Numbers 14

1That night all the Israelites in the camp began shouting loudly and crying.

2The Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron and they said to them: We wish we had died in Egypt or in the desert.

3Why did the Lord bring us to this land to die here in war? The enemies will take our wives and children. It will be better for us if we go back to Egypt.

4They said to each other: Let us choose a new leader and go back to Egypt.

5Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground in front of all the Israelites.

6Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, were 2 of the men who had gone to see what the land was like. They tore their clothes

7They said to the Israelites: We went through the land to see what the land was like, and we are telling you that this is a very good land.

8If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into this land and He will give it to us. This is land with a lot of food, milk and honey.

9But you must not rebel against the LORD and you must not be afraid of the people in the land. We will easily destroy them. They have no protection, nothing to keep them safe. But we have the Lord with us, so don’t be afraid!

10All of the Israelites began talking about killing Joshua and Caleb with stones. But then all of the Israelites saw the Glory of the Lord appeared over the meeting tent.

11The Lord said to Moses: How long will these people continue to make me angry? They show that they don’t trust me or believe in my power, I have done many miracles for them.

12I will send a disease and kill all of them. I will destroy them, and I will use you to make another nation. Your nation will be greater and stronger than these people.

13Then Moses said to the Lord: If you do that, the Egyptians will hear about it. (They know that you used your great power to bring your people out of Egypt.)

14The people of Egypt will talk to the people who live in this land. They will tell them that You, the Lord, were with your people and that You appeared to them. They will tell them that You led them with a cloud above them in the day and with fire at night.

15If you kill your people now, then all the people will say:

16The Lord was not able to bring them into the land he promised them. So, he killed them in the desert.

17Lord, show your strength! Show it the way you said you would.

18The Lord is slow to become angry. He is full of great love. He forgives those who are guilty and break the law. But he always punishes those who are guilty. He punishes them, and he also punishes their children, their grandchildren, and even their great-grandchildren.

19Now, show your great love to these people. Forgive their sin. Forgive them the same way you have been forgiving them since the time they left Egypt until now.

20The Lord said to Moses: I will forgive them because you have asked Me.

21But I tell you the truth. As I live, the Glory of the Lord will fill the whole earth.

22These people have saw my glory and the great signs that I did in Egypt and in the desert. But they disobeyed me and tested me ten times.

23That is why none of them will see the land that I have promised their grandfathers. Not one of the people who have turned away from Me and did not want to trust Me will go into the land.

24But my servant Caleb is different. He follows me completely. So, I will bring him into the land that he has already seen, and his people will get that land.

25(The Amalekite people and the Canaanites live in the valley.) So tomorrow you must leave this place. Go back to the desert on the road to the Red Sea.

26The Lord talked to Moses and Aaron and He said:

27How long will these evil people continue to complain against me? I have heard their complaints.

28So tell them, The Lord said that as HE surely lives that he will surely do all those things to you that you complained about. This is what will happen to you:

29Your dead bodies will lie in the sand of this desert, all of you whose names are written in the book, all who are older than 20 years, all who have accused Me.

30I promised that you would live in that land, but now you will not go there. Only Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun, will go into the land.

31You were afraid and complained that your enemies in that new land would take your children away from you. I tell you; I will bring them into the land. They will enjoy what you refused to accept.

32Your dead bodies will lie in this desert,

33Your children will wander around like shepherds here in the desert for 40 years. They will suffer because you were not faithful to me. They must suffer until all of you lie dead in the desert.

34For 40 years you will suffer for your sins. (That is one year for each of the 40 days that the men explored the land.) You will suffer for 40 years for your sin, and you will know that I am angry with you and break my promise.

35I, the Lord, have spoken. I will do this to these sinful people who have rebelled against Me. In this desert. You will all die.

36The men Moses sent to explore the new land were the ones who came back and made all the Israelites complaining against Moses by bringing out a bad report about the land.

37The men who had told those bad things to the other people all died of the disease that the LORD sent.

38Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, had also gone with the men to look at the land, but they did not die. They kept on living.

39When Moses told the Israelites everything that the Lord had said, the people were very sad and cried.

40They got up early the next morning and went to the top of the mountain. They said: We have sinned. We will go to the place that the Lord promised us.

41Moses said to them: Why are you not obeying the Lord’s command? You will not be successful!

42Don’t go, because the Lord is not with you. If you go into the land, the enemies will defeat you.

43The Amalekite people and the Canaanites were there before you. You will die in war because you have turned away from the Lord. He will not be with you, and He will not help you.

44But the people did not believe Moses. They went toward the high hill country. But Moses and covenant box of the Lord did not go with the people.

45The Amalekite people and the Canaanites who lived in those mountains came down and defeated the Israelites. They chased the Israelites who ran away and fled to as far as the town of Hormah.