The People Rebel
1 The entire community raised their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. 2 All the Israelites murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why does the Lord bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?” 4 They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the congregation of the Israelites.
6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes. 7 They spoke to the whole community of the Israelites, saying, “The land, which we passed through to explore, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us: a land which is flowing with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection has been removed from over them, and the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
10 But the entire community said to kill them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites.
11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people provoke me? And how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have shown among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and from you, will make a nation greater and mightier than they.”
Moses Intercedes for the People
13 Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people by your might from among them.
14 They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard of your fame will speak, saying, 16 ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’
17 And now, I beseech you, let the power of my Lord be great, just as you have spoken, saying, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience, and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’ 19 Pardon, I beseech you, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your mercy, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt right until now.”
God’s Forgiveness and Judgement
20 The Lord said, “I have pardoned them according to your word, 21 but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. 22 Because of all those men who have seen my glory and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and have tested me these ten times and have not listened to my voice, 23 surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who provoked me see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went, and his offspring shall possess it. 25 Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwelt in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”
26 The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall I bear with this miserable congregation which complain against me? I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites, which they complain against me. 28 Tell them, ‘As I live, says the Lord, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you. 29 Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all who were counted among you, according to your entire count, from twenty years old and up, who have complained against me, 30 surely you shall not enter into the land which I swore that I would make you dwell, except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
31 But your little ones, which you said would be prey, these I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness 40 years, and shall bear your infidelity, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of days you explored the land; 40 days, one year for every day, you will bear your iniquities; 40 years, and you will know my alienation.’
35 I, the Lord, have spoken. I will surely do this to this whole miserable congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”
The Plague of the Ten Explorers
36 The men whom Moses sent to explore the land, who returned and caused the whole the community to murmur against him by bringing up a defamatory report against the land, 37 those men who brought the defamation upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were among the men who went to explore the land, still lived.
39 Moses recounted these words to all the Israelites, and the people mourned greatly.
Defeat by Amalekites and Canaanites
40 The people rose up early in the morning and got themselves to the top of the mountain, saying, “We are here. We have sinned, but now we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised.”
41 Moses said, “Now why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? But it will it not prosper. 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, and you will be struck down before your enemies. 43 For the Amalekite and the Canaanite are there before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you.”
44 But they presumed to go up to the hilltop. Nevertheless, the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and Moses, did not depart from the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites that dwelt on that hill struck them and overwhelmed them, all the way to Hormah.