²⁷ They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!^(A) Here is its fruit.^{(B) 28} But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.^(C) We even saw descendants of Anak^(D) there.^{(E) 29} The Amalekites^(F) live in the Negev; the Hittites,^(G) Jebusites^(H) and Amorites^(I) live in the hill country;^(J) and the Canaanites^(K) live near the sea and along the Jordan.^(L)”

³⁰ Then Caleb^(M) silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”^{(N) 32} And they spread among the Israelites a bad report^(O) about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours^(P) those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.^(Q)

¹⁰ But the whole assembly talked about stoning^(A) them. Then the glory of the Lord^(B) appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt?^(C) How long will they refuse to believe in me,^(D) in spite of all the signs^(E) I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them down with a plague^(F) and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation^(G) greater and stronger than they.”^(H)

¹³ Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them.^{(I) 14} And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard^(J) that you, Lord, are with these people^(K) and that you, Lord, have been seen face to face,^(L) that your cloud stays over them,^(M) and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.^{(N) 15} If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath,^(O) so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’^(P)

¹⁷ “Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.^(Q) Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’^{(R) 19} In accordance with your great love, forgive^(S) the sin of these people,^(T) just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”^(U)

²⁰ The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them,^(V) as you asked.

¹¹ But Moses sought the favor^(A) of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?^{(B) 12} Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’?^(C) Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster^(D) on your people. ¹³ Remember^(E) your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self:^(F) ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars^(G) in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land^(H) I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” ¹⁴ Then the Lord relented^(I) and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

2 My dear children,^(A) I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate^(B) with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

²⁰ The one who sins is the one who will die.^(A) The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.^(B)