Numbers 14

1 Then all the people gave load cries of grief, and all that night they gave themselves up to weeping.

Wherefore the whole multitude crying wept that night.

2 And all the children of Israel, crying out against Moses and Aaron, said, If only we had come to our death in the land of Egypt, or even in this waste land!

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

3 Why is the Lord taking us into this land to come to our death by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will get into strange hands: would it not be better for us to go back 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 said to one another, Let us make a captain over us, and go back to Egypt.

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

5 Then Moses and Aaron went down on their faces before the meeting of the people.

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, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, two of those who had been to see the land, giving signs of grief,

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

7 Said to all the children of Israel, This land which we went through to see is a 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 And if the Lord has delight in us, he will take us into this land and give it to us, a land 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 go against the Lord or go in fear of the people of the land, for they will be our food; their strength has been taken from them and the Lord is with us: have no fear of 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 all the people said they were to be stoned. Then the glory of the Lord was seen in the Tent of meeting, before the eyes of all the children 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 the Lord said to Moses, How long will this people have no respect for me? how long will they be without faith, in the face of all the signs I have done among them?

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 will send disease on them for their destruction, and take away their heritage, and I will make of you a nation greater and stronger 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 And Moses said to the Lord, Then it will come to the ears of the Egyptians; for by your power you took this people out from among them;

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

14 And they will give the news to the people of this land: they have had word that you, Lord, are present with this people, letting yourself be seen face to face, and that your cloud is resting over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud 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 Now if you put to death all this people as one man, then the nations who have had word of your glory will say,

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

16 Because the Lord was not able to take this people into the land which he made an oath to give them, he sent destruction on them in the waste land.

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

17 So now, may my prayer come before you, and let the power of the Lord be great, as you said:

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

18 The Lord is slow to wrath and great in mercy, overlooking wrongdoing and evil, and will not let wrongdoers go free; sending punishment on children for the sins of their fathers, to the third and 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 May the sin of this people have forgiveness, in the measure of your great mercy, as you have had mercy on them from Egypt up till 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 the Lord said, I have had mercy, as you say:

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

21 But truly, as I am living, and as all the earth will be full of the glory of the Lord;

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

22 Because all these men, having seen my glory and the signs which I have done in Egypt and in the waste land, still have put me to the test ten times, and have not given ear 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 will not see the land about which I made an oath to their fathers; not one of these by whom I have not been honoured will 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 he had a different spirit in him, and has been true to me with all his heart, him I will take into that land into which he went, and his seed will have it for their heritage.

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 in the valley; tomorrow, turning round, go into the waste land by the way to 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 the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

27 How long am I to put up with this evil people and their outcries against me? The words which they say against me have come to my ears.

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

28 Say to them, By my life, says the Lord, as certainly as your words have come to my ears, so certainly will I do this 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 dead bodies will be stretched out in this waste land; and of all your number, all those of twenty years old and over who have been crying out 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 Not one will come into the land which I gave my word you would have for your resting-place, but only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the 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 And your little ones, whom you said would come into strange hands, I will take in, and they will see the land which you would not have.

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 as for you, your dead bodies will be stretched in this waste land.

Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness.

33 And your children will be wanderers in the waste land for forty years, undergoing punishment for your false ways, till your bodies become dust in the waste land.

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 And as you went through the land viewing it for forty days, so for forty years, a year for every day, you will undergo punishment for your wrongdoing, and you will see that I am against you.

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 the Lord have said it, and this I will certainly do to all this evil people who have come together against me: in this waste land destruction will come on them, and death will be their fate.

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 And the men whom Moses sent to see the land, and who, by the bad account they gave of the land, were the cause of the outcry the people made against Moses,

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 Those same men who said evil of the land, came to their death by disease before the Lord.

Died and were struck in the sight of the Lord.

38 But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, of those who went to see the land, were not touched by disease.

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 when Moses put these words before the children of Israel, the people were full of grief.

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

40 And early in the morning they got up and went to the top of the mountain, saying, We are here and we will go up to the place which the Lord said he would give us: for we have done wrong.

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 said, Why are you now acting against the Lord's order, seeing that no good will come of it?

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

42 Go not up, for the Lord is not with you, and you will be overcome by those who are fighting against you.

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, and you will be put to death by their swords: because you have gone back from the way of the Lord, the Lord will 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 gave no attention to his words and went to the top of the mountain, though Moses and the ark of the Lord's agreement did not go out of the tent-circle.

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 Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who were living in the hill-country, and overcame them completely, driving them back as far as 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.