Numbers 14:29–45

²⁹Your corpses will fall in this wilderness—all of you who were registered in the census, the entire number of you 20 years old or more ^h—because you have complained about Me. ³⁰I swear that none of you will enter the land I promised ⁱto settle you in, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹I will bring your children whom you said would become plunder ^jinto the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it. ^k32But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. ³³Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for 40 years and bear the penalty for your acts of unfaithfulness until all your corpses lie scattered in the wilderness. ³⁴You will bear the consequences of your sins 40 years based on the number of the 40 days that you scouted the land, a year for each day. ^lmYou will know My displeasure. ⁿ³⁵I, Yahweh, have spoken. I swear that I will do this to the entire evil community that has conspired against Me. ^oThey will come to an end in the wilderness, and there they will die.” ^p

³⁶So the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and who returned and incited the entire community to complain about him by spreading a negative report about the land— ³⁷those men who spread the negative report about the land were struck down by the Lord. ³⁸Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to scout out the land.

Israel Routed

³⁹When Moses reported these words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome with grief. ⁴⁰They got up early the next morning and went up the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Let’s go to the place the Lord promised, for we were wrong.” ^q

⁴¹But Moses responded, “Why are you going against the Lord’s command? It won’t succeed. ⁴²Don’t go, because the Lord is not among you and you will be defeated by your enemies. ⁴³The Amalekites and Canaanites are right in front of you, and you will fall by the sword. The Lord won’t be with you, since you have turned from following Him.”

⁴⁴But they dared to go up the ridge of the hill country, even though the ark of the Lord’s covenant and Moses did not leave the camp. ⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them as far as Hormah. ^r