¹⁴ Thirty-eight years^(A) passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea^(B) until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation^(C) of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.^(D)

⁶⁴ Not one of them was among those counted^(A) by Moses and Aaron^(B) the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai. ⁶⁵ For the Lord had told those Israelites they would surely die in the wilderness,^(C) and not one of them was left except Caleb^(D) son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.^(E)

²⁸ So tell them, ‘As surely as I live,^(A) declares the Lord, I will do to you^(B) the very thing I heard you say: ²⁹ In this wilderness your bodies will fall^(C)—every one of you twenty years old or more^(D) who was counted in the census^(E) and who has grumbled against me. ³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land^(F) I swore with uplifted hand^(G) to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh^(H) and Joshua son of Nun.^{(I) 31} As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.^{(J) 32} But as for you, your bodies will fall^(K) in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be shepherds here for forty years,^(L) suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. ³⁴ For forty years^(M)—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land^(N)—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ ³⁵ I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things^(O) to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.^(P)”

¹⁵ Also with uplifted hand I swore^(A) to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands^(B)—

³⁴ When the Lord heard^(A) what you said, he was angry^(B) and solemnly swore:^{(C) 35} “No one from this evil generation shall see the good land^(D) I swore to give your ancestors,

¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.^{(F) 13} But encourage one another daily,^(G) as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.^{(H) 14} We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold^(I) our original conviction firmly to the very end.^{(J) 15} As has just been said:

¹⁶ Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?^{(L) 17} And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness?^{(M) 18} And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest^(N) if not to those who disobeyed?^{(O) 19} So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.^(P)

Spies Sent Out

¹⁹ Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites^(A) through all that vast and dreadful wilderness^(B) that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.^(C)