Numbers 14
Living Bible
14 Then all the people began weeping aloud, and they carried on all night. 2 Their voices rose in a great chorus of complaint against Moses and Aaron.
“We wish we had died in Egypt,” they wailed, “or even here in the wilderness, 3 rather than be taken into this country ahead of us. Jehovah will kill us there, and our wives and little ones will become slaves. Let’s get out of here and return to Egypt!” 4 The idea swept the camp. “Let’s elect a leader to take us back to Egypt!” they shouted.
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell face downward on the ground before the people of Israel. 6 Two of the spies, Joshua (the son of Nun), and Caleb (the son of Jephunneh), ripped their clothing 7 and said to all the people, “It is a wonderful country ahead, 8 and the Lord loves us. He will bring us safely into the land and give it to us. It is very fertile, a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’! 9 Oh, do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land. For they are but bread for us to eat! The Lord is with us and he has removed his protection from them! Don’t be afraid of them!”
10-11 But the only response of the people was to talk of stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared, and the Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people despise me? Will they never believe me, even after all the miracles I have done among them? 12 I will disinherit them and destroy them with a plague, and I will make you into a nation far greater and mightier than they are!”
13 “But what will the Egyptians think when they hear about it?” Moses pleaded with the Lord. “They know full well the power you displayed in rescuing your people. 14 They have told this to the inhabitants of this land, who are well aware that you are with Israel and that you talk with her face-to-face. They see the pillar of cloud and fire standing above us, and they know that you lead and protect us day and night. 15 Now if you kill all your people, the nations that have heard your fame will say, 16 ‘The Lord had to kill them because he wasn’t able to take care of them in the wilderness. He wasn’t strong enough to bring them into the land he swore he would give them.’
17-18 “Oh, please, show the great power of your patience[a] by forgiving our sins and showing us your steadfast love. Forgive us, even though you have said that you don’t let sin go unpunished, and that you punish the father’s fault in the children to the third and fourth generation. 19 Oh, I plead with you, pardon the sins of this people because of your magnificent, steadfast love, just as you have forgiven them all the time from when we left Egypt until now.”
20-21 Then the Lord said, “All right, I will pardon them as you have requested. But I vow by my own name that just as it is true that all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, 22 so it is true that not one of the men who has seen my glory and the miracles I did both in Egypt and in the wilderness—and ten times refused to trust me and obey me— 23 shall even see the land I promised to this people’s ancestors. 24 But my servant Caleb is a different kind of man—he has obeyed me fully. I will bring him into the land he entered as a spy, and his descendants shall have their full share in it. 25 But now, since the people of Israel are so afraid of the Amalekites and the Canaanites living in the valleys, tomorrow you must turn back into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.”
26-27 Then the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, “How long will this wicked nation complain about me? For I have heard all that they have been saying. 28 Tell them, ‘The Lord vows to do to you what you feared: 29 You will all die here in this wilderness! Not a single one of you twenty years old and older, who has complained against me, 30 shall enter the Promised Land. Only Caleb (son of Jephunneh) and Joshua (son of Nun) are permitted to enter it.
31 “‘You said your children would become slaves of the people of the land. Well, instead I will bring them safely into the land and they shall inherit what you have despised. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 You must wander in the desert like nomads for forty years. In this way you will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the desert.
34-35 “‘Since the spies were in the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, bearing the burden of your sins. I will teach you what it means to reject me. I, Jehovah, have spoken. Every one of you who has conspired against me shall die here in this wilderness.’”
36-38 Then the ten spies who had incited the rebellion against Jehovah by striking fear into the hearts of the people were struck dead before the Lord. Of all the spies, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive. 39 What sorrow there was throughout the camp when Moses reported God’s words to the people!
40 They were up early the next morning and started toward the Promised Land.
“Here we are!” they said. “We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to go on into the land the Lord has promised us.”
41 But Moses said, “It’s too late. Now you are disobeying the Lord’s orders to return to the wilderness. 42 Don’t go ahead with your plan or you will be crushed by your enemies, for the Lord is not with you. 43 Don’t you remember? The Amalekites and the Canaanites are there! You have deserted the Lord, and now he will desert you.”
44 But they went ahead into the hill country, despite the fact that neither the Ark nor Moses left the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in the hills came down and attacked them and chased them to Hormah.
Footnotes
- Numbers 14:17 of your patience, implied.
