Rebellion Against the Lord

²⁶ But you were unwilling to go up;^(A) you rebelled^(B) against the command of the Lord your God. ²⁷ You grumbled^(C) in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. ²⁸ Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller^(D) than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites^(E) there.’”

²⁹ Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid^(F) of them.^{(G) 30} The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight^(H) for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, ³¹ and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried^(I) you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”^(J)

³² In spite of this,^(K) you did not trust^(L) in the Lord your God, ³³ who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day,^(M) to search^(N) out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

³⁴ When the Lord heard^(O) what you said, he was angry^(P) and solemnly swore:^{(Q) 35} “No one from this evil generation shall see the good land^(R) I swore to give your ancestors, ³⁶ except Caleb^(S) son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.^(T)”

³⁷ Because of you the Lord became angry^(U) with me also and said, “You shall not enter^(V) it, either. ³⁸ But your assistant, Joshua^(W) son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage^(X) him, because he will lead^(Y) Israel to inherit^(Z) it. ³⁹ And the little ones that you said would be taken captive,^(AA) your children who do not yet know^(AB) good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. ⁴⁰ But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.^[a](AC)”

⁴¹ Then you replied, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.

⁴² But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’”^(AD)

⁴³ So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country. ⁴⁴ The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees^(AE) and beat you down from Seir^(AF) all the way to Hormah.^{(AG) 45} You came back and wept before the Lord,^(AH) but he paid no attention^(AI) to your weeping and turned a deaf ear^(AJ) to you. ⁴⁶ And so you stayed in Kadesh^(AK) many days—all the time you spent there.

Wanderings in the Wilderness

2 Then we turned back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea,^[a](A) as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.^(B)

² Then the Lord said to me, ³ “You have made your way around this hill country long enough;^(C) now turn north.