Liber Numeri 14
1 Igitur vociferans omnis turba flevit nocte illa,
And all the congregation lifts up, and they give forth their voice, and the people weep during that night;
2 et murmurati sunt contra Moysen et Aaron cuncti filii Israel, dicentes:
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!
3 Utinam mortui essemus in Ægypto: et in hac vasta solitudine utinam pereamus, et non inducat nos Dominus in Terram istam, ne cadamus gladio, et uxores ac liberi nostri ducantur captivi. Nonne melius est reverti in Ægyptum?
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?”
4 Dixeruntque alter ad alterum: Constituamus nobis ducem, et revertamur in Ægyptum.
And they say to one another, “Let us appoint a head and return to Egypt.”
5 Quo audito Moyses et Aaron ceciderunt proni in terram coram omni multitudine filiorum Israel.
And Moses falls—Aaron also—on their faces, before all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.
6 At vero Iosue filius Nun, et Caleb filius Iephone, qui et ipsi lustraverant terram, sciderunt vestimenta sua,
And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of those spying out the land, have torn their garments,
7 et ad omnem multitudinem filiorum Israel locuti sunt: Terra, quam circuivimus, valde bona est.
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;
8 Si propitius fuerit Dominus, inducet nos in eam, et tradet humum lacte et melle manantem.
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;
9 Nolite rebelles esse contra Dominum: neque timeatis populum terræ huius, quia sicut panem ita eos possumus devorare. Recessit ab eis omne præsidium: Dominus nobiscum est, nolite metuere.
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.”
10 Cumque clamaret omnis multitudo, et lapidibus eos vellet opprimere, apparuit gloria Domini super tectum fœderis cunctis filiis Israel.
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.
11 Et dixit Dominus ad Moysen: Usquequo detrahet mihi populus iste? Quousque non credent mihi in omnibus signis, quæ feci coram eis?
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?
12 Feriam igitur eos pestilentia, atque consumam: te autem faciam principem super gentem magnam, et fortiorem quam hæc est.
I strike it with pestilence, and dispossess it, and make you become a nation greater and mightier than it.”
13 Et ait Moyses ad Dominum: Ut audiant Ægyptii, de quorum medio eduxisti populum istum,
And Moses says to YHWH, “Then the Egyptians have heard! For with Your power You have brought up this people out of their midst,
14 et habitatores Terræ huius, qui audierunt quod tu Domine in populo isto sis, et facie videaris ad faciem, et nubes tua protegat illos, et in columna nubis præcedas eos per diem, et in columna ignis per noctem:
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.
15 quod occideris tantam multitudinem quasi unum hominem, et dicant:
And You have put to death this people as one man, and the nations who have heard Your fame have spoken, saying,
16 Non poterat introducere populum in Terram, pro qua iuraverat: idcirco occidit eos in solitudine.
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.
17 Magnificetur ergo fortitudo Domini sicut iurasti, dicens:
And now, please let the power of my Lord be great, as You have spoken, saying,
18 Dominus patiens et multæ misericordiæ, auferens iniquitatem et scelera, nullumque innoxium derelinquens, qui visitas peccata patrum in filios in tertiam et quartam generationem.
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]—
19 Dimitte, obsecro, peccatum populi huius secundum magnitudinem misericordiæ tuæ, sicut propitius fuisti egredientibus de Ægypto usque ad locum istum.
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.”
20 Dixitque Dominus: Dimisi iuxta verbum tuum.
And YHWH says, “I have forgiven according to your word,
21 Vivo ego: et implebitur gloria Domini universa terra.
but nevertheless, as I live, indeed, the whole earth is filled [with] the glory of YHWH,
22 At tamen omnes homines qui viderunt maiestatem meam, et signa quæ feci in Ægypto et in solitudine, et tentaverunt me iam per decem vices, nec obedierunt voci meæ,
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—
23 non videbunt Terram pro qua iuravi patribus eorum, nec quisquam ex illis qui detraxit mihi, intuebitur eam.
they do not see the land which I have sworn to their fathers, indeed, none of those despising Me see it;
24 Servum meum Caleb, qui plenus alio spiritu secutus est me, inducam in Terram hanc, quam circuivit: et semen eius possidebit eam.
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.
25 Quoniam Amalecites et Chananæus habitant in vallibus. Cras movete castra, et revertimini in solitudinem per viam Maris Rubri.
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.”
26 Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen et Aaron, dicens:
And YHWH speaks to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
27 Usquequo multitudo hæc pessima murmurat contra me? Querelas filiorum Israel audivi.
“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;
28 Dic ergo eis: Vivo ego, ait Dominus: sicut locuti estis audiente me, sic faciam vobis.
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?
29 In solitudine hac iacebunt cadavera vestra. Omnes qui numerati estis a viginti annis et supra, et murmurastis contra me,
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;
30 non intrabitis Terram, super quam levavi manum meam ut habitare vos facerem, præter Caleb filium Iephone, et Iosue filium Nun.
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.
31 Parvulos autem vestros, de quibus dixistis quod prædæ hostibus forent, introducam: ut videant Terram, quæ vobis displicuit.
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;
32 Vestra cadavera iacebunt in solitudine.
as for you—your carcasses fall in this wilderness,
33 Filii vestri erunt vagi in deserto annis quadraginta, et portabunt fornicationem vestram, donec consumantur cadavera patrum in deserto,
and your sons are shepherding in the wilderness [for] forty years, and have borne your whoredoms until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness;
34 iuxta numerum quadraginta dierum, quibus considerastis Terram: annus pro die imputabitur. Et quadraginta annis recipietis iniquitates vestras, et scietis ultionem meam:
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;
35 quoniam sicut locutus sum, ita faciam omni multitudini huic pessimæ, quæ consurrexit adversum me: in solitudine hac deficiet, et morietur.
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.”
36 Igitur omnes viri, quos miserat Moyses ad contemplandam Terram, et qui reversi murmurare fecerant contra eum omnem multitudinem, detrahentes Terræ quod esset mala,
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,
37 mortui sunt atque percussi in conspectu Domini.
even the men bringing out an evil account of the land, they die by the plague before YHWH;
38 Iosue autem filius Nun, et Caleb filius Iephone vixerunt ex omnibus, qui perrexerant ad considerandam Terram.
and Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh have lived, of those men who go to spy out the land.
39 Locutusque est Moyses universa verba hæc ad omnes filios Israel, et luxit populus nimis.
And Moses speaks these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people mourn exceedingly,
40 Et ecce mane primo surgentes ascenderunt verticem montis, atque dixerunt: Parati sumus ascendere ad locum, de quo Dominus locutus est: quia peccavimus.
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.”
41 Quibus Moyses: Cur, inquit, transgredimini verbum Domini, quod vobis non cedet in prosperum?
And Moses says, “Why [is] this [that] you are transgressing the command of YHWH? For it does not prosper;
42 Nolite ascendere: non enim est Dominus vobiscum: ne corruatis coram inimicis vestris.
do not go up, for YHWH is not in your midst, and you are not struck before your enemies;
43 Amalecites et Chananæus ante vos sunt, quorum gladio corruetis, eo quod nolueritis acquiescere Domino, nec erit Dominus vobiscum.
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.”
44 At illi contenebrati ascenderunt in verticem montis. Arca autem testamenti Domini et Moyses non recesserunt de castris.
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.
45 Descenditque Amalecites et Chananæus, qui habitabat in monte: et percutiens eos atque concidens, persecutus est eos usque Horma.
And the Amalekite and the Canaanite who are dwelling in that mountain come down and strike them, and beat them down to Hormah.
