Israel’s Refusal to Enter Canaan

14 Then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. ² All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron,^(A) and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder.^(B) Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ^{(C) 4} So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole assembly of the Israelite community. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to the entire Israelite community, “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land.^{(D) 8} If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey,^(E) and give it to us. ⁹ Only don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them.^(F) Their protection^(G) has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don’t be afraid of them!”

¹⁰ While the whole community threatened to stone them,^(H) the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.

God’s Judgment of Israel’s Rebellion

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people despise me? How long will they not trust in me despite all the signs I have performed among them?^{(I) 12} I will strike them with a plague and destroy them. Then I will make you into a greater and mightier nation than they are.”^(J)

¹³ But Moses replied to the Lord, “The Egyptians will hear about it, for by your strength you brought up this people from them. ¹⁴ They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land.^(K) They have heard that you, Lord, are among these people, how you, Lord, are seen face to face, how your cloud stands over them, and how you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.^{(L) 15} If you kill this people with a single blow,^[a](M) the nations that have heard of your fame^(N) will declare, ¹⁶ ‘Since the Lord wasn’t able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them,^(O) he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’^(P)

¹⁷ “So now, may my Lord’s power be magnified just as you have spoken: ¹⁸ The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love,^(Q) forgiving iniquity and rebellion.^(R) But he will not leave the guilty unpunished,^(S) bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generation.^{(T) 19} Please pardon the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of your faithful love,^(U) just as you have forgiven them from Egypt until now.”

²⁰ The Lord responded, “I have pardoned them as you requested. ²¹ Yet as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord’s glory,^{(V) 22} none of the men who have seen my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested me these ten times and did not obey me, ²³ will ever see the land I swore to give their ancestors.^(W) None of those who have despised me^(X) will see it. ²⁴ But since my servant Caleb has a different spirit and has remained loyal to me, I will bring him into the land where he has gone, and his descendants will inherit it.^{(Y) 25} Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the lowlands,^[b] turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.”^(Z)

Warnings from Israel’s Past

10 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors^(A) were all under the cloud,^(B) all passed through the sea,^{(C) 2} and all were baptized^(D) into Moses^(E) in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food,^{(F) 4} and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock^(G) that followed them, and that rock was Christ.^{(H) 5} Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness.^(I)

⁶ Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire^(J) evil things as they did.^{[a](K) 7} Don’t become idolaters^(L) as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.^{[b][c](M) 8} Let us not commit sexual immorality^(N) as some of them did,^[d] and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died.^{(O) 9} Let us not test Christ as some of them did^[e] and were destroyed by snakes.^{(P) 10} And don’t grumble^(Q) as some of them did,^[f](R) and were killed by the destroyer.^{[g](S) 11} These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction,^(T) on whom the ends of the ages^[h](U) have come.^{(V) 12} So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.^{(W) 13} No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful;^(X) he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out^(Y) so that you may be able to bear it.

Warning against Unbelief

⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

¹² Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away^(B) from the living God. ¹³ But encourage each other daily,^(C) while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened^(D) by sin’s deception.^{(E) 14} For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality^[b] that we had at the start.^{(F) 15} As it is said:

¹⁶ For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?^{(H) 17} With whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?^{(I) 18} And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed? ¹⁹ So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

The Promised Rest

4 Therefore, since the promise to enter his rest remains, let us beware^[a] that none of you be found to have fallen short.^{[b] 2} For we also have received the good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith.^{[c](A) 3} For we who have believed enter the rest, in keeping with what^[d] he has said,

even though his works have been finished since the foundation of the world.