Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land

19 “Then we set out from Horeb and ywent through all that great and terrifying wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us. And zwe came to Kadesh-barnea. 20 And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. 21 See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. aDo not fear or be dismayed.’ 22 Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.’ 23 The thing seemed good to me, and bI took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe. 24 And cthey turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. 25 And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.’

26 “Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. 27 And dyou murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord ehated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, fto give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where are we going up? gOur brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, h“The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen ithe sons of the Anakim there.” ’ 29 Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God who goes before you jwill himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God kcarried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ 32 Yet in spite of this word lyou did not believe the Lord your God, 33 mwho went before you in the way nto seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.

The Penalty for Israel’s Rebellion

34 “And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, 35 o‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, 36 pexcept Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the Lord!’ 37 Even with me qthe Lord was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there. 38 rJoshua the son of Nun, rwho stands before you, he shall enter. sEncourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 And as for tyour little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today uhave no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, vturn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’

41 “Then you answered me, w‘We have sinned against the Lord. We ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every one of you fastened on his weapons of war and thought it easy to go up into the hill country. 42 And the Lord said to me, x‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, yfor I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’ 43 So I spoke to you, and you would not listen; but you rebelled against the command of the Lord and zpresumptuously went up into the hill country. 44 aThen the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you bas bees do and beat you down in Seir as far as cHormah. 45 And you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to your voice or give ear to you.