For Num 14:1; That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.
Num 14:2; All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!
Num 14:3; Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
Num 14:4; And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Num 14:5; Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there.
Num 14:6; Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes
Num 14:7; and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.
Num 14:8; If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.
Num 14:9; Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
Num 14:10; But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites.
Num 14:11; The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?
Num 14:12; I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”
Num 14:13; Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them.
Num 14:14; And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, O LORD, are with these people and that you, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
Num 14:15; If you put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about you will say,
Num 14:16; ‘The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in the desert.’
Num 14:17; “Now may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as you have declared:
Num 14:18; ‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.’
Num 14:19; In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
Num 14:20; The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked.
Num 14:21; Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth,
Num 14:22; not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—
Num 14:23; not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.
Num 14:24; But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.
Num 14:25; Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.”
Num 14:26; The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
Num 14:27; “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.
Num 14:28; So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say:
Num 14:29; In this desert your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.
Num 14:30; Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
Num 14:31; As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.
Num 14:32; But you—your bodies will fall in this desert.
Num 14:33; Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert.
Num 14:34; For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’
Num 14:35; I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die.”
Num 14:36; So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it—
Num 14:37; these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD.
Num 14:38; Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.
Num 14:39; When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly.
Num 14:40; Early the next morning they went up toward the high hill country. “We have sinned,” they said. “We will go up to the place the LORD promised.”
Num 14:41; But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the LORD'S command? This will not succeed!
Num 14:42; Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies,
Num 14:43; for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”
Scripture Study
Numbers 14:1