¹⁸ And see what the land is and whether the people who dwell there are strong or weak, few or many,

¹⁹ And whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they dwell in are camps or strongholds,

²⁵ And they returned from scouting out the land after forty days.

²⁶ They came to Moses and Aaron and to all the Israelite congregation in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, and brought them word, and showed them the land’s fruit.

²⁷ They told Moses, We came to the land to which you sent us; surely it flows with milk and honey. This is its fruit.

²⁸ But the people who dwell there are strong, and the cities are ^[a]fortified and very large; moreover, there we saw the sons of Anak [of great stature and courage].

³⁰ Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and possess it; we are well able to conquer it.

³¹ But his fellow scouts said, We are not able to go up against the people [of Canaan], for they are stronger than we are.

³² So they brought the Israelites an evil report of the land which they had scouted out, saying, The land through which we went to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.

³³ There we saw the Nephilim [or giants], the sons of Anak, who come from the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

14 And all the congregation cried out with a loud voice, and [they] wept that night.

² All the Israelites grumbled and deplored their situation, accusing Moses and Aaron, to whom the whole congregation said, Would that we had died in Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness!

³ Why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will be a prey. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?^(A)

⁴ And they said one to another, Let us choose a captain and return to Egypt.

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of Israelites.

⁶ And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among the scouts who had searched the land, rent their clothes,

⁷ And they said to all the company of Israelites, The land through which we passed as scouts is an exceedingly good land.

⁸ If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁹ Only do not rebel against the Lord, neither fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their defense and the shadow [of protection] is removed from over them, but the Lord is with us. Fear them not.

¹⁰ But all the congregation said to stone [Joshua and Caleb] with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting before all the Israelites.

¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, How long will this people provoke (spurn, despise) Me? And how long will it be before they believe Me [trusting in, relying on, clinging to Me], for all the signs which I have performed among them?

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

²² Because all those men who have seen My glory and My [miraculous] signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tested and proved Me these ten times and have not heeded My voice,

²³ Surely they shall not see the land which I swore to give to their fathers; nor shall any who provoked (spurned, despised) Me see it.^(B)

²⁴ But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

²⁵ Now because the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.

³⁶ And the men whom Moses sent to search the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble and complain against him by bringing back a slanderous report of the land,

³⁷ Even those men who brought the evil report of the land died by a plague before the Lord.^(A)

³⁸ But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among the men who went to search the land, lived still.