Numbers 14

The People Rebel

1Then all the congregation 1lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept 2that night. 2All the sons of Israel 3grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “4Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, 5to fall by the sword? 6Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4So they said to one another, “7Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

58Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel. 6Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “9The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 810If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us--11a land which flows with milk and honey. 9Only 12do not rebel against the Lord; and do not 13fear the people of the land, for they will be our 14prey. Their 15protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” 1016But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then 17the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.

Moses Pleads for the People

1118The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will 19they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? 12I will smite them with 2021pestilence and dispossess them, and I 22will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

1323But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, 14and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for 24You, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while 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. 15Now if You slay this people as one man, 25then the nations who have heard of Your fame will 26say, 16‘Because the Lord 27could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ 17But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have 28declared, 18‘29The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but 30He will by no means clear the guilty, 31visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children 32to the third and the fourth generations.’ 1933Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

The Lord Pardons and Rebukes

20So the Lord said, “34I have pardoned them according to your word; 21but indeed, 35as I live, 3637all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. 22Surely 38all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet 39have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, 2340shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. 24But My servant Caleb, 41because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, 4243I will bring into the land 44which he entered, and his 45descendants shall take possession of it. 2546Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the 47Red Sea.”

26The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 27“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are 48grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are 49making against Me. 28Say to them, ‘50As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as 51you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; 2952your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all 53your 54numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. 30Surely you shall not come into the land in which I 55swore to settle you, 56except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 3157Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey--I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. 3258But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. 33Your sons shall be shepherds for 59forty years in the wilderness, and they will 60suffer for your 61unfaithfulness, until your corpses 62lie in the wilderness. 34According to the 63number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your 64guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. 3565I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.’”

3666As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, 37even 67those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a 68plague before the Lord. 38But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land.

Israel Repulsed

39When Moses spoke 69these words to all the sons of Israel, 70the people mourned greatly. 40In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the 71ridge of the hill country, saying, “72Here we are; 73we have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised.” 41But Moses said, “74Why then are you transgressing the 75commandment of the Lord, when it will not succeed? 4276Do not go up, or you will be struck down before your enemies, for the Lord is not among you. 43For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following the Lord. And the Lord will not be with you.” 44But they went up heedlessly to the 77ridge of the hill country; neither 78the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp. 45Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and beat them down as far as 79Hormah.