Numbers 14:29–45

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. ⁴⁰And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, ^b“Here we are, and we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned!”

⁴¹And Moses said, “Now why do you ⁴transgress the command of the Lord? For this will not succeed. ^42cDo not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the Lord is not among you. ⁴³For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; ^dbecause you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.”

^44eBut they presumed to go up to the mountaintop. Nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp. ⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as far as ^fHormah.