Numbers

Israel’s Rebellion

1Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept.

2All 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!

3Why 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?”

4So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

5Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel.

6Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes

7and said to the whole congregation of Israel, “The land we passed through and explored is an exceedingly good land.

8If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us.

9Only 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!”

10But the whole congregation threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting.

11And 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?

12I will strike them with a plague and destroy them—and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.”

Moses Intercedes for Israel

13But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people from among them.

14And 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.

15If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say,

16‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

17So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared:

18‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion,forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’

19Pardon, 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.”

God’s Forgiveness and Judgment

20“I have pardoned them as you requested,” the LORD replied.

21“Yet as surely as I live and as surely as the whole earth is filled with the glory of the LORD,

22not 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—

23not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it.

24But 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.

25Now 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.”

26Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

27“How long will this wicked congregation grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints that the Israelites are making against Me.

28So tell them: As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you exactly as I heard you say.

29Your 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.

30Surely none of you will enter the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

31But I will bring your children, whom you said would become plunder, into the land you have rejected—and they will enjoy it.

32As for you, however, your bodies will fall in this wilderness.

33Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.

34In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.

35I, 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.”

The Plague on the Ten Spies

36So the men Moses had sent to spy out the land, who had returned and made the whole congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report about the land—

37those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD.

38Of those men who had gone to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive.

39And when Moses relayed these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly.

The Defeat at Hormah

40Early 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.”

41But Moses said, “Why are you transgressing the commandment of the LORD? This will not succeed!

42Do not go up, lest you be struck down by your enemies, because the LORD is not among you.

43For 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.”

44But 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.

45Then 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.

1Wherefore the whole multitude crying wept that night.

2And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying:

3Would God that we had died in Egypt and would God we may die in this vast wilderness, and that the Lord may not bring us into this land, lest we fall by the sword, and our wives and children be led away captives. Is it not better to return into Egypt?

4And they said one to another: Let us appoint a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

5And when Moses and Aaron heard this, they fell down flat upon the ground before the multitude of the children of Israel.

6But Josue the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephone, who themselves also had viewed the land, rent their garments,

7And said to all the multitude of the children of Israel: The land which we have gone round is very good:

8If the Lord be favourable, he will bring us into it, and give us a land flowing with milk and honey.

9Be not rebellious against the Lord: and fear ye not the people of this land, for we are able to eat them up as bread. All aid is gone from them: the Lord is with us, fear ye not.

10And when all the multitude cried out, and would have stoned them, the glory of the Lord appeared over the tabernacle of the covenant to all the children of Israel.

11And the Lord said to Moses: How long will this people detract me? how long will they not believe me for all the signs that I have wrought before them?

12I will strike them therefore with pestilence, and will consume them: but thee I will make a ruler over a great nation, and a mightier than this is.

13And Moses said to the Lord: That the Egyptians, from the midst of whom thou hast brought forth this people,

14And the inhabitants of this land, (who have heard that thou, O Lord, art among this people, and art seen face to face, and thy cloud protecteth them, and thou goest before them in a pillar of a cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night,)

15May hear that thou hast killed so great a multitude as it were one man and may say:

16He could not bring the people into the land for which he had sworn, therefore did he kill them in the wilderness.

17Let their the strength of the Lord be magnified, as thou hast sworn, saying:

18The Lord is patient and full of mercy, taking away iniquity and wickedness, and leaving no man clear, who visitest the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

19Forgive, I beseech thee, the sins of this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast been merciful to them from their going out of Egypt unto this place.

20And the Lord said: I have forgiven according to thy word.

21As I live: and the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

22But yet all the men that have seen my majesty, and the signs that I have done in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now ten times, and have not obeyed my voice,

23Shall not see the land for which I aware to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that hath detracted me behold it.

24My servant Caleb, who being full of another spirit hath followed me, I will bring into this land which he hath gone round: and his seed shall possess it.

25For the Amalecite and the Chanaanite dwell in the valleys. Tomorrow remove the camp, and return into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

26And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

27How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel.

28Say therefore to them: As I live, saith the Lord: According as you have spoken in my hearing, so will I do to you.

29In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against me,

30Shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my bend to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun.

31But your children, of whom you said, that they should be a prey to the enemies, will I bring in: that they may see the land which you have despised.

32Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness.

33Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed ill the desert,

34According to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land: year shall be counted for a day. And forty years you shall receive your iniquities, and shall know my revenge:

35For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against me: in this wilderness shall it faint away and die.

36Therefore all the men, whom Moses had sent to view the land, and who at their return had made the whole multitude to murmur against him, speaking ill of the land that it was naught,

37Died and were struck in the sight of the Lord.

38But Josue. the son of Nun. and Caleb the son of Jephone lived, of all them that had gone to view the land.

39And Moses spoke all these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned exceedingly.

40And behold rising up very early in the morning, they went up to the top of the mountain, and said: We are ready to go up to the place, of which the Lord hath spoken: for we have sinned.

41And Moses said to them: Why transgress you the word of the Lord, which shall not succeed prosperously with you?

42Go not up, for the Lord is not with you: lest you fall before your enemies.

43The Amalecite and the Chanaanite are before you, and by their sword you shall fall, because you would not consent to the Lord, neither will the Lord be with you.

44But they being blinded went up to the top of the mountain. But the ark of the testament of the Lord and Moses departed not from the camp.

45And the Amalecite came down, and the Chanaanite that dwelt in the mountain: and smiting and slaying them pursued them as far as Horma.