Numbers 14:11-25

English Standard Version

¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people ^(A)despise me? And how long will they not ^(B)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 ^(C)will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for the People

¹³ But ^(D)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. ^(E)They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and ^(F)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 ^(G)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 (H)‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, ^(I)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ Please ^(J)pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just ^(K)as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

God Promises Judgment

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