Liber Numeri 14
1 Igitur vociferans omnis turba flevit nocte illa,
All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2 et murmurati sunt contra Moysen et Aaron cuncti filii Israel, dicentes:
All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness!
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?
Why does Yahweh bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?”
4 Dixeruntque alter ad alterum: Constituamus nobis ducem, et revertamur in Ægyptum.
They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.”
5 Quo audito Moyses et Aaron ceciderunt proni in terram coram omni multitudine filiorum Israel.
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6 At vero Iosue filius Nun, et Caleb filius Iephone, qui et ipsi lustraverant terram, sciderunt vestimenta sua,
Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.
7 et ad omnem multitudinem filiorum Israel locuti sunt: Terra, quam circuivimus, valde bona est.
They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
8 Si propitius fuerit Dominus, inducet nos in eam, et tradet humum lacte et melle manantem.
If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows 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 don’t rebel against Yahweh, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and Yahweh is with us. Don’t fear them.”
10 Cumque clamaret omnis multitudo, et lapidibus eos vellet opprimere, apparuit gloria Domini super tectum fœderis cunctis filiis Israel.
But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. Yahweh’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.
11 Et dixit Dominus ad Moysen: Usquequo detrahet mihi populus iste? Quousque non credent mihi in omnibus signis, quæ feci coram eis?
Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? How long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?
12 Feriam igitur eos pestilentia, atque consumam: te autem faciam principem super gentem magnam, et fortiorem quam hæc est.
I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
13 Et ait Moyses ad Dominum: Ut audiant Ægyptii, de quorum medio eduxisti populum istum,
Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them.
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:
They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are among this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15 quod occideris tantam multitudinem quasi unum hominem, et dicant:
Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,
16 Non poterat introducere populum in Terram, pro qua iuraverat: idcirco occidit eos in solitudine.
‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’
17 Magnificetur ergo fortitudo Domini sicut iurasti, dicens:
Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according 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.
‘Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’
19 Dimitte, obsecro, peccatum populi huius secundum magnitudinem misericordiæ tuæ, sicut propitius fuisti egredientibus de Ægypto usque ad locum istum.
Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
20 Dixitque Dominus: Dimisi iuxta verbum tuum.
Yahweh said, “I have pardoned according to your word;
21 Vivo ego: et implebitur gloria Domini universa terra.
but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with Yahweh’s glory—
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,
because all those men who have seen my glory and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted 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.
surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised 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 he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it.
25 Quoniam Amalecites et Chananæus habitant in vallibus. Cras movete castra, et revertimini in solitudinem per viam Maris Rubri.
Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”
26 Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen et Aaron, dicens:
Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
27 Usquequo multitudo hæc pessima murmurat contra me? Querelas filiorum Israel audivi.
“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me.
28 Dic ergo eis: Vivo ego, ait Dominus: sicut locuti estis audiente me, sic faciam vobis.
Tell them, ‘As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you.
29 In solitudine hac iacebunt cadavera vestra. Omnes qui numerati estis a viginti annis et supra, et murmurastis contra me,
Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,
30 non intrabitis Terram, super quam levavi manum meam ut habitare vos facerem, præter Caleb filium Iephone, et Iosue filium Nun.
surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
31 Parvulos autem vestros, de quibus dixistis quod prædæ hostibus forent, introducam: ut videant Terram, quæ vobis displicuit.
But I will bring in your little ones that you said should be captured or killed, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
32 Vestra cadavera iacebunt in solitudine.
But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
33 Filii vestri erunt vagi in deserto annis quadraginta, et portabunt fornicationem vestram, donec consumantur cadavera patrum in deserto,
Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies 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:
After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’
35 quoniam sicut locutus sum, ita faciam omni multitudini huic pessimæ, quæ consurrexit adversum me: in solitudine hac deficiet, et morietur.
I, Yahweh, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall 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,
The men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land,
37 mortui sunt atque percussi in conspectu Domini.
even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Yahweh.
38 Iosue autem filius Nun, et Caleb filius Iephone vixerunt ex omnibus, qui perrexerant ad considerandam Terram.
But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
39 Locutusque est Moyses universa verba hæc ad omnes filios Israel, et luxit populus nimis.
Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
40 Et ecce mane primo surgentes ascenderunt verticem montis, atque dixerunt: Parati sumus ascendere ad locum, de quo Dominus locutus est: quia peccavimus.
They rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised; for we have sinned.”
41 Quibus Moyses: Cur, inquit, transgredimini verbum Domini, quod vobis non cedet in prosperum?
Moses said, “Why now do you disobey the commandment of Yahweh, since it shall not prosper?
42 Nolite ascendere: non enim est Dominus vobiscum: ne corruatis coram inimicis vestris.
Don’t go up, for Yahweh isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies.
43 Amalecites et Chananæus ante vos sunt, quorum gladio corruetis, eo quod nolueritis acquiescere Domino, nec erit Dominus vobiscum.
For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned back from following Yahweh; therefore Yahweh will not be with you.”
44 At illi contenebrati ascenderunt in verticem montis. Arca autem testamenti Domini et Moyses non recesserunt de castris.
But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of Yahweh’s covenant and Moses didn’t depart out of the camp.
45 Descenditque Amalecites et Chananæus, qui habitabat in monte: et percutiens eos atque concidens, persecutus est eos usque Horma.
Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down even to Hormah.
