is so great, in the same way that you have forgiven them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
20 And the Lord said: I have forgiven according to thy word.
“I have forgiven them as you asked,” the Lord replied.
21 As I live: and the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
“But even so, as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord's glory,
22 But yet all the men that have seen my majesty, and the signs that I have done in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now ten times, and have not obeyed my voice,
not a single one of the those who saw my glory and the miracles I did in Egypt and in the desert—but provoked me and refused to obey me time and time again—
23 Shall not see the land for which I aware to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that hath detracted me behold it.
not a single one of them is ever going to see the country I promised to give their forefathers. None of those who rejected me will see it.
24 My servant Caleb, who being full of another spirit hath followed me, I will bring into this land which he hath gone round: and his seed shall possess it.
But because my servant Caleb has a totally different spirit and is fully committed to me, I will lead him to the country he visited, and his descendants will own it.
25 For the Amalecite and the Chanaanite dwell in the valleys. Tomorrow remove the camp, and return into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.
Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, tomorrow you are to turn around and head back into the desert, taking the route towards the Red Sea.”
26 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
The Lord told Moses and Aaron,
27 How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel.
“How much longer are these wicked people going to criticize me? I've heard what they're saying, making complaints against me.
28 Say therefore to them: As I live, saith the Lord: According as you have spoken in my hearing, so will I do to you.
Go and tell them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, I'll do just what I heard you say you wanted, believe me!
29 In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against me,
All of you will die in this desert, everyone who was registered in the census that counted those aged twenty or over, because you made complaints against me.
30 Shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my bend to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun.
Absolutely none of you will enter the country I promised to give you to live in, except for Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun.
31 But your children, of whom you said, that they should be a prey to the enemies, will I bring in: that they may see the land which you have despised.
However, I will take your children—those you said would be taken away as plunder—into the country you rejected, and they will appreciate it.
32 Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness.
But you—you are all going to die in this desert.
33 Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed ill the desert,
Your children will wander in the desert for forty years, suffering because of your lack of trust until all your bodies lie buried in the desert.
34 According to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land: year shall be counted for a day. And forty years you shall receive your iniquities, and shall know my revenge:
Just as you explored the country for forty days, so shall your punishment for your sins be forty years, a year for every day, and you will see what happens when I oppose you.
35 For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against me: in this wilderness shall it faint away and die.
I, the Lord, have spoken! Just see if I won't do this to all these wicked Israelites who have got together to oppose me! They will end their lives in the desert—they will die there.’”
36 Therefore all the men, whom Moses had sent to view the land, and who at their return had made the whole multitude to murmur against him, speaking ill of the land that it was naught,
The men that Moses had sent to explore the country—those who came back and because they gave a bad report they made all the Israelites complain against the Lord—
37 Died and were struck in the sight of the Lord.
those men who gave the bad report died before the Lord from plague.
38 But Josue. the son of Nun. and Caleb the son of Jephone lived, of all them that had gone to view the land.
The only ones who lived were Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh of those who went to explore the country.
39 And Moses spoke all these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned exceedingly.
When Moses told the Israelites what the Lord had said they were very, very sad.
40 And behold rising up very early in the morning, they went up to the top of the mountain, and said: We are ready to go up to the place, of which the Lord hath spoken: for we have sinned.
They got up early the next morning planning to go into the hill country. “Yes we really did sin,” they said, “but now we're here and we'll go where the Lord told us.”
41 And Moses said to them: Why transgress you the word of the Lord, which shall not succeed prosperously with you?
But Moses objected. “Why are you disobeying the Lord's command? You won't succeed in your plan!
42 Go not up, for the Lord is not with you: lest you fall before your enemies.
Don't try and go, otherwise you will be killed by your enemies, because the Lord isn't with you.
43 The Amalecite and the Chanaanite are before you, and by their sword you shall fall, because you would not consent to the Lord, neither will the Lord be with you.
The Amalekites and Canaanites living there will attack you, and you will die by the sword. Because you rejected the Lord, he won't help you.”
44 But they being blinded went up to the top of the mountain. But the ark of the testament of the Lord and Moses departed not from the camp.
But they were arrogant and went up into the hill country, even though Moses and the Ark of the Lord's Agreement didn't move from the camp.
45 And the Amalecite came down, and the Chanaanite that dwelt in the mountain: and smiting and slaying them pursued them as far as Horma.
The Amalekites and Canaanites who lived there in the hill country came down and attacked the Israelites and defeated them, and chased them all the way to Hormah.
