Numbers 14

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

Then everybody there cried out loud all night.

2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said to them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!

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 And why has the LORD brought us to this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us 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 make 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 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

Moses and Aaron fellfacedown on the ground in front of all the assembled Israelites.

6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:

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 they spoke to all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.

and told the Israelites, “The country we traveled through and explored has very good land.

8 If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which flows 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 Only rebel not you against the LORD, neither fear you the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them 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 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before 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 provoke me? and how long will it be before they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among 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 smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a greater nation and mightier than they.

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, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for you brought up this people in your might from among them; )

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 they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that you LORD are among this people, that you LORD are seen face to face, and that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, 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 Now if you shall kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,

If you kill all these people in one go, the nations who have heard about you will say,

16 Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain 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 And now, I beseech you, let the power of my LORD be great, according as you have spoken, saying,

Now, Lord, please demonstrate the extent of your power just as you have said:

18 The LORD is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to 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 Pardon, I beseech you, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your mercy, and as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

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 pardoned according to your word:

“I have forgiven them as you asked,” the Lord replied.

21 But as truly as I live, all the 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 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not listened to 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 Surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see 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 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land into where he went; 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 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelled in the valley.) Tomorrow turn you, and get you 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 to Aaron, saying,

The Lord told Moses and Aaron,

27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.

“How much longer are these wicked people going to criticize me? I've heard what they're saying, making complaints against me.

28 Say to them, As truly as I live, says the LORD, as you have spoken in my ears, 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 Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which 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 Doubtless you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua 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 little ones, which you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know 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 But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness.

But you—you are all going to die in this desert.

33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your prostitutions, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness.

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 After the number of the days in which you searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall you bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you shall know my breach of promise.

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 I the LORD have said, I will surely do it to all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall 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 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander on the land,

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 Even those men that did bring up the evil report on the land, died by the plague before the LORD.

those men who gave the bad report died before the Lord from plague.

38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.

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 told these sayings to all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.

When Moses told the Israelites what the Lord had said they were very, very sad.

40 And they rose up early in the morning, and got them up into the top of the mountain, saying, See, we be here, and will go up to the place which the LORD has promised: 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, Why now do you transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper.

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 among you; that you be not smitten before your enemies.

Don't try and go, otherwise you will be killed by your enemies, because the Lord isn't with you.

43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword: because you are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not 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 presumed to go up to the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of 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 Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelled in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even to Hormah.

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.