Numbers 14

1 That night all the community wept loudly.

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

2 All the people of Israel criticized Moses and Aaron. The whole community said to them, “We wish we had died in the land of Egypt, or here in this wilderness!

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!

3 Why did Yahweh bring us to this land to die by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become victims. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?”

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?

4 They said to each another, “Let us choose another leader, and let us return to Egypt.”

And they said to one another, Let us make a captain over us, and go back to Egypt.

5 Then Moses and Aaron lay facedown before all the assembly of the community of the people of Israel.

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

6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were some of those sent to examine the land, tore their clothes.

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,

7 They spoke to all the community of the people of Israel. They said, “The land that we passed through and examined is a very good land.

Said to all the children of Israel, This land which we went through to see is a very good land.

8 If Yahweh is pleased with us, then he will take us into this land and give it to us. The land flows with milk and honey.

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.

9 But do not rebel against Yahweh, and do not fear the people in the land, for they are bread to us. Their protection will be removed from them, because Yahweh is with us. Do not fear them.”

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.

10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of Yahweh appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

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.

11 Yahweh said to Moses, “How long must this people despise me? How long must they fail to trust me, despite all the signs of my power that I have done among them?

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?

12 I will attack them with plague, disinherit them, and make from your own clan a nation that will be greater and mightier than they are.”

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.

13 Moses said to Yahweh, “If you do this, then the Egyptians will hear about it, because you rescued this people from them by your power.

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;

14 They will tell it to this land's inhabitants. They have heard that you, Yahweh, are present with this people, because you are seen face to face. Your cloud stands over our people. You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

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.

15 Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations that have heard of your fame will speak and say,

Now if you put to death all this people as one man, then the nations who have had word of your glory will say,

16 'Because Yahweh could not take this people into the land that he swore to give them, he has killed them in the wilderness.'

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.

17 Now, I beg you, use your great power. For you have said,

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

18 'Yahweh is slow to anger and abundant in covenant faithfulness. He forgives iniquity and transgression. He will by no means clear the guilty when he brings the punishment of the ancestors' sin on their descendants, to the third and fourth generation.'

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.

19 Pardon, I plead with you, this people's sin because of the greatness of your covenant faithfulness, just as you have always forgiven this people from the time they were in Egypt until now.”

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.

20 Yahweh said, “I have pardoned them in keeping with your request,

And the Lord said, I have had mercy, as you say:

21 but truly, as I live, and as all the earth will be filled with my glory,

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

22 all those people who saw my glory and the signs of power that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness—they have still tempted me these ten times and have not listened to my voice.

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;

23 So I say that they will certainly not see the land about which I made an oath to their ancestors. Not one of them who despised me will see it,

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.

24 except for my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit. He has followed me fully; I will bring him into the land which he went to examine. His descendants will possess it.

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.

25 (Now the Amalekites and Canaanites lived in the valley.) Tomorrow turn and go to the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds.”

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.

26 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron. He said,

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

27 “How long must I tolerate this evil community that criticizes me? I have heard the complaining of the people of Israel against me.

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.

28 Say to them, 'As I live,' says Yahweh, 'as you have spoken in my hearing, I will do this to you:

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:

29 Your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, all you who complained against me, you who were counted in the census, the whole number of the people from twenty years old and upward.

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,

30 You will certainly not go into the land that I promised to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

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.

31 But your little ones who you said would be victims, I will take them into the land. They will experience the land that you have rejected!

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.

32 As for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness.

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

33 Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years. They must bear the consequences of your acts of rebellion until the end of your corpses in the wilderness.

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.

34 Just as the number of the days during which you examined the land—forty days, you must likewise bear the consequences of your sins for forty years—one year for every day, and you must know what it is like for me to oppose you.

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.

35 I, Yahweh, have spoken. I will certainly do this to all this evil community that is gathered together against me. They will be completely cut off, and here they will die.'”

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.

36 So the men Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made the entire community grumble against Moses by spreading a bad report about the land—

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,

37 these men who had brought out a bad report about the land were struck down, and they died of a plague before Yahweh.

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

38 Of those men who had gone to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive.

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.

39 When Moses reported these words to all the people of Israel, they mourned very deeply.

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

40 They rose up early in the morning and went to the top of the mountain and said, “Look, we are here, and we will go to the place that Yahweh has promised, for we have sinned.”

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.

41 But Moses said, “Why are you now violating Yahweh's command? You will not succeed.

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

42 Do not go, because Yahweh is not with you to prevent you from being defeated by your enemies.

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

43 The Amalekites and Canaanites are there, and you will die by the sword because you turned back from following Yahweh. So he will not be with you.”

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.

44 But they presumed to go up into the hill country; however, neither Moses nor the ark of the covenant of Yahweh left the camp.

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.

45 Then the Amalekites came down, and also the Canaanites who lived on those hills. They attacked the Israelites and defeated them all the way to Hormah.

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.