141 Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried , and the people wept that night . 2 All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron ; and the whole congregation said to them, " Would that we had died in the land of Egypt ! Or would that we had died in this wilderness ! 3 "Why is the Lord bringing 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 ?" 4 So they said to one another , " Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt ."
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel . 6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh , of those who had spied out the land , tore their clothes ; 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel , saying , " The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land . 8 " If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us- a land which flows with milk and honey . 9 "Only do not rebel against the Lord ; and do not fear the people of the land , for they will be our prey . Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them." 10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones . Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel .
11 The Lord said to Moses , "How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst ? 12 "I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they." 13 But Moses said to the Lord , "Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst , 14 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 , for You, O Lord , are seen eye to eye , while 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 . 15 "Now if You slay this people as one man , then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say , 16 'Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath , therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness .' 17 "But now , I pray , let the power of the Lord be great , just as You have declared e , 18 ' The Lord 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 on the children to the third and the fourth generations.' 19 " Pardon , I pray , the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness , just as You also have forgiven this people , from Egypt even until now ."
20 So the Lord said , " I have pardoned them according to your word ; 21 but indeed , as I live , all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord . 22 "Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness , yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice , 23 shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers , nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. 24 "But My servant Caleb , because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully , I will bring into the land which he entered , and his descendants shall take possession of it. 25 " Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys ; turn tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the Red e Sea ." 26 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron , saying , 27 "How long e shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel , which they are making against Me. 28 "Say to them, ' As I live ,' says the Lord , 'just as you have spoken in My hearing , so I will surely do to you; 29 your corpses will fall in this wilderness , even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward , who have grumbled against Me. 30 'Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore e to settle you, except e Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun . 31 ' Your children , however, whom you said would become a prey -I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected . 32 ' But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness . 33 'Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness , and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness , until your corpses lie in the wilderness . 34 'According to the number of days which you spied out the land , forty days , for every day you shall bear your guilt a year , even forty years , and you will know My opposition . 35 ' I, the Lord , have spoken , surely e this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed , and there they will die .' "
36 As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land , 37 even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord . 38 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land .
39 When Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel , the people mourned greatly . 40 In the morning , however, they rose up early and went up to the ridge of the hill country , saying , " Here we are; we have indeed sinned , but we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised ." 41 But Moses said , " Why then are you transgressing the commandment of the Lord , when it will not succeed ? 42 " Do not go up, or you will be struck down before your enemies , for the Lord is not among you. 43 "For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword , inasmuch e e as you have turned back from following the Lord . And the Lord will not be with you." 44 But they went up heedlessly to the ridge of the hill country ; neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp . 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down , and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah .
