^31 (A)Then 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 are.” ³² So ^(B)they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and ^(C)all the people that we saw in it are of great height. ³³ And there we saw the ^(D)Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the ^(E)Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves ^(F)like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

The People Rebel

14 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people ^(G)wept that night. ² And all the people of Israel ^(H)grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or ^(I)would that we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? ^(J)Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to one another, ^(K)“Let us choose a leader and ^(L)go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then ^(M)Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. ^6 (N)And 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 said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, ^(O)“The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If ^(P)the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, ^(Q)a land that flows with milk and honey. ⁹ Only ^(R)do not rebel against the Lord. And ^(S)do not fear the people of the land, for ^(T)they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” ^10 (U)Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But ^(V)the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people ^(W)despise me? And how long will they not ^(X)believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? ¹² I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I ^(Y)will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for the People

¹³ But ^(Z)Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, ¹⁴ and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. ^(AA)They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and ^(AB)your cloud stands over 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 this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, ¹⁶ ‘It is because the Lord ^(AC)was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ^18 (AD)‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, ^(AE)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ Please ^(AF)pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just ^(AG)as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

God Promises Judgment

²⁰ Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, ^(AH)according to your word. ²¹ But truly, as I live, and as all ^(AI)the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, ^22 (AJ)none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ^(AK)ten times and have not obeyed my voice, ^23 (AL)shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. ²⁴ But my servant ^(AM)Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has ^(AN)followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. ^25 (AO)Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, ^(AP)turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

No One Is Righteous

⁹ What then? Are we Jews^[a] any better off?^[b] No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both ^(A)Jews and ^(B)Greeks, are ^(C)under sin, ¹⁰ as it is written:

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever ^(L)the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, ^(M)so that every mouth may be stopped, and ^(N)the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰ For ^(O)by works of the law no human being^[c] will be justified in his sight, since ^(P)through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Teaching About Divorce

19 Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from ^(A)Galilee and ^(B)entered ^(C)the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. ² And ^(D)large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

³ And Pharisees came up to him and ^(E)tested him by asking, ^(F)“Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” ⁴ He answered, ^(G)“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, ^(H)‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and ^(I)the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So they are no longer two but one flesh. ^(J)What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” ⁷ They said to him, ^(K)“Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” ⁸ He said to them, “Because of your ^(L)hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ^9 (M)And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”^[a]

¹⁰ The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” ¹¹ But he said to them, ^(N)“Not everyone can receive this saying, but only ^(O)those to ^(P)whom it is given. ¹² For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs ^(Q)for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”