Numbers 14
1 Then did all the assembly lift up, and give forth their voice, —and the people wept throughout that night.
Then everybody there cried out loud all 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!
All the Israelites went and complained to Moses and Aaron, telling them, “If only we'd died in Egypt, or here in this desert!
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?
Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to get us killed? Our wives and children will be captured and taken away as slaves! Wouldn't we be better off going back to Egypt?”
4 And they said, one to another, —Let us appoint a head and let us go back towards Egypt.
They said to one another, “Let's choose a new leader us and go back to Egypt.”
5 Then did Moses and Aaron fall upon their faces, —before all the convocation of the assembly of the sons of Israel.
Moses and Aaron fellfacedown on the ground in front of all the assembled Israelites.
6 But, Joshua son of Nun, and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of them who spied out the land, rent their clothes;
Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, were there. They had been part of the group who had gone to spy out the land. They ripped their clothes,
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 told the Israelites, “The country we traveled through and explored has very good land.
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 is happy with us, he will take us there and give it to us, a land that's so productive it's like 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!
Don't rebel and fight against the Lord. You don't need to be afraid of the people living there in the country—we can take them easily! They're defenseless and the Lord is with us. Don't be frightened of them!”
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.
In reply all the people shouted out, “Stone them!” But the glory of the Lord suddenly appeared in the Tent of Meeting, right in the middle of the Israelites.
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?
The Lord told Moses, “How long are these people going to reject me? How long are these people going to refuse to trust in me despite all the miracles I have done right in front of them?
12 Let me smite them with pestilence, and disinherit them, —And make thee into a nation greater and more mighty than they!
I'm going to make them sick with a disease and kill them. Then I will make you into a nation that's greater and strong than them.”
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;
But Moses told the Lord, “The Egyptians will find out about it! It was by your power that you led the Israelites out from among them.
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.
They will tell the people living in this country all about it. They've already heard that you, Lord, are with us Israelites, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, that your cloud stands guard over them, and that you lead them by a pillar of cloud during day and a pillar of fire at 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:
If you kill all these people in one go, the nations who have heard about you will 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.
‘The Lord killed these people in the desert because he wasn't able to take them to the country he promised to give them. He's killed them all in desert!’
17 Now, therefore, I beseech thee let the might of My Lord, be magnified, —according as thou didst speak saying:
Now, Lord, please demonstrate the extent of your power just as you have said:
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 slow to become angry and is full of trustworthy love, forgiving sin and rebellion. However, he will not allow the guilty to go unpunished, bringing the consequences of the parents' sin on their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
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.
Please forgive the sin of these people since your trustworthy love is so great, in the same way that you have forgiven them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
20 And Yahweh said, I have pardoned according to thy word;
“I have forgiven them as you asked,” the Lord replied.
21 Nevertheless as I live, —and that all the earth may be filled with the glory of Yahweh,
“But even so, as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord's glory,
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,
not a single one of the those who saw my glory and the miracles I did in Egypt and in the desert—but provoked me and refused to obey me time and time again—
23 shall see the land, which I sware to their fathers, —yea, none of my despisers, shall see it.
not a single one of them is ever going to see the country I promised to give their forefathers. None of those who rejected me will see 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.
But because my servant Caleb has a totally different spirit and is fully committed to me, I will lead him to the country he visited, and his descendants will own 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.
Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, tomorrow you are to turn around and head back into the desert, taking the route towards the Red Sea.”
26 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying:
The Lord told Moses and Aaron,
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 much longer are these wicked people going to criticize me? I've heard what they're saying, making complaints against me.
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: —
Go and tell them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, I'll do just what I heard you say you wanted, believe me!
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,
All of you will die in this desert, everyone who was registered in the census that counted those aged twenty or over, because you made complaints 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:
Absolutely none of you will enter the country I promised to give you to live in, except for Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, 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.
However, I will take your children—those you said would be taken away as plunder—into the country you rejected, and they will appreciate it.
32 But, your own dead bodies, shall fall in this desert;
But you—you are all going to die in this desert.
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 will wander in the desert for forty years, suffering because of your lack of trust until all your bodies lie buried in 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.
Just as you explored the country for forty days, so shall your punishment for your sins be forty years, a year for every day, and you will see what happens when I oppose you.
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.
I, the Lord, have spoken! Just see if I won't do this to all these wicked Israelites who have got together to oppose me! They will end their lives in the desert—they will die there.’”
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,
The men that Moses had sent to explore the country—those who came back and because they gave a bad report they made all the Israelites complain against the Lord—
37 they died—the men who gave out an evil rumour of the land, —by the plague, before Yahweh.
those men who gave the bad report died before the Lord from plague.
38 But, Joshua son of Nun, and Caleb son of Jephunneh! remained alive—of those men who went to spy out the land.
The only ones who lived were Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh of those who went to explore the country.
39 And Moses spake these words unto all the sons of Israel, and the people were greatly depressed.
When Moses told the Israelites what the Lord had said they were very, very sad.
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.
They got up early the next morning planning to go into the hill country. “Yes we really did sin,” they said, “but now we're here and we'll go where the Lord told us.”
41 But Moses said, Wherefore is it that, ye, are going beyond the bidding of Yahweh, —since that cannot prosper?
But Moses objected. “Why are you disobeying the Lord's command? You won't succeed in your plan!
42 Do not go up, For Yahweh is not in your midst, —Lest ye be smitten down before your enemies.
Don't try and go, otherwise you will be killed by your enemies, because the Lord isn't with you.
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 Amalekites and Canaanites living there will attack you, and you will die by the sword. Because you rejected the Lord, he won't help 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 were arrogant and went up into the hill country, even though Moses and the Ark of the Lord's Agreement didn't move 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.
The Amalekites and Canaanites who lived there in the hill country came down and attacked the Israelites and defeated them, and chased them all the way to Hormah.
