Numbers 14

The People Rebel

1Then all the congregation 1raised their voices and cried out, and the people wept 2that night. 2And all the sons of Israel 3grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the entire congregation said to them, “4If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or even if we had died in this wilderness! 3So why 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’s 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. 6And Joshua 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 is gone 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

1118And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people be disrespectful to Me? And how long will 19they not 20believe in Me, despite all the signs that I have performed in their midst? 12I will strike them with 2122plague and dispossess them, and I 23will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

1324But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people up from their midst, 14and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are in the midst of this people, because 25You, 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 put this people to death 26all at once, 27then the nations who have heard of Your fame will 28say, 16‘Since the Lord 29could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ 17So now, please, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, saying, 18‘30The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in mercy, forgiving wrongdoing and violation of His Law; but 31He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, 32inflicting the 33punishment of the fathers on the children 34to the third and the fourth generations.’ 19Please 35forgive the guilt of this people in accordance with the greatness of Your mercy, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

The Lord Pardons and Rebukes

20So the Lord said, “36I have forgiven them in accordance with your word; 21however, 37as I live, 3839all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. 22Certainly 40all the people who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet 41have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, 2342shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who were disrespectful to Me see it. 24But as for My servant Caleb, 43because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, 44I will bring him into the land which he 45entered, and his 46descendants shall take possession of it. 2547Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way of the 48Red Sea.”

26The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron again, saying, 27“How long shall I put up with this evil congregation who are 49grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel which they are 50voicing against Me. 28Say to them, ‘51As I live,’ declares the Lord, ‘just as 52you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you; 2953your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, all 54your 55numbered men according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. 30By no means will you come into the land where I 56swore to settle you, 57except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 3158Your children, however, whom you said would become plunder--I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. 3259But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33Also, your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for 60forty years, and they will 61suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your bodies perish in the wilderness. 34In accordance with the 62number of days that you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall suffer the punishment for your 63guilt a year, that is, forty years, and you will know My opposition. 3564I, the Lord, have spoken, I certainly will do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. They shall be worn out in this wilderness, and there they shall die.’”

3665As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, and who returned and led all the congregation to grumble against him by bringing a bad report about the land, 3766those men who brought the bad report of the land also died by a 67plague in the presence of 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

39Now when Moses spoke 68these words to all the sons of Israel, 69the people mourned greatly. 40In the morning, however, they got up early and went up to the 70ridge of the hill country, saying, “71Here we are; and we will go up to the place which the Lord has 72promised, for 73we have sinned.” 41But Moses said, “74Why then are you 75violating the 76command of the Lord, when doing so will not succeed? 4277Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, 78to prevent you from being defeated 79by your enemies. 43For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there 80to confront you, and you will fall by the sword, since you have turned back from following the Lord. And the Lord will not be with you.” 44But they foolishly dared to go up to the 81ridge of the hill country; neither 82the 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 scattered them as far as 83Hormah.