Numbers 14

1 And all the congregation lifts up, and they give forth their voice, and the people weep during that night;

Wherefore the whole multitude crying wept that night.

2 and all the sons of Israel murmur against Moses and against Aaron, and all the congregation says to them, “O that we had died in the land of Egypt, or in this wilderness, O that we had died!

And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying:

3 And why is YHWH bringing us to this land to fall by the sword, [that] our wives and our infants become a prey? Is it not good for us to return to Egypt?”

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?

4 And they say to one another, “Let us appoint a head and return to Egypt.”

And they said one to another: Let us appoint a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

5 And Moses falls—Aaron also—on their faces, before all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.

And when Moses and Aaron heard this, they fell down flat upon the ground before the multitude of the children of Israel.

6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of those spying out the land, have torn their garments,

But Josue the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephone, who themselves also had viewed the land, rent their garments,

7 and they speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land into which we have passed over to spy it out [is] a very, very good land;

And said to all the multitude of the children of Israel: The land which we have gone round is very good:

8 if YHWH has delighted in us, then He has brought us into this land, and has given it to us, a land which is flowing with milk and honey;

If the Lord be favourable, he will bring us into it, and give us a land flowing with milk and honey.

9 only, do not rebel against YHWH: and you, do not fear the people of the land, for they [are] our bread; their defense has turned aside from off them, and YHWH [is] with us; do not fear them.”

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.

10 And all the congregation says to stone them with stones, and the glory of YHWH has appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the sons of Israel.

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.

11 And YHWH says to Moses, “Until when does this people despise Me? And until when do they not believe in Me, for all the signs which I have done in its midst?

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?

12 I strike it with pestilence, and dispossess it, and make you become a nation greater and mightier than it.”

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.

13 And Moses says to YHWH, “Then the Egyptians have heard! For with Your power You have brought up this people out of their midst,

And Moses said to the Lord: That the Egyptians, from the midst of whom thou hast brought forth this people,

14 and they have said [it] to the inhabitant of this land, they have heard that You, YHWH, [are] in the midst of this people, that You are seen eye to eye—O YHWH, and Your cloud is standing over them—and in a pillar of cloud You are going before them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.

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, )

15 And You have put to death this people as one man, and the nations who have heard Your fame have spoken, saying,

May hear that thou hast killed so great a multitude as it were one man and may say:

16 From YHWH’s want of ability to bring in this people to the land which He has sworn to them, He slaughters them in the wilderness.

He could not bring the people into the land for which he had sworn, therefore did he kill them in the wilderness.

17 And now, please let the power of my Lord be great, as You have spoken, saying,

Let their the strength of the Lord be magnified, as thou hast sworn, saying:

18 YHWH [is] slow to anger and of great kindness, bearing away iniquity and transgression, and not entirely acquitting, charging iniquity of fathers on sons, on a third and on a fourth [generation]—

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.

19 please forgive the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of Your kindness, and as You have borne with this people from Egypt, even until now.”

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.

20 And YHWH says, “I have forgiven according to your word,

And the Lord said: I have forgiven according to thy word.

21 but nevertheless, as I live, indeed, the whole earth is filled [with] the glory of YHWH,

As I live: and the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

22 for all the men who are seeing My glory and My signs which I have done in Egypt and in the wilderness, and try Me these ten times, and have not listened to My voice—

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,

23 they do not see the land which I have sworn to their fathers, indeed, none of those despising Me see it;

Shall not see the land for which I aware to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that hath detracted me behold it.

24 but My servant Caleb, because there has been another spirit with him, and he is fully after Me—I have brought him into the land to where he has entered, and his seed possesses it.

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.

25 And the Amalekite and the Canaanite are dwelling in the valley; tomorrow turn and journey for yourselves into the wilderness—the way of the Red Sea.”

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.

26 And YHWH speaks to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

27 “Until when [do I bear] with this evil congregation—they who are murmuring against Me? The murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they are murmuring against Me, I have heard;

How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel.

28 say to them: As I live—a declaration of YHWH—if, as you have spoken in My ears, do I not do so to you?

Say therefore to them: As I live, saith the Lord: According as you have spoken in my hearing, so will I do to you.

29 Your carcasses fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered ones, to all your number, from a son of twenty years and upward, who have murmured against Me;

In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against me,

30 you do not come into the land [for] which I have lifted up My hand to cause you to dwell in it, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

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.

31 As for your infants—of whom you have said, They become a spoil—I have even brought them in, and they have known the land which you have kicked against;

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.

32 as for you—your carcasses fall in this wilderness,

Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness.

33 and your sons are shepherding in the wilderness [for] forty years, and have borne your whoredoms until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness;

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,

34 by the number of the days [in] which you spied out the land, forty days—a day for a year, a day for a year—you bear your iniquities [for] forty years, and you have known My opposition;

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:

35 I, YHWH, have spoken; if, nonetheless, I do this to all this evil congregation who are meeting against Me—they are consumed in this wilderness, and there they die.”

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.

36 Then the men whom Moses has sent to spy out the land, [who] then return and cause all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing out an evil account concerning the land,

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,

37 even the men bringing out an evil account of the land, they die by the plague before YHWH;

Died and were struck in the sight of the Lord.

38 and Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh have lived, of those men who go to spy out the land.

But Josue. the son of Nun. and Caleb the son of Jephone lived, of all them that had gone to view the land.

39 And Moses speaks these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people mourn exceedingly,

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

40 and they rise early in the morning, and go up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Here we [are], and we have come up to the place which YHWH has spoken of, for we have sinned.”

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.

41 And Moses says, “Why [is] this [that] you are transgressing the command of YHWH? For it does not prosper;

And Moses said to them: Why transgress you the word of the Lord, which shall not succeed prosperously with you?

42 do not go up, for YHWH is not in your midst, and you are not struck before your enemies;

Go not up, for the Lord is not with you: lest you fall before your enemies.

43 for the Amalekite and the Canaanite [are] there before you, and you have fallen by the sword, because that you have turned back from after YHWH, and YHWH is not with you.”

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.

44 And they presume to go up to the top of the mountain, but the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH, and Moses, have not departed out of the midst of the camp.

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.

45 And the Amalekite and the Canaanite who are dwelling in that mountain come down and strike them, and beat them down to Hormah.

And the Amalecite came down, and the Chanaanite that dwelt in the mountain: and smiting and slaying them pursued them as far as Horma.