Numbers, 14
1. At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries, and even in the night the people wailed.
1. The whole community then cried out in dismay, and the people wept all that night.
2. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, the whole community saying to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that here in the desert we were dead!
2. All the Israelites muttered at Moses and Aaron, and the whole community said to them, 'Would to God we had died in Egypt, or even that we had died in this desert!
3. Why is the LORD bringing us into this land only to have us fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will be taken as booty. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?"
3. Why has Yahweh brought us to this country, for us to perish by the sword and our wives and children to be seized as booty? Should we not do better to go back to Egypt?'
4. So they said to one another, "Let us appoint a leader and go back to Egypt."
4. And they said to one another, 'Let us appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.'
5. But Moses and Aaron fell prostrate before the whole assembled community of the Israelites;
5. At this, Moses and Aaron threw themselves on their faces in front of the whole assembled community of Israelites,
6. while Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, who had been in the party that scouted the land, tore their garments
6. while Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of the men who had reconnoitred the country, tore their clothes
7. and said to the whole community of the Israelites, "The country which we went through and explored is a fine, rich land.
7. and addressed the whole community of Israelites as follows, 'The country we went to reconnoitre is a good country, an excellent country.
8. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us in and give us that land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
8. If Yahweh is pleased with us, he will lead us into this country and give it to us. It is a country flowing with milk and honey.
9. But do not rebel against the LORD! You need not be afraid of the people of that land; they are but food for us! Their defense has left them, but the LORD is with us. Therefore, do not be afraid of them."
9. But do not rebel against Yahweh or be afraid of the people of the country, for we shall gobble them up. Their protecting shade has deserted them, while we have Yahweh on our side. Do not be afraid of them.'
10. In answer, the whole community threatened to stone them. But then the glory of the LORD appeared at the meeting tent to all the Israelites.
10. The whole community was talking of stoning them, when the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the Israelites, inside the Tent of Meeting,
11. And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people spurn me? How long will they refuse to believe in me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?
11. and Yahweh said to Moses: 'How much longer will these people treat me with contempt? How much longer will they refuse to trust me, in spite of all the signs I have displayed among them?
12. I will strike them with pestilence and wipe them out. Then I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."
12. I shall strike them with pestilence and disown them. And of you I shall make a new nation, greater and mightier than they are.'
13. But Moses said to the LORD: "Are the Egyptians to hear of this? For by your power you brought out this people from among them.
13. Moses said to Yahweh: 'Suppose the Egyptians hear about this -- for by your power you brought these people out of their country-
14. And are they to tell of it to the inhabitants of this land? It has been heard that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people; you, LORD, who plainly reveal yourself! Your cloud stands over them, and you go before them by day in a column of cloud and by night in a column of fire.
14. and tell the people living in this country. They have heard that you, Yahweh, are with this people, and that you, Yahweh, show yourself to them 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.
15. If now you slay this whole people, the nations who have heard such reports of you will say,
15. If you kill this people now as though it were one man, then the nations who have heard about you will say,
16. 'The LORD was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them; that is why he slaughtered them in the desert.'
16. "Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the country which he had sworn to give them, and so he has slaughtered them in the desert."
17. Now then, let the power of my Lord be displayed in its greatness, even as you have said,
17. No, my Lord! Now is the time to assert your power as you promised when you said, earlier,
18. 'The LORD is slow to anger and rich in kindness, forgiving wickedness and crime; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless, but punishing children to the third and fourth generation for their fathers' wickedness.'
18. "Yahweh, slow to anger and rich in faithful love, forgiving faults and transgression, and yet letting nothing go unchecked, punishing the parents' guilt in the children to the third and fourth generation."
19. Pardon, then, the wickedness of this people in keeping with your great kindness, even as you have forgiven them from Egypt until now."
19. In your most faithful love, please forgive this people's guilt, as you have done from Egypt until now.'
20. The LORD answered: "I pardon them as you have asked.
20. Yahweh said, 'I forgive them as you ask.
21. Yet, by my life and the LORD'S glory that fills the whole earth,
21. But -- as I live, and as the glory of Yahweh fills the whole world-
22. of all the men who have seen my glory and the signs I worked in Egypt and in the desert, and who nevertheless have put me to the test ten times already and have failed to heed my voice,
22. of all these people who have seen my glory and the signs that I worked in Egypt and in the desert, who have put me to the test ten times already and not obeyed my voice,
23. not one shall see the land which I promised on oath to their fathers. None of these who have spurned me shall see it.
