CHAPTER 14
All
the Israelites
grumbled
against
Moses
and Aaron,
and the whole
congregation
said
to them,
“If only
we had died
in the land
of Egypt,
or
if only
we had died
in this
wilderness!
Why
is the LORD
bringing
us into
this
land
to fall
by the sword?
Our wives
and children
will become
plunder.
Would it not
be better
for us to go back
to Egypt?”
Joshua
son
of Nun
and Caleb
son
of Jephunneh,
who were
among those who had spied out
the land,
tore
their clothes
and said
to
the whole
congregation
of Israel,
“The land
we passed through
and explored
is an exceedingly
good
land.
If
the LORD
is pleased with us,
He will bring
us into
this
land,
a land
flowing
with milk
and honey,
and He will give it to us.
Only
do not
rebel
against the LORD,
and do not
be afraid
of the people
of the land,
for
they will be like bread for us.
Their protection
has been removed,
and the LORD
is with us.
Do not
be afraid of them!”
But the entire
congregation
threatened
to stone
Joshua and Caleb.
Then the glory
of the LORD
appeared
to
all
the Israelites
at the Tent
of Meeting.
And the LORD
said
to
Moses,
“How long
will this
people
treat Me with contempt?
How long
will they refuse
to believe
in Me,
despite all
the signs
I have performed
among them?
I will strike
them with a plague
and destroy them—
and I will make
you
into a nation
greater
and mightier
than they are.”
But Moses
said
to
the LORD,
“The Egyptians
will hear
of it,
for by Your strength
You brought
this
people
from among them.
And they will tell it
to
the inhabitants
of this
land.
They have already heard
that
You,
O LORD,
are in the midst
of this
people,
that
You,
O LORD,
have been seen
face
to face,
that Your cloud
stands
over them,
and that You
go
before
them in a pillar
of cloud
by day
and a pillar
of fire
by night.
‘Because the LORD
was unable
to bring
this
people
into
the land
He swore to give them,
He has slaughtered
them in the wilderness.’
‘The LORD
is slow
to anger
and abounding
in loving devotion,
forgiving
wrongdoing
and rebellion.
But He will by no means
leave the guilty unpunished;
He visits
the iniquity
of the fathers
upon
their children
to
the third
and fourth generation.’
Pardon,
I pray,
the iniquity
of this
people,
in keeping with the greatness
of Your loving devotion,
just as
You have forgiven
them
ever
since
they left Egypt.”
not one
of the men
who have seen
My glory
and the signs
I performed
in Egypt
and in the wilderness—
yet have tested
Me
and disobeyed
Me
these
ten
times—
not one
will ever see
the land
I swore
to give their fathers.
None
of those who have treated Me with contem
will see it.
But because
My servant
Caleb
has
a different
spirit
and has followed Me
wholeheartedly,
I will bring
him into
the land
he has entered,
and his descendants
will inherit it.
Now since the Amalekites
and Canaanites
are living
in the valleys,
turn back
tomorrow
and head for
the wilderness
along the route to
the Red
Sea.”
“How long
will this
wicked
congregation
grumble
against
Me?
I have heard
the complaints
that
the Israelites
are making against Me.
So tell them:
As surely as I
live,
declares
the LORD,
I will do
to you
exactly
as
I heard
you say.
Your bodies
will fall
in this
wilderness—
all
who were numbered
in the census,
everyone
twenty
years of age
or older—
because
you have grumbled
against Me.
Surely none
of you
will enter
the land
in which
I swore
to settle you,
except
Caleb
son
of Jephunneh
and Joshua
son
of Nun.
But I will bring your children,
whom
you said
would become
plunder,
into
the land
you have rejected—
and they will enjoy it.
Your children
will be
shepherds
in the wilderness
for forty
years,
and they will suffer
for your unfaithfulness
until
the last
of your bodies
lie scattered in the wilderness.
In keeping with the
forty
of days
you spied
out the land,
you shall bear
your guilt
forty
years—
a year
for each day—
and you will experience
My alienation.
I,
the LORD,
have spoken,
and I will surely
do
these things
to this entire
wicked
congregation,
which has conspired
against Me.
They will meet their end
in the wilderness,
and there
they will die.”
So the men
Moses
had sent
to spy
out the land,
and who
had returned
and made all
the congregation
grumble
against him
by bringing
a bad report
about
the land—
those men who had spread
the bad
report
about the land
were struck down
by a plague
before
the LORD.
Of
those
men
who had gone
to spy
out the land,
only Joshua
son
of Nun
and Caleb
son
of Jephunneh
remained alive.
Early the next morning
they got up
and went up
toward
the ridge
of the hill country.
“We have indeed
sinned,”
they said,
“but we will go
to
the place
the LORD
has promised.”
For
there
the Amalekites
and Canaanites
will face you,
and you will fall
by the sword.
Because
you have turned
away
from the LORD,
He
will not
be
with you.”
But they dared
to go up
to
the ridge
of the hill country,
though neither
Moses
nor the ark
of the covenant
of the LORD
moved
from
the camp.
Then the Amalekites
and Canaanites
who lived
in that
part of the hill country
came down,
attacked them,
and routed them
all the way
to Hormah.