Numbers 12–14

Miriam and Aaron Speak Against Moses

12Miriam and Aaron began to say bad things about Moses. That’s because Moses had married a woman from Cush. ²“Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” The Lord heard what they said.

³Moses wasn’t very proud at all. In fact, he had less pride than anyone else on the face of the earth.

⁴The Lord spoke to Moses, Aaron and Miriam. He said, “All three of you, come out to the Tent of Meeting.” So they did. ⁵Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud. He stood at the entrance to the tent. And he told Aaron and Miriam to come to him. Both of them stepped forward.

⁶Then the Lord said, “Listen to my words.

“Suppose one of my prophets is among you.

I make myself known to him in visions.

I speak to him in dreams.

⁷But that is not true of my servant Moses.

He is faithful in everything he does in my house.

⁸With Moses I speak face to face.

I speak with him clearly. I do not speak in riddles.

I let him see something of what I look like.

So why were you not afraid

to speak against my servant Moses?”

⁹The anger of the Lord burned against them. And he left them.

¹⁰When the cloud went up from above the tent, there stood Miriam. She had a disease that made her skin as white as snow.

Aaron turned toward her. He saw that she had a skin disease. ¹¹So he said to Moses, “We have committed a very foolish sin. Please don’t hold it against us. ¹²Don’t let Miriam be like a baby that was born dead. Don’t let her look like a dead baby whose body is half eaten away.”

¹³So Moses cried out to the Lord. He said, “God, please heal her!”

¹⁴The Lord answered Moses. He said, “Suppose her father had spit in her face. Then she would have been put to shame for seven days. So keep her outside the camp for seven days. After that, you can bring her back.”

¹⁵So Miriam was kept outside the camp for seven days. The people didn’t move on until she was brought back.

¹⁶After that, the people left Hazeroth. They camped in the Desert of Paran.

Some Men Check Out the Land of Canaan

13The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, ²“Send some men to check out the land of Canaan. I am giving it to the people of Israel. Send one leader from each of Israel’s tribes.”

³So Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. He sent them as the Lord had commanded. All of them were leaders of the people of Israel.

⁴Here are their names.

There was Shammua from the tribe of Reuben. Shammua was the son of Zaccur.

⁵There was Shaphat from the tribe of Simeon. Shaphat was the son of Hori.

⁶There was Caleb from the tribe of Judah. Caleb was the son of Jephunneh.

⁷There was Igal from the tribe of Issachar. Igal was the son of Joseph.

⁸There was Hoshea from the tribe of Ephraim. Hoshea was the son of Nun.

⁹There was Palti from the tribe of Benjamin. Palti was the son of Raphu.

¹⁰There was Gaddiel from the tribe of Zebulun. Gaddiel was the son of Sodi.

¹¹There was Gaddi from the tribe of Manasseh. Gaddi was the son of Susi. Manasseh was a tribe of Joseph.

¹²There was Ammiel from the tribe of Dan. Ammiel was the son of Gemalli.

¹³There was Sethur from the tribe of Asher. Sethur was the son of Michael.

¹⁴There was Nahbi from the tribe of Naphtali. Nahbi was the son of Vophsi.

¹⁵There was Geuel from the tribe of Gad. Geuel was the son of Maki.

¹⁶Those are the men Moses sent to check out the land. He gave the name Joshua to Hoshea, the son of Nun.

¹⁷Moses sent them to check out Canaan. He said, “Go up through the Negev Desert. Go on into the central hill country. ¹⁸See what the land is like. See whether the people who live there are strong or weak. See whether they are few or many.

¹⁹“What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Do the towns have high walls around them or not? ²⁰How is the soil? Is it rich land or poor land? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” It was the season for the first ripe grapes.

²¹So the men went up and checked out the land. They went from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob. It was in the direction of Lebo Hamath. ²²They went up through the Negev Desert and came to Hebron. That’s where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai lived. They belonged to the family line of Anak. Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan. Zoan was a city in Egypt.

²³The men came to the Valley of Eshcol. There they cut off a branch that had a single bunch of grapes on it. Two of them carried it on a pole between them. They carried some pomegranates and figs along with it. ²⁴That place was called the Valley of Eshcol. That’s because the men of Israel cut off a bunch of grapes there.

