The People Rebel

14 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people ^(A)wept that night. ² And all the people of Israel ^(B)grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or ^(C)would that we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? ^(D)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, ^(E)“Let us choose a leader and ^(F)go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then ^(G)Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. ^6 (H)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, ^(I)“The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If ^(J)the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, ^(K)a land that flows with milk and honey. ⁹ Only ^(L)do not rebel against the Lord. And ^(M)do not fear the people of the land, for ^(N)they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” ^10 (O)Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But ^(P)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 ^(Q)despise me? And how long will they not ^(R)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 ^(S)will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for the People

¹³ But ^(T)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. ^(U)They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and ^(V)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 ^(W)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 (X)‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, ^(Y)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ Please ^(Z)pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just ^(AA)as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

God Promises Judgment

²⁰ Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, ^(AB)according to your word. ²¹ But truly, as I live, and as all ^(AC)the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, ^22 (AD)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 ^(AE)ten times and have not obeyed my voice, ^23 (AF)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 ^(AG)Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has ^(AH)followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. ^25 (AI)Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, ^(AJ)turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

²⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²⁷ “How long shall ^(AK)this wicked congregation grumble against me? ^(AL)I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. ²⁸ Say to them, ^(AM)‘As I live, declares the Lord, ^(AN)what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: ^29 (AO)your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and ^(AP)of all your number, listed in the census ^(AQ)from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, ³⁰ not one shall come into the land where I ^(AR)swore that I would make you dwell, ^(AS)except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. ^31 (AT)But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that ^(AU)you have rejected. ³² But as for you, ^(AV)your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. ³³ And your children ^(AW)shall be shepherds in the wilderness ^(AX)forty years and shall ^(AY)suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. ^34 (AZ)According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, ^(BA)forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ ^35 (BB)I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all ^(BC)this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

^36 (BD)And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— ³⁷ the men who brought up a bad report of the land—^(BE)died by plague before the Lord. ³⁸ Of those men who went to spy out the land, ^(BF)only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

Israel Defeated in Battle

³⁹ When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people ^(BG)mourned greatly. ⁴⁰ And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, ^(BH)“Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” ^41 (BI)But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? ^42 (BJ)Do not go up, ^(BK)for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. ⁴³ For there ^(BL)the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” ^44 (BM)But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither ^(BN)the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. ⁴⁵ Then ^(BO)the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to ^(BP)Hormah.

The Death of Miriam

20 And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came ^(A)into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. And ^(B)Miriam died there and was buried there.

The Waters of Meribah

^2 (C)Now there was no water for the congregation. ^(D)And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. ³ And the people ^(E)quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished ^(F)when our brothers perished before the Lord! ⁴ Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? ⁵ And ^(G)why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” ⁶ Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and ^(H)fell on their faces. ^(I)And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, ⁷ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^8 (J)“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So ^(K)you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” ⁹ And Moses took the staff ^(L)from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

Moses Strikes the Rock

¹⁰ Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, ^(M)“Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, ^(N)and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. ¹² And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^(O)you did not believe in me, ^(P)to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” ^13 (Q)These are the waters of Meribah,^[a] where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.

Edom Refuses Passage

^14 (R)Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to ^(S)the king of Edom: “Thus says ^(T)your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: ^15 (U)how our fathers went down to Egypt, ^(V)and we lived in Egypt a long time. ^(W)And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. ¹⁶ And ^(X)when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and ^(Y)sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. ^17 (Z)Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, ^(AA)or drink water from a well. We will go along the King's Highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” ¹⁸ But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you.” ¹⁹ And the people of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, ^(AB)and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, ^(AC)then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.” ²⁰ But he said, ^(AD)“You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force. ²¹ Thus Edom ^(AE)refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel ^(AF)turned away from him.

The Death of Aaron

²² And they journeyed from ^(AG)Kadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to ^(AH)Mount Hor. ²³ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, ^24 (AI)“Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because ^(AJ)you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. ²⁶ And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron ^(AK)shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” ²⁷ Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ^28 (AL)And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there ^(AM)on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, ^(AN)all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.