Numbers 14

1

That night all the people of the community raised their

voices and wept aloud.

2

All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron,

and the whole assembly said to them,

"If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!

3

Why ios the LORD bringing us to this land only to let

us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be

taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back

to Egypt?"

4

And they said to each other, "We should choose a leader

and go back to Egypt."

5

Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole

Israelite assembly gathered there.

6

Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were

among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes

7

and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we

passed through and explored is exceedingly good.

8

If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into

that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and

will give it to us.

9

Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be

afraid of the people of the land, because we will

swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the

LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them."

10

But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.

Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of

Meeting to all the Israelites.

11

The LORD said to Moses, "How long these people

treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse

to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs

I have performed among them?

12

I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them,

but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger

than they."

13

Moses said to the LORD, "Then the Egyptians will

hear about it! By your power you brought these

people up from among them.

14

And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it.

They have already heard that you, O LORD, are with these

people and that you, O LORD, have been seen face to face,

that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before

them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

15

If you put these people to death all at one time,

the nations who have heard this report about you will say,

16

'The LORD was not able to bring these into the land he

promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in

the desert.'

17

"Now may the LORD's strength be displayed, just as

you have declared:

18

'The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and

forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave

the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for

the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.'

19

In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of

these people, just as you have pardoned them from 

the time they left Egypt until now."

20

The LORD replied, "I have forgiven them, as you asked.

21

Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the

glory of the LORD fills the whole earth,

22

not one of them who saw my glory and the miraculous

signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who

disobeyed me and tested me ten times -

23

not one of them will ever see the land I promised

on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me

with contempt will ever see it.

24

But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and

follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the

land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.

25

Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the

valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the

desert along the route to the Red Sea." 

26

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:

27

"How long will this wicked community grumble against

me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling

Israelites.

28

So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will

do to you the very things I heard you say:

29

In this desert your bodies will fall - every one of you

twenty years old or more who was counted in the

census and who has grumbled against me.

30

Not one of you will enter the land I swore with

uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of

Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

31

as for your children that you said would be taken as

plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have

rejected.

32

But you - your bodies will fall in this desert.

33

Your children will be shepherds here for forty years,

suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your

bodies lies in the desert.

34

For forty years - one year for each of the forty days

you explored the land - you will suffer for your sins

and know what it is like to have me against you.'

35

I, the LORD, have spoken and I will surely do these

things to this whole wicked community, which has

banded together against me. They will meet their end

in this desert; here they will die."

36

So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who

returned and made the whole community grumble 

against him by spreading a bad report about it -

37

these men responsible for spreading the bad report

about the land were struck down and died of a

plague before the LORD.

38

Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua

son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

39

When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they

mourned bitterly.

40

Early the next morning they went up toward the

high hill country. "We have sinned." they said.

"We will go up to the place the LORD promised."

41

But Moses said, "Why are you disobeying the LORD's

command? This will not succeed!

42

Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you.

You will be defeated by your enemies,

43

for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there.

Because you have turned away from the LORD,

he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword."

44

Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward

the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark

of the LORD's covenant moved from the camp.

45

Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that

hill country came down and attacked them and beat

them down all the way to Hormah.