¹⁰ The Lord’s anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying,^(A)

¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?^(A)

¹² Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. ¹⁵ As it is said,

¹⁶ Now who were they who heard and rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses?^{(B) 17} And with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?^{(C) 18} And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient?^{(D) 19} So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.^(E)

¹⁵ Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands,^(A)

The Penalty for Israel’s Rebellion

³⁴ “When the Lord heard your words, he was wrathful and swore,^{(A) 35} ‘Not one of these—not one of this evil generation—shall see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors, ³⁶ except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his descendants I will give the land on which he set foot, because of his complete fidelity to the Lord.’ ³⁷ Even with me the Lord was angry on your account, saying, ‘You also shall not enter there.^{(B) 38} Joshua son of Nun, your assistant, shall enter there; encourage him, for he is the one who will secure Israel’s possession of it.^{(C) 39} And as for your little ones who you thought would become plunder, your children who today do not yet know right from wrong, they shall enter there; to them I will give it, and they shall take possession of it.^{(D) 40} But as for you, journey back into the wilderness, in the direction of the Red Sea.’^[a](E)

²⁹ your dead bodies shall fall in this very wilderness, and of all your number included in the census from twenty years old and up who have complained against me,^(A)

²³ shall see the land that I swore to give to their ancestors; none of those who despised me shall see it.

²¹ nevertheless, as I live and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord,^(A)