The Israelites Rebel against Moses

14 After the Israelites heard the report from the twelve men who had explored Canaan, the people cried all night ² and complained to Moses and Aaron, “We wish we had died in Egypt or somewhere out here in the desert! ³ Is the Lord leading us into Canaan, just to have us killed and our women and children captured? We'd be better off in Egypt.” ⁴ Then they said to one another, “Let's choose our own leader and go back.”

Israel Refused To Obey the Lord

(Numbers 14.1-45)

Moses said to Israel:

^26 (A) You did not want to go into the land, and you refused to obey the Lord your God. ²⁷ You stayed in your tents and grumbled, “The Lord must hate us—he brought us out of Egypt, just so he could hand us over to the Amorites and get rid of us. ²⁸ We are afraid, because the men who explored the land told us that the cities are large, with walls that reach to the sky. The people who live there are taller and stronger than we are,^[a] and some of them are Anakim.^[b] We have nowhere to go.”

²⁹ Then I said, “Don't worry! ³⁰ The Lord our God will lead the way. He will fight on our side, just as he did when we saw him do all those things to the Egyptians. ^31 (B) And you know that the Lord has taken care of us the whole time we've been in the desert, just as you might carry one of your children.”

^32 (C) But you still would not trust the Lord, ³³ even though he had always been with us in the desert. During the daytime, the Lord was in the cloud, leading us in the right direction and showing us where to camp. And at night, he was there in the fire.^[c]