23. not one shall see the country which I promised to give their ancestors. Not one of those who have treated me contemptuously will see it.
24. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me unreservedly, I will bring him into the land where he has just been, and his descendants shall possess it.
24. However, since my servant Caleb is of another spirit and since he has obeyed me completely, I shall bring him into the country where he has been, and his descendants will own it
25. But now, since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn away tomorrow and set out in the desert on the Red Sea road."
25. (the Amalekites and Canaanites occupy the plain). Tomorrow you will turn about and go back into the desert, in the direction of the Sea of Suph.'
26. The LORD also said to Moses and Aaron:
26. Yahweh then spoke to Moses and Aaron and said:
27. "How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the Israelites against me.
27. 'How much longer am I to endure this perverse community muttering against me? I have heard what the Israelites mutter against me.
28. Tell them: By my life, says the LORD, I will do to you just what I have heard you say.
28. Say to them, "As I live, Yahweh declares, I shall do to you what I have heard you saying.
29. Here in the desert shall your dead bodies fall. Of all your men of twenty years or more, registered in the census, who grumbled against me,
29. In this desert your dead bodies will fall, all you who were counted in the census, from the age of twenty years and over who have muttered against me.
30. not one shall enter the land where I solemnly swore to settle you, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun.
30. I swear none of you will enter the country where I swore most solemnly to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh, and Joshua son of Nun.
31. Your little ones, however, who you said would be taken as booty, I will bring in, and they shall appreciate the land you spurned.
31. Your children, who you said would be seized as booty, will be the ones whom I shall bring in so that they get to know the country you disdained,
32. But as for you, your bodies shall fall here in the desert,
32. but, as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this desert
33. here where your children must wander for forty years, suffering for your faithlessness, till the last of you lies dead in the desert.
33. and your children will be nomads in the desert for forty years, bearing the consequences of your faithlessness, until the last one of you lies dead in the desert.
34. Forty days you spent in scouting the land; forty years shall you suffer for your crimes: one year for each day. Thus you will realize what it means to oppose me.
34. For forty days you reconnoitred the country. Each day will count as a year: for forty years you will bear the consequences of your guilt and learn what it means to reject me."
35. I, the LORD, have sworn to do this to all this wicked community that conspired against me: here in the desert they shall die to the last man."
35. I, Yahweh, have spoken: this is how I swear to treat this entire perverse community united against me. In this desert, to the last man, they shall die.'
36. And so it happened to the men whom Moses had sent to reconnoiter the land and who on returning had set the whole community grumbling against him by spreading discouraging reports about the land;
36. The men whom Moses had sent to reconnoitre the country and who on their return had incited the whole community of Israel to mutter about him by disparaging it,
37. these men who had given out the bad report about the land were struck down by the LORD and died.
37. these men who had disparaged the country were all struck dead before Yahweh.
38. Of all the men who had gone to reconnoiter the land, only Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, survived.
38. Of the men who had gone to reconnoitre the country, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh were left alive.
39. When Moses repeated these words to all the Israelites, the people felt great remorse.
39. When Moses told all the Israelites what had been said, the people set up a great outcry.
40. Early the next morning they started up into the foothills, saying, "Here we are, ready to go up to the place that the LORD spoke of: for we were indeed doing wrong."
40. Early next morning they set out for the heights of the hill country saying, 'Look, we will set out for the place about which Yahweh said that we have sinned.'
41. But Moses said, "Why are you again disobeying the LORD'S orders? This cannot succeed.
41. To which, Moses said, 'Why disobey Yahweh's order? No success will come of doing so.
42. Do not go up, because the LORD is not in your midst; if you go, you will be beaten down before your enemies.
42. Do not go, for Yahweh is not among you, and you will be defeated by your enemies.
43. For there the Amalekites and Canaanites face you, and you will fall by the sword. You have turned back from following the LORD; therefore the LORD will not be with you."
43. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are ahead of you, and you will be put to the sword, since you have turned away from Yahweh, and Yahweh is not with you.'
44. Yet they dared to go up into the foothills, even though neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses left the camp.
44. All the same, they presumptuously set off for the heights of the hill country. Neither the ark of the covenant of Yahweh nor Moses left the camp.
45. And the Amalekites and Canaanites who dwelt in that hill country came down and defeated them, beating them back as far as Hormah.
45. The Amalekites and Canaanites living in those highlands then came down, defeated them and harried them all the way to Hormah.
