²⁵ And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.

²⁶ Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at ^(A)Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly ^[a]flows with ^(B)milk and honey, ^(C)and this is its fruit. ²⁸ Nevertheless the ^(D)people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of ^(E)Anak there. ^29 (F)The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”

³⁰ Then ^(G)Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

^31 (H)But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” ³² And they ^(I)gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and ^(J)all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. ³³ There we saw the ^[b]giants (^(K)the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were ^(L)like^[c] grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were ^(M)in their sight.”

Israel Refuses to Enter Canaan

14 So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people ^(N)wept that night. ^2 (O)And all the children of Israel complained 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! ³ Why has the Lord brought us to this land to ^[d]fall by the sword, that our wives and ^(P)children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to one another, ^(Q)“Let us select a leader and ^(R)return to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron ^[e]fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

⁶ But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; ⁷ and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: ^(S)“The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If the Lord ^(T)delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ^(U)‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ ⁹ Only ^(V)do not rebel against the Lord, ^(W)nor fear the people of the land, for ^(X)they^[f] are our bread; their protection has departed from them, ^(Y)and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”

^10 (Z)And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now ^(AA)the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel.

Moses Intercedes for the People

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people ^(AB)reject^[g] Me? And how long will they not ^(AC)believe Me, with all the ^[h]signs which I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will ^(AD)make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

¹³ And ^(AE)Moses said to the Lord: ^(AF)“Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them, ¹⁴ and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have ^(AG)heard that You, Lord, are among these people; that You, Lord, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above 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 kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying, ¹⁶ ‘Because the Lord was not ^(AH)able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ And now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, ^18 (AI)‘The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, ^(AJ)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’ ^19 (AK)Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, ^(AL)according to the greatness of Your mercy, just ^(AM)as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

²⁰ Then the Lord said: “I have pardoned, ^(AN)according to your word; ²¹ but truly, as I live, ^(AO)all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord— ^22 (AP)because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now ^(AQ)these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, ²³ they certainly shall not ^(AR)see the land of which I ^[i]swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. ²⁴ But My servant ^(AS)Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and ^(AT)has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. ²⁵ Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley; tomorrow turn and ^(AU)move out into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.”