Israel Refuses to Enter Canaan

14 So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people ^(A)wept that night. ^2 (B)And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why has the Lord brought us to this land to ^[a]fall by the sword, that our wives and ^(C)children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to one another, ^(D)“Let us select a leader and ^(E)return to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron ^[b]fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

Death Sentence on the Rebels

²⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ^27 (A)“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? ^(B)I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. ²⁸ Say to them, ^(C)‘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, ^(D)all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. ^30 (E)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 (F)But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall ^[b]know the land which ^(G)you have despised. ³² But as for you, ^(H)your^[c] carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. ³³ And your sons shall ^(I)be ^[d]shepherds in the wilderness ^(J)forty years, and ^(K)bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. ^34 (L)According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, ^(M)forty days, for each day you shall bear your ^[e]guilt one year, namely forty years, ^(N)and you shall know My ^[f]rejection. ^35 (O)I the Lord have spoken this. I will surely do so to all ^(P)this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.’ ”

³⁶ Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land, ³⁷ those very men who brought the evil report about the land, ^(Q)died by the plague before the Lord. ^38 (R)But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the land.

A Futile Invasion Attempt^(S)

³⁹ Then Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, ^(T)and the people mourned greatly.