Numbers 14:6-38

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, “1The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 82If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us--3a land which flows with milk and honey. 9Only 4do not rebel against the Lord; and do not 5fear the people of the land, for they will be our 6prey. Their 7protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” 108But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then 9the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.

1110The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will 11they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? 12I will smite them with 1213pestilence and dispossess them, and I 14will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

1315But 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 16You, 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, 17then the nations who have heard of Your fame will 18say, 16‘Because the Lord 19could 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 20declared, 18‘21The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but 22He will by no means clear the guilty, 23visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children 24to the third and the fourth generations.’ 1925Pardon, 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.”

20So the Lord said, “26I have pardoned them according to your word; 21but indeed, 27as I live, 2829all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. 22Surely 30all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet 31have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, 2332shall 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, 33because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, 3435I will bring into the land 36which he entered, and his 37descendants shall take possession of it. 2538Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the 39Red Sea.”

26The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 27“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are 40grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are 41making against Me. 28Say to them, ‘42As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as 43you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; 2944your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all 45your 46numbered 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 47swore to settle you, 48except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 3149Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey--I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. 3250But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. 33Your sons shall be shepherds for 51forty years in the wilderness, and they will 52suffer for your 53unfaithfulness, until your corpses 54lie in the wilderness. 34According to the 55number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your 56guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. 3557I, 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.’”

3658As 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 59those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a 60plague 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.