Spies Sent into Canaan^(A)

13 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2 (B)“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

³ So Moses sent them ^(C)from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

²¹ So they went up and spied out the land ^(A)from the Wilderness of Zin as far as ^(B)Rehob, near the entrance of ^(C)Hamath.

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

²⁶ Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at ^(A)Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly ^[a]flows with ^(B)milk and honey, ^(C)and this is its fruit. ²⁸ Nevertheless the ^(D)people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of ^(E)Anak there. ^29 (F)The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”

³⁰ Then ^(G)Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

^31 (H)But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” ³² And they ^(I)gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and ^(J)all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. ³³ There we saw the ^[b]giants (^(K)the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were ^(L)like^[c] grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were ^(M)in their sight.”

⁶ But 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 they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: ^(A)“The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If the Lord ^(B)delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ^(C)‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ ⁹ Only ^(D)do not rebel against the Lord, ^(E)nor fear the people of the land, for ^(F)they^[a] are our bread; their protection has departed from them, ^(G)and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”

^10 (H)And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now ^(I)the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel.

Moses Intercedes for the People

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people ^(J)reject^[b] Me? And how long will they not ^(K)believe Me, with all the ^[c]signs which I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will ^(L)make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

¹³ And ^(M)Moses said to the Lord: ^(N)“Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them, ¹⁴ and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have ^(O)heard that You, Lord, are among these people; that You, Lord, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above 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 these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying, ¹⁶ ‘Because the Lord was not ^(P)able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ And now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, ^18 (Q)‘The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, ^(R)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’ ^19 (S)Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, ^(T)according to the greatness of Your mercy, just ^(U)as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

²⁰ Then the Lord said: “I have pardoned, ^(V)according to your word; ²¹ but truly, as I live, ^(W)all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord— ^22 (X)because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now ^(Y)these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, ²³ they certainly shall not ^(Z)see the land of which I ^[d]swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. ²⁴ But My servant ^(AA)Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and ^(AB)has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.

²⁸ Say to them, ^(A)‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: ²⁹ The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, ^(B)all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. ^30 (C)Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I ^[a]swore I would make you dwell in. ^31 (D)But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall ^[b]know the land which ^(E)you have despised. ³² But as for you, ^(F)your^[c] carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. ³³ And your sons shall ^(G)be ^[d]shepherds in the wilderness ^(H)forty years, and ^(I)bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. ^34 (J)According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, ^(K)forty days, for each day you shall bear your ^[e]guilt one year, namely forty years, ^(L)and you shall know My ^[f]rejection. ^35 (M)I the Lord have spoken this. I will surely do so to all ^(N)this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.’ ”