²⁵At the end of 40 days, the men returned from checking out the land.

The Men Report on What They Found

²⁶The men came back to Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israel. The people were at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There the men reported to Moses and Aaron and all of the people. They showed them the fruit of the land.

²⁷They gave Moses their report. They said, “We went into the land you sent us to. It really does have plenty of milk and honey! Here’s some fruit from the land.

²⁸“But the people who live there are powerful. Their cities have high walls around them and are very large. We even saw members of the family line of Anak there. ²⁹The Amalekites live in the Negev Desert. The Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the central hill country. The Canaanites live near the Mediterranean Sea. They also live along the Jordan River.”

³⁰Then Caleb interrupted the men who were speaking to Moses. He said, “We should go up and take the land. We can certainly do it.”

³¹But the men who had gone up with him spoke. They said, “We can’t attack those people. They are stronger than we are.” ³²The men spread a bad report about the land among the people of Israel. They said, “The land we checked out destroys those who live in it. All of the people we saw there are very big and tall. ³³We saw the Nephilim there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes. And that’s also how we seemed to them.” The children of Anak came from the Nephilim.

The People Refuse to Obey the Lord

14That night all of the people in the community raised their voices. They sobbed out loud.

²The people of Israel spoke against Moses and Aaron. The whole community said to them, “We wish we had died in Egypt or even in this desert. ³Why is the Lord bringing us to this land? We’re going to be killed with swords. Our enemies will capture our wives and children. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

⁴They said to one another, “We should choose another leader. We should go back to Egypt.”

⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell with their faces to the ground. They did it in front of the whole community of Israel that was gathered there.

⁶Joshua, the son of Nun, tore his clothes. So did Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. Joshua and Caleb were two of the men who had checked out the land. ⁷They spoke to the whole community of Israel. They said, “We passed through the land and checked it out. It’s very good. ⁸If the Lord is pleased with us, he’ll lead us into that land. It’s a land that has plenty of milk and honey. He’ll give it to us.

⁹“But don’t refuse to obey him. And don’t be afraid of the people of the land. We will swallow them up. The Lord is with us. So nothing can save them. Don’t be afraid of them.”

¹⁰But all of the people talked about killing Joshua and Caleb by throwing stones at them.

Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting. All of the people of Israel saw it. ¹¹The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “How long will these people make fun of me? How long will they refuse to believe in me? They refuse even though I have done many miraculous signs among them. ¹²So I will strike them down with a plague. I will destroy them. But I will make you into a greater and stronger nation than they are.”

¹³Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it. You used your power to bring these people up from among them.

¹⁴“And the Egyptians will tell the people who live in Canaan about it. Lord, they have already heard a lot about you. They’ve heard that you are with these people. They’ve heard that you have been seen face to face. They’ve been told that your cloud stays over them. They’ve heard that you go in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day. They’ve been told that you go in front of them in a pillar of fire at night.

¹⁵“Suppose you put these people to death all at one time. Then the nations who have heard those things about you will talk. They’ll say, ¹⁶‘The Lord took an oath. He promised to give these people the land of Canaan. But he wasn’t able to bring them into it. So he killed them in the desert.’

¹⁷“Now, Lord, show your strength. You have said, ¹⁸‘I am the Lord. I am slow to get angry. I am full of love. I forgive those who sin. I forgive those who refuse to obey. But I do not let guilty people go without punishing them. I punish the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for the sin of their parents.’

¹⁹“Lord, your love is great. So forgive the sin of these people. Forgive them just as you have done from the time they left Egypt until now.”

²⁰The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, just as you asked. ²¹You can be sure that I live. You can be sure that my glory fills the whole earth.

²²“And you can be just as sure that these men will not see the land I promised to give them. They have seen my glory. They have seen the miraculous signs I did in Egypt. And they have seen what I did in the desert. But they did not obey me. And they have put me to the test ten times. ²³So not even one of them will ever see the land I promised with an oath to give to their people of long ago. No one who has made fun of me will ever see it.

²⁴“But my servant Caleb has a different spirit. He follows me with his whole heart. So I will bring him into the land he went to. And his children after him will receive land there.

²⁵“The Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the…