Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses

12 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. ² And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? ^(A)Has he not spoken through us also?” And ^(B)the Lord heard it. ³ Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. ⁴ And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. ⁵ And ^(C)the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. ⁶ And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him ^(D)in a vision; I speak with him ^(E)in a dream. ⁷ Not so with ^(F)my servant Moses. ^(G)He is faithful in all my house. ⁸ With him I speak ^(H)mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in ^(I)riddles, and he beholds ^(J)the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” ⁹ And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.

¹⁰ When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, ^(K)Miriam was ^(L)leprous,^[a] like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. ¹¹ And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, ^(M)do not punish us^[b] because we have done foolishly and have sinned. ¹² Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother's womb.” ¹³ And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her—please.” ¹⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but ^(N)spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be ^(O)shut outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.” ¹⁵ So Miriam ^(P)was shut outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again. ¹⁶ After that the people set out from ^(Q)Hazeroth, and camped in ^(R)the wilderness of Paran.

Spies Sent into Canaan

13 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2 (S)“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” ³ So Moses sent them from ^(T)the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel. ⁴ And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; ⁵ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; ^6 (U)from the tribe of Judah, ^(V)Caleb the son of Jephunneh; ⁷ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; ⁸ from the tribe of Ephraim, ^(W)Hoshea the son of Nun; ⁹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; ¹⁰ from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; ¹¹ from the tribe of Joseph (that is, from the tribe of Manasseh), Gaddi the son of Susi; ¹² from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; ¹³ from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; ¹⁴ from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; ¹⁵ from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. ¹⁶ These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called ^(X)Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

¹⁷ Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into ^(Y)the Negeb and go up into ^(Z)the hill country, ¹⁸ and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, ¹⁹ and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, ²⁰ and whether the land is ^(AA)rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. ^(AB)Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

²¹ So they went up and spied out the land ^(AC)from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, ^(AD)near Lebo-hamath. ²² They went up into ^(AE)the Negeb and came to ^(AF)Hebron. ^(AG)Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the ^(AH)descendants of Anak, were there. (^(AI)Hebron was built seven years before ^(AJ)Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ And ^(AK)they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ That place was called the Valley of Eshcol,^[c] because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.

Report of the Spies

²⁵ At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. ²⁶ And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at ^(AL)Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It ^(AM)flows with milk and honey, ^(AN)and this is its fruit. ^28 (AO)However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. ^29 (AP)The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. ^(AQ)And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

³⁰ But ^(AR)Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” ^31 (AS)Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” ³² So ^(AT)they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and ^(AU)all the people that we saw in it are of great height. ³³ And there we saw the ^(AV)Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the ^(AW)Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves ^(AX)like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? ^(A)Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can ^(B)we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us ^(C)who have been baptized ^(D)into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were ^(E)buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as ^(F)Christ was raised from the dead by ^(G)the glory of the Father, we too might walk in ^(H)newness of life.

⁵ For ^(I)if we have been united with him in ^(J)a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that ^(K)our old self^{[a] (L)}was crucified with him in order that ^(M)the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For ^(N)one who has died ^(O)has been set free^[b] from sin. ⁸ Now ^(P)if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that ^(Q)Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; ^(R)death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, ^(S)once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves ^(T)dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹² Let not ^(U)sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ^13 (V)Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but ^(W)present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴ For ^(X)sin ^(Y)will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Slaves to Righteousness

¹⁵ What then? ^(Z)Are we to sin ^(AA)because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves ^(AB)to anyone as obedient slaves,^[c] you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But ^(AC)thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the ^(AD)standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and, ^(AE)having been set free from sin, ^(AF)have become slaves of righteousness. ^19 (AG)I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For ^(AH)just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members ^(AI)as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

^20 (AJ)For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ^21 (AK)But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things ^(AL)of which you are now ashamed? ^(AM)For the end of those things is death. ²² But now that you ^(AN)have been set free from sin and ^(AO)have become slaves of God, ^(AP)the fruit you get leads to sanctification and ^(AQ)its end, eternal life. ^23 (AR)For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.