14:1 That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.
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!
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?”
14:4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there.
14:6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes
14:7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.
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.
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.”
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.
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?
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.”
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.
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.
14:15 If you put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about you will say,
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.’
14:17 “Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared:
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.’
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.”
14:20 The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked.
14:21 Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth,
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–
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.
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.
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.”
14:26 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
14:27 “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.
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:
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.
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.
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.
14:32 But you–your bodies will fall in this desert.
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.
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.’
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.”
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–
14:37 these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD.
14:38 Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.
14:39 When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly.
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.”
14:41 But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the LORD’S command? This will not succeed!
14:42 Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies,
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.”
14:44 Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD’S covenant moved from the camp.
14:45 Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.
14:1 Then the whole assembly lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night.
14:2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole assembly said to them, If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!
14:3 And why does Jehovah bring us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?
14:4 And they said one to another, Let us appoint a captain, and let us return to Egypt.
14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the whole congregation of the assembly of the children of Israel.
14:6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.
14:7 And they spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, saying, The land through which we passed to spy out is an exceedingly good land.
14:8 If Jehovah is pleased with us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey.
14:9 Only do not rebel against Jehovah, nor should you fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their protection has been removed from them, and Jehovah is with us; do not fear them.
14:10 But the whole assembly said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of Jehovah appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.
14:11 And Jehovah said to Moses, How long will this people despise Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?
14:12 I will strike them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.
14:13 But Moses said to Jehovah, Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your might You brought this people up from their midst,
14:14 And they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Jehovah, are in the midst of this people; for You, O Jehovah, are seen in plain sight, and Your cloud stands over them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
14:15 Now if You put this people to death as one man, then the nations that have heard the report about You will speak, saying,
14:16 Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which He swore to give them, He has therefore slaughtered them in the wilderness.
14:17 And now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying,
14:18 Jehovah is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generations.
14:19 Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now.
14:20 Then Jehovah said, I have pardoned them according to your word;
14:21 But as surely as I live, and as all the earth will be filled with the glory of Jehovah,
14:22 None of those men who have seen My glory and My signs, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tried Me these ten times and have not listened to My voice,
14:23 Shall see the land which I swore to give to their fathers, nor shall any of those who despised Me see it.
14:24 Only My servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit and has fully followed Me, will I bring into the land which he entered; and his descendants shall take possession of it.
14:25 Now since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, turn tomorrow, and set out into the wilderness by the way that leads to the Red Sea.
14:26 Then Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
14:27 How long shall I bear with this evil assembly, which murmurs against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they are making against Me.
14:28 Say to them, As I live, declares Jehovah, just as you have spoken in My ears, so will I do to you.
14:29 Your corpses shall fall in this wilderness, and none of you who were numbered, according to the number you counted from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me,
14:30 Shall come into the land, in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
14:31 But your little ones, whom you said would become plunder, I will bring in, and they will know the land which you have rejected.
14:32 But as for you, your corpses shall fall in this wilderness.
14:33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and they shall suffer for your unfaithfulness until your corpses have been consumed in the wilderness.
14:34 According to the number of the days which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for every day, you shall bear your iniquities, forty years; and you shall know My displeasure.
14:35 I, Jehovah, have spoken; surely I will do this to all this evil assembly who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
14:36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made the whole assembly to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land,
14:37 That is, those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Jehovah.
14:38 Only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land.
14:39 And when Moses spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people mourned greatly.
14:40 And they rose up early in the morning to go up to the top of the mountain, saying, Here we are; now we will go up to the place which Jehovah has spoken of, for we have sinned.
14:41 But Moses said, Why do you again transgress the commandment of Jehovah? This will not succeed.
14:42 Do not go up ? for Jehovah is not among you ? so that you are not struck down before your enemies.
14:43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following Jehovah, therefore Jehovah will not be with you.
14:44 But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain, even though neither the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah nor Moses had departed out of the midst of the camp.
14:45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that hill country came down and struck them and beat them back as far as Hormah.