| New International Version | NET Bible |
| 1That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. | 1Then all the community raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. |
| 2All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! | 2And all the Israelites murmured 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 perished in this wilderness! |
| 3Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?" | 3Why has the LORD brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?" |
| 4And they said to each other, "We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt." | 4So they said to one another, "Let's appoint a leader and return to Egypt." |
| 5Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. | 5Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground before the whole assembled community of the Israelites. |
| 6Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes | 6And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of those who had investigated the land, tore their garments. |
| 7and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. | 7They said to the whole community of the Israelites, "The land we passed through to investigate is an exceedingly good land. |
| 8If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. | 8If the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us--a land that is flowing with milk and honey. |
| 9Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them." | 9Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection has turned aside from them, but the LORD is with us. Do not fear them!" |
| 10But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. | 10However, the whole community threatened to stone them. But the glory of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting. |
| 11The LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? | 11The LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me, and how long will they not believe in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them? |
| 12I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they." | 12I will strike them with the pestilence, and I will disinherit them; I will make you into a nation that is greater and mightier than they!" |
| 13Moses said to the LORD, "Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them. | 13Moses said to the LORD, "When the Egyptians hear it--for you brought up this people by your power from among them-- |
| 14And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, LORD, are with these people and that you, LORD, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. | 14then they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, LORD, are among this people, that you, LORD, are seen face to face, that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night. |
| 15If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, | 15If you kill this entire people at once, then the nations that have heard of your fame will say, |
| 16The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.' | 16Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to them, he killed them in the wilderness.' |
| 17"Now may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as you have declared: | 17So now, let the power of my Lord be great, just as you have said, |
| 18The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.' | 18The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.' |
| 19In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now." | 19Please forgive the iniquity of this people according to your great loyal love, just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now." |
| 20The LORD replied, "I have forgiven them, as you asked. | 20Then the LORD said, "I have forgiven them as you asked. |
| 21Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, | 21But truly, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD. |
| 22not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times-- | 22For all the people have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tempted me now these ten times, and have not obeyed me, |
| 23not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. | 23they will by no means see the land that I swore to their fathers, nor will any of them who despised me see it. |
| 24But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. | 24Only my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit and has followed me fully--I will bring him into the land where he had gone, and his descendants will possess it. |
| 25Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea." | 25(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys.) Tomorrow, turn and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea." |
| 26The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: | 26The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron: |
| 27"How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. | 27"How long must I bear with this evil congregation that murmurs against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites that they murmured against me. |
| 28So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: | 28Say to them, 'As I live, says the LORD, I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing. |
| 29In this wilderness your bodies will fall--every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. | 29Your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness--all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me. |
| 30Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. | 30You will by no means enter into the land where I swore to settle you. The only exceptions are Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. |
| 31As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. | 31But I will bring in your little ones, whom you said would become victims of war, and they will enjoy the land that you have despised. |
| 32But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. | 32But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, |
| 33Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. | 33and your children will wander in the wilderness forty years and suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your dead bodies lie finished in the wilderness. |
| 34For forty years--one year for each of the forty days you explored the land--you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.' | 34According to the number of the days you have investigated this land, forty days--one day for a year--you will suffer for your iniquities, forty years, and you will know what it means to thwart me. |
| 35I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die." | 35I, the LORD, have said, "I will surely do so to all this evil congregation that has gathered together against me. In this wilderness they will be finished, and there they will die!"'" |
| 36So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it-- | 36The men whom Moses sent to investigate the land, who returned and made the whole community murmur against him by producing an evil report about the land, |
| 37these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD. | 37those men who produced the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the LORD. |
| 38Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived. | 38But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among the men who went to investigate the land, lived. |
| 39When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. | 39When Moses told these things to all the Israelites, the people mourned greatly. |
| 40Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, "Now we are ready to go up to the land the LORD promised. Surely we have sinned!" | 40And early in the morning they went up to the crest of the hill country, saying, "Here we are, and we will go up to the place that the LORD commanded, for we have sinned." |
| 41But Moses said, "Why are you disobeying the LORD's command? This will not succeed! | 41But Moses said, "Why are you now transgressing the commandment of the LORD? It will not succeed! |
| 42Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, | 42Do not go up, for the LORD is not among you, and you will be defeated before your enemies. |
| 43for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword." | 43For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned away from the LORD, the LORD will not be with you." |
| 44Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD's covenant moved from the camp. | 44But they dared to go up to the crest of the hill, although neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses departed from the camp. |
| 45Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah. | 45So the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country swooped down and attacked them as far as Hormah. |
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