< Numbers 14 >

1 Then did all the assembly lift up, and give forth their voice, —and the people wept throughout that night.
Wherefore the whole multitude crying wept that night.
2 And all the sons of Israel, murmured against Moses and against Aaron, —and all the assembly said unto them—Oh that we had died in the land of Egypt, Or in this wilderness, oh that we had died!
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying:
3 Wherefore then is Yahweh bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones, will become a prey! Would it not be well for us to go back towards 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 said, one to another, —Let us appoint a head and let us go back towards Egypt.
And they said one to another: Let us appoint a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
5 Then did Moses and Aaron fall upon their faces, —before all the convocation of the assembly 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 But, Joshua son of Nun, and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of them who spied out the land, rent their clothes;
But Josue the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephone, who themselves also had viewed the land, rent their garments,
7 and spake unto all the assembly of the sons of Israel, saying, —As for the land through which we passed to spy it out, Good, is the land, exceedingly,
And said to all the multitude of the children of Israel: The land which we have gone round is very good:
8 If Yahweh delight in us, then will he bring us into this land, and give it unto us, —A land which doth flow 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 against Yahweh, do not rebel. Do not, ye, fear the people of the land, For our food, they are, —Their shade hath departed, from over them. And Yahweh 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 But when all the assembly bade stone them with stones, the glory of Yahweh, appeared, in the tent of meeting, unto 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 Then said Yahweh unto Moses How long! must this people, despise me? And how long can they not believe in me. in view of all the signs which I have done in their 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 Let me smite them with pestilence, and disinherit them, —And make thee into a nation greater and more mighty than they!
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 Then said Moses unto Yahweh, —So shall the Egyptians hear, For thou hast brought up. in thy might, 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 will tell it unto the inhabitants of this land: They have heard, That, thou, Yahweh, art in the midst of this people, —That eye to eye, is he seen—thou, Yahweh, And thy cloud, is standing over them, And in a pillar of cloud, thou thyself, art going on 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 As soon, therefore, as thou hast put to death this people as one man, so soon will the nations who have heard thy fame speak saying:
May hear that thou hast killed so great a multitude as it were one man and may say:
16 Because Yahweh, was not able, to bring in this people into the land which he had sworn unto them, therefore did he slay them in the desert.
He could not bring the people into the land for which he had sworn, therefore did he kill them in the wilderness.
17 Now, therefore, I beseech thee let the might of My Lord, be magnified, —according as thou didst speak saying:
Let their the strength of the Lord be magnified, as thou hast sworn, saying:
18 Yahweh—slow to anger and great in lovingkindness, Forgiving iniquity and transgression: Though he will not leave, wholly unpunished, Visiting the iniquity of fathers upon sons, Upon a third generation, and upon a fourth.
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 Pardon I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, According to the greatness of thy lovingkindness, —And according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even thus far.
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 Yahweh said, I have pardoned according to thy word;
And the Lord said: I have forgiven according to thy word.
21 Nevertheless as I live, —and that all the earth may be filled with the glory of Yahweh,
As I live: and the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
22 Verily, none of the men who have been beholding my glory and my signs, which I have done in Egypt and in the desert, —and have put me to the proof these ten times, and have not hearkened unto 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 shall see the land, which I sware to their fathers, —yea, none of my despisers, shall 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 was another spirit with him, and he followed me fully, therefore will I bring him into the land whereinto he entered, and his seed, shall possess 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 Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites, are dwelling in the valley, —to-morrow, turn ye away; and set yourselves forward towards the desert by 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 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying:
And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
27 How long, as regardeth this evil assembly, are they to be murmuring against me? The murmuring of the sons of Israel which, they, have been murmuring against me, have I heard,
How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel.
28 Say unto them: As I live, is the oracle of Yahweh: Surely as ye have spoken in mine ears, so, will I do unto 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 In this desert, shall your dead bodies fall And none of you who were numbered in all your counting, from twenty years old and upwards, —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 none of you, shall enter into the land, as to which I uplifted my hand to give you an abode therein, —save 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 whereas, your little ones, of whom ye said, they should become, a prey, I will bring them in, and they shall acknowledge the land which ye refused.
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 But, your own dead bodies, shall fall in this desert;
Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness.
33 and your sons, shall be shepherds in the desert forty years, and shall bear your unchastities, —until your dead bodies are consumed in the desert.
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 wherein ye spied out the land—forty days, each day for a year, shall they bear your iniquities—forty years, —so shall ye know 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—Yahweh, have spoken, Verily this, will I do to all this evil assembly, who have conspired against me, —In this desert, shall they be consumed And there, shall 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 Now as for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, —who returned and caused all the assembly to murmur against him by giving out a rumour against 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 they died—the men who gave out an evil rumour of the land, —by the plague, before Yahweh.
Died and were struck in the sight of the Lord.
38 But, Joshua son of Nun, and Caleb son of Jephunneh! remained alive—of those men who went 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 spake these words unto all the sons of Israel, and the people were greatly depressed.
And Moses spoke all these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned exceedingly.
40 So they arose early in the morning, and went up into the top of the mountain, saying, —We are here—therefore will we go up into the place as to which Yahweh hath said that 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 But Moses said, Wherefore is it that, ye, are going beyond the bidding of Yahweh, —since that cannot 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 Yahweh is not in your midst, —Lest ye be smitten down before your enemies.
Go not up, for the Lord is not with you: lest you fall before your enemies.
43 For, the Amalekites and the Canaanites, are there before you, So shall ye fall by the sword, —For inasmuch as ye have turned back from following Yahweh, Therefore will Yahweh not be 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 But they presumptuously ascended into the top of the mountain, —though, neither, the ark of the covenant of Yahweh nor Moses moved 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 So ten the Amalekites and the Canaanites, that dwelt in that mountain, came down, —and smote them and routed them even unto 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.

< Numbers 14 >