Israel’s Rebellion

1And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried; and the people wept all that night. 2And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron; and all the congregation said to them, 3Would we had died in the land of Egypt! or in this wilderness, would we had died! and why does the Lord bring us into this land to fall in war? our wives and our children shall be for a prey: now then it is better to return into Egypt. 4And they said one to another, Let us make a ruler, and return into Egypt.

5And Moses and Aaron fell upon their face before all the congregation of the children of Israel. 6But Joshua the son of Naue, and Chaleb the son of Jephonne, of the number of them that spied out the land, rent their garments, 7and spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we surveyed is indeed extremely good. 8If the Lord choose us, he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which flows with milk and honey. 9Only depart not from the Lord; and fear ye not the people of the land, for they are meat for us; for the season of prosperity is departed from them, but the Lord is among us: fear them not. 10And all the congregation bade stone them with stones; and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud on the tabernacle of witness to all the children of Israel.

11And the Lord said to Moses, How long does this people provoke me? and how long do they refuse to believe me for all the signs which I have wrought among them? 12I will smite them with death, and destroy them; and I will make of thee and of thy father's house a great nation, and much greater than this.

Moses Intercedes for Israel

13And Moses said to the Lord, So Egypt shall hear, for thou hast brought up this people from them by thy might. 14Moreover all the dwellers upon this land have heard that thou art Lord in the midst of this people, who, O Lord, art seen by them face to face, and thy cloud rests upon them, and thou goest before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire. 15And if thou shalt destroy this nation as one man; then all the nations that have heard thy name shall speak, saying, 16Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which he sware to them, he has overthrown them in the wilderness. 17And now, O Lord, let thy strength be exalted, as thou spakest, saying, 18The Lord is long-suffering and merciful, and true, removing transgressions and iniquities and sins, and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. 19Forgive this people their sin according to thy great mercy, as thou wast favourable to them from Egypt until now.

God’s Forgiveness and Judgment

20And the Lord said to Moses, I am gracious to them according to thy word. 21But as I live and my name is living, so the glory of the Lord shall fill all the earth. 22For all the men who see my glory, and the signs which I wrought in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and have tempted me this tenth time, and have not hearkened to my voice, 23surely they shall not see the land, which I sware to their fathers; but their children which are with me here, as many as know not good or evil, every inexperienced youth, to them will I give the land; but none who have provoked me shall see it. 24But my servant Chaleb, because there was another spirit in him, and he followed me, I will bring him into the land into which he entered, and his seed shall inherit it. 25But Amalec and the Chananite dwell in the valley: to-morrow turn and depart for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

26And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 27How long shall I endure this wicked congregation? I have heard their murmurings against me, even the murmuring of the children of Israel, which they have murmured concerning you. 28Say to them, As I live, saith the Lord: surely as ye spoke into my ears, so will I do to you. 29Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all those of you that were reviewed, and those of you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, all that murmured against me, 30ye shall not enter into the land for which I stretched out my hand to establish you upon it; except only Chaleb the son of Jephonne, and Joshua the son of Naue. 31And your little ones, who ye said should be a prey, them will I bring into the land; and they shall inherit the land, which ye rejected. 32And your carcases shall fall in this wilderness. 33And your sons shall be fed in the wilderness forty years, and they shall bear your fornication, until your carcases be consumed in the wilderness. 34According to the number of the days during which ye spied the land, forty days, a day for a year, ye shall bear your sins forty years, and ye shall know my fierce anger. 35I the Lord have spoken, Surely will I do thus to this evil congregation that has risen up together against me: in this wilderness they shall be utterly consumed, and there they shall die.

The Plague on the Ten Spies

36And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, and who came and murmured against it to the assembly so as to bring out evil words concerning the land, - 37the men that spoke evil reports against the land, even died of the plague before the Lord. 38And Joshua the son of Naue and Chaleb the son of Jephonne still lived of those men that went to spy out the land.

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

The Defeat at Hormah

40And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, Behold, we that are here will go up to the place of which the Lord has spoken, because we have sinned. 41And Moses said, Why do ye transgress the word of the Lord? ye shall not prosper. 42Go not up, for the Lord is not with you; so shall ye fall before the face of your enemies. 43For Amalec and the Chananite are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword; because ye have disobeyed the Lord and turned aside, and the Lord will not be among you. 44And having forced their passage, they went up to the top of the mountain; but the ark of the covenant of the Lord and Moses stirred not out of the camp. 45And Amalec and the Chananite that dwelt in that mountain came down, and routed them, and destroyed them unto Herman; and they returned to the camp.