The People Complain

11 And ^(A)the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, ^(B)his anger was kindled, and ^(C)the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.

²⁸ Say to them, ^(A)‘As I live, declares the Lord, ^(B)what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: ^29 (C)your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and ^(D)of all your number, listed in the census ^(E)from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, ³⁰ not one shall come into the land where I ^(F)swore that I would make you dwell, ^(G)except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. ^31 (H)But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that ^(I)you have rejected. ³² But as for you, ^(J)your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. ³³ And your children ^(K)shall be shepherds in the wilderness ^(L)forty years and shall ^(M)suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. ^34 (N)According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, ^(O)forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ ^35 (P)I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all ^(Q)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 (R)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—^(S)died by plague before the Lord. ³⁸ Of those men who went to spy out the land, ^(T)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 ^(U)mourned greatly. ⁴⁰ And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, ^(V)“Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” ^41 (W)But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? ^42 (X)Do not go up, ^(Y)for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. ⁴³ For there ^(Z)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 (AA)But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither ^(AB)the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. ⁴⁵ Then ^(AC)the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to ^(AD)Hormah.

^31 (A)And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. ³² And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and ^(B)all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. ³³ So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and ^(C)they perished from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴ And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” ³⁵ And ^(D)fire came out from the Lord and consumed ^(E)the 250 men offering the incense.

⁴⁷ So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ And he stood between the dead and the living, and ^(A)the plague was stopped. ⁴⁹ Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, ^(B)besides those who died in the affair of Korah.