Numbers 14:6-38

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, “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 is gone 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.

1110And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people be disrespectful to Me? And how long will 11they not 12believe in Me, despite all the signs that I have performed in their midst? 12I will strike them with 1314plague and dispossess them, and I 15will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

1316But 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 17You, 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 18all at once, 19then the nations who have heard of Your fame will 20say, 16‘Since the Lord 21could 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‘22The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in mercy, forgiving wrongdoing and violation of His Law; but 23He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, 24inflicting the 25punishment of the fathers on the children 26to the third and the fourth generations.’ 19Please 27forgive 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.”

20So the Lord said, “28I have forgiven them in accordance with your word; 21however, 29as I live, 3031all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. 22Certainly 32all the people who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet 33have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, 2334shall 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, 35because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, 36I will bring him into the land which he 37entered, and his 38descendants shall take possession of it. 2539Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way of the 40Red Sea.”

26The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron again, saying, 27“How long shall I put up with this evil congregation who are 41grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel which they are 42voicing against Me. 28Say to them, ‘43As I live,’ declares the Lord, ‘just as 44you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you; 2945your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, all 46your 47numbered 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 48swore to settle you, 49except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 3150Your children, however, whom you said would become plunder--I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. 3251But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33Also, your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for 52forty years, and they will 53suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your bodies perish in the wilderness. 34In accordance with the 54number of days that you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall suffer the punishment for your 55guilt a year, that is, forty years, and you will know My opposition. 3556I, 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.’”

3657As 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, 3758those men who brought the bad report of the land also died by a 59plague 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.