Numbers 14
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 14
The People Rebel.[a] 1 The whole assembly cried out and wept loudly that night. 2 All the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole assembly said to them, “Would that we would have died in Egypt, or we had died in this desert! 3 Why did the Lord bring us into this land so that we fall by the sword? Our wives and our children will be taken as plunder! Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 They said to one another, “Let us choose a leader who will take us back to Egypt.”
5 Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered there. 6 Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, who had spied out the land, tore their clothes. 7 They spoke to the entire assembly of the people of Israel saying, “The land we passed through and explored is a tremendously good land. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. Their protection is gone, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them!”
The Lord’s Response.10 But the whole assembly decided to stone them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting in front of all of the people of Israel. 11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? How long before they trust me, in spite of all the signs that I have performed in their midst? 12 I will strike them down with a plague and I will destroy them. Then I will make a nation arise from you that is greater and mightier than they are.”[b]
13 But Moses said to the Lord, “The Egyptians will hear about it, for by your power you brought this people out from their midst. 14 They will report it to the people of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for you, O Lord, are seen face to face. Your cloud stands over them, and you go before them as a cloud by day and as a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you kill this people as if it were a single man, then the nations that have heard of your fame will say, 16 ‘The Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he promised them, so he killed them in the wilderness.’ 17 Therefore, my Lord, show your great power, for as you have declared, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in mercy, forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the father upon the sons to the third and fourth generation.’ 19 By your great mercy, I beseech you, forgive this people, just as you have forgiven this people ever since they left Egypt until now.”
20 The Lord answered, “I have forgiven them, just as you have asked. 21 But assuredly, just as I live and the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, 22 because this entire people has witnessed my glory and the miracles that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet they have put me to the test these ten times and have not heeded my voice, 23 none of them will see the land that I promised to their fathers. None of those who despised me will see it. 24 But I will bring my servant Caleb into the land that he entered because he has a different spirit and wholeheartedly follows me. His descendants will inherit it. 25 Turn back tomorrow and set out for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea for the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valley.”
26 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 27 “How long will this wicked assembly grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of the people of Israel that they grumble against me. 28 So I declare to them: As I live, says the Lord, I will make the things you have said in my hearing happen: 29 your dead bodies will fall to the ground in this wilderness. None of you who are twenty years or older and who have complained about me 30 will enter the land in which I swore I would make you dwell except for Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. 31 However, as for your little ones whom you said would become plunder, I will bring them in and they will come to know the land that you have despised. 32 But your dead bodies will fall to the ground in this wilderness. 33 Your children will wander in this wilderness for forty years, and they will bear the burden of your unfaithfulness, until your dead bodies lie in the wilderness. 34 The number of days that you explored the land was forty, and there will be one year for each day. You will bear the burden of your sins for forty years and you will come to know my rejection.[c] 35 I, the Lord, have proclaimed this. I will surely do this to this evil assembly that has gathered together against me. In this wilderness they will come to an end, there they will die.”
36 The men whom Moses sent to explore the land, and who, when they returned, incited the assembly to complain against him by giving an evil report concerning the land, 37 those men who brought the evil report concerning the land were struck down by a plague before the Lord. 38 Of the men who went to explore the land, Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, survived.
39 Doomed Invasion. When Moses reported these sayings to all the people of Israel, the people mourned bitterly. 40 They rose up early the next morning and went to the top of the mountain and said, “Here we are! We have sinned, but we are ready to go up to the place that the Lord has promised.” 41 But Moses said, “Why are you now disobeying the command of the Lord? This will not succeed. 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies. 43 The Amalekites and the Canaanites are there in front of you. You will fall by the sword, because you turned away from the Lord. The Lord will not be with you.” 44 In their presumption, they went up into the high hill country, but the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and Moses did not go out from the camp. 45 The Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in the hill country came down and attacked them and drove them back to Hormah.
Footnotes
- Numbers 14:1 The ungrateful ones in the community, incited by the faithless spies, turn against the Lord dismissing all that he has done for them and preferring death to trusting in his promise.
- Numbers 14:12 The Lord’s wrath is short lived. No sooner does he threaten to destroy the rebellious lot, then he promises for a second time since the Exodus to raise up a faithful people.
- Numbers 14:34 The Lord metes out punishment on the unfaithful people, condemning them to die in the desert as they had wished.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
