Numbers 14:1–39

Israel Refuses to Enter Canaan

14So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people ^awept that night. ^2bAnd all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! ³Why has the Lord brought us to this land to ¹fall by the sword, that our wives and ^cchildren should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴So they said to one another, ^d“Let us select a leader and ^ereturn to Egypt.”

⁵Then Moses and Aaron ²fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

⁶But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; ⁷and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: ^f“The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. ⁸If the Lord ^gdelights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ^h‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ ⁹Only ⁱdo not rebel against the Lord, ^jnor fear the people of the land, for ^kthey ³are our bread; their protection has departed from them, ^land the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”

^10mAnd all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now ⁿthe glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel.

Moses Intercedes for the People

¹¹Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people ^oreject ⁴Me? And how long will they not ^pbelieve Me, with all the ⁵signs which I have performed among them? ¹²I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will ^qmake of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

¹³And ^rMoses said to the Lord: ^s“Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them, ¹⁴and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have ^theard that You, Lord, are among these people; that You, Lord, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying, ¹⁶‘Because the Lord was not ^uable to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷And now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, ^18v‘The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, ^wvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’ ^19xPardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, ^yaccording to the greatness of Your mercy, just ^zas You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

²⁰Then the Lord said: “I have pardoned, ^aaccording to your word; ²¹but truly, as I live, ^ball the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord—^22cbecause all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now ^dthese ten times, and have not heeded My voice, ²³they certainly shall not ^esee the land of which I ⁶swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. ²⁴But My servant ^fCaleb, because he has a different spirit in him and ^ghas followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. ²⁵Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley; tomorrow turn and ^hmove out into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.”

Death Sentence on the Rebels

²⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²⁷ⁱ“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? ^jI have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. ²⁸Say to them, ^k‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: ²⁹The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, ^lall of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. ^30mExcept for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I ⁷swore I would make you dwell in. ³¹ⁿBut your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall ⁸know the land which ^oyou have despised. ³²But as for you, ^pyour ⁹carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. ³³And your sons shall ^qbe ¹shepherds in the wilderness ^rforty years, and ^sbear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. ^34tAccording to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, ^uforty days, for each day you shall bear your ²guilt one year, namely forty years, ^vand you shall know My ³rejection. ^35wI the Lord have spoken this. I will surely do so to all ^xthis evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.’ ”

³⁶Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land, ³⁷those very men who brought the evil report about the land, ^ydied by the plague before the Lord. ^38zBut Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the land.

A Futile Invasion Attempt

³⁹Then Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, ^aand the people mourned greatly.