Israel’s Rebellion
And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried out; and the people wept that night.
And all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron; and all the congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt — or in this wilderness, if only we had died!
And why is the LORD bringing us to 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?”
And they said each man to his brother, “Let us appoint a head, and return to Egypt.”
And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.
And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes,
and said to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land through which we passed to spy it out — the land is very, very good.
If the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us — a land that flows with milk and honey.
Only do not rebel against the LORD; and you — do not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their shadow has turned aside from over them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them.”
But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the sons of Israel.
And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, with all the signs that I have done in their midst?
I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”
Moses Intercedes for Israel
And Moses said to the LORD, “Then Egypt will hear of it — for you brought this people up from their midst by your power —
and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people; that eye to eye you, O LORD, are seen, and your cloud stands over them; and in a pillar of cloud you go before them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
If you put this people to death as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say,
‘Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to them, he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’
And now, please let the power of my Lord be great, as you have spoken, saying:
‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, bearing iniquity and transgression; yet he will surely not leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third and on the fourth generation.’
Forgive, please, the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your loyal love, and as you have borne this people from Egypt even until now.”
God’s Forgiveness and Judgment
And the LORD said, “I have forgiven, according to your word.
But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD —
none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice,
shall see the land that I swore to their fathers; all who despise me shall not see it.
But my servant Caleb, because another spirit was with him and he followed me fully — I will bring him into the land where he went, and his seed shall possess it.
Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite live in the valley. Tomorrow, turn and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds.”
And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
“How long shall this evil congregation grumble against me? The grumblings of the sons of Israel, which they grumble against me — I have heard them.
Say to them: As I live, declares the LORD, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you.
In this wilderness your corpses shall fall — all of you who were mustered, by your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, you who have grumbled against me.
Surely you shall not come into the land where I lifted my hand to make you dwell — except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
But your little ones, whom you said would become plunder — them I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.
But you — your corpses shall fall in this wilderness.
And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your faithlessness, until your corpses are finished in the wilderness.
By the number of the days that you spied out the land — forty days, a day for a year, a day for a year — you shall bear your iniquities forty years; and you shall know my opposition.
I the LORD have spoken. Surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who have gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to an end, and there they shall die.”
The Plague on the Ten Spies
And the men whom Moses had sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out an evil report about the land —
those men who brought out the evil report of the land died by the plague before the LORD.
But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh lived, of those men who had gone to spy out the land.
And Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel; and the people mourned greatly.
The Defeat at Hormah
And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Here we are — and we will go up to the place of which the LORD spoke; for we have sinned.”
And Moses said, “Why now are you crossing the mouth of the LORD? It will not succeed.
Do not go up — for the LORD is not in your midst — so that you are not struck down before your enemies.
For the Amalekite and the Canaanite are there before you, and you will fall by the sword; because you have turned back from following the LORD, and the LORD will not be with you.”
But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain; yet the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, did not move from the midst of the camp.
And the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite who lived in that hill country, and struck them and beat them down, as far as Hormah.