Numbers 14:1–20

ISRAEL’S REFUSAL TO ENTER CANAAN

14Then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. ²All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron,^j and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! ³Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder.^k Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”^{l 4}So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole assembly of the Israelite community. ⁶Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes ⁷and said to the entire Israelite community, “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land.^{m 8}If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey,ⁿ and give it to us. ⁹Only don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them.^o Their protection^p has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don’t be afraid of them!”

¹⁰While the whole community threatened to stone them,^q the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.

GOD’S JUDGMENT OF ISRAEL’S REBELLION

¹¹The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people despise me? How long will they not trust in me despite all the signs I have performed among them?^{r 12}I will strike them with a plague and destroy them. Then I will make you into a greater and mightier nation than they are.”^s

¹³But Moses replied to the Lord, “The Egyptians will hear about it, for by your strength you brought up this people from them. ¹⁴They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land.^t They have heard that you, Lord, are among these people, how you, Lord, are seen face to face, how your cloud stands over them, and how you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.^{u 15}If you kill this people with a single blow,^Av the nations that have heard of your fame^w will declare, ¹⁶‘Since the Lord wasn’t able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them,^x he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’^y

¹⁷“So now, may my Lord’s power be magnified just as you have spoken: ¹⁸The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love,^z forgiving iniquity and rebellion.^aa But he will not leave the guilty unpunished,^ab bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generation.^{ac 19}Please pardon the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of your faithful love,^ad just as you have forgiven them from Egypt until now.”

²⁰The Lord responded, “I have pardoned them as you requested.