“1 And all the congregation
lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2 And
all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and
the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the
land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! 3 And
wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword,
that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for
us to return into Egypt? 4 And they said one to another, Let us make a
captain, and let us return into Egypt.”
“5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of
the congregation of the children of Israel. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun,
and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, [which were] of them that searched the
land, rent their clothes: 7 And they spake unto all the company of the
children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search
it, [is] an exceeding good land. 8 If the LORD delight in us, then he
will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with
milk and honey. 9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye
the people of the land; for they [are] bread for us: their defence is
departed from them, and the LORD [is] with us: fear them not. 10 But all
the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD
appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children
of Israel.”
“11 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke
me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which
I have shewed among them? 12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and
disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier
than they. 13 And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall
hear [it], (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among
them;) 14 And they will tell [it] to the inhabitants of this land: [for]
they have heard that thou LORD [art] among this people, that thou LORD
art seen face to face, and [that] thy cloud standeth over them, and
[that] thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and
in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now [if] thou shalt kill [all] this
people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee
will speak, saying, 16 Because the LORD was not able to bring this
people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain
them in the wilderness. 17 And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my
Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, 18 The LORD [is]
longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression,
and by no means clearing [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation]. 19
Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the
greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from
Egypt even until now.”
“20 And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: 21 But
[as] truly [as] I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of
the LORD. 22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my
miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted
me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 23 Surely
they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither
shall any of them that provoked me see it: 24 But my servant Caleb,
because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him
will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess
it. 25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To
morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red
sea. 26 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 27 How
long [shall I bear with] this evil congregation, which murmur against
me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they
murmur against me. 28 Say unto them, [As truly as] I live, saith the
LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: 29 Your
carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of
you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward,
which have murmured against me, 30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the
land, [concerning] which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb
the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little
ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they
shall know the land which ye have despised. 32 But [as for] you, your
carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall
wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until
your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. 34 After the number of the
days in which ye searched the land, [even] forty days, each day for a
year, shall ye bear your iniquities, [even] forty years, and ye shall
know my breach of promise. 35 I the LORD have said, I will surely do it
unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me:
in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”
“36 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned,
and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a
slander upon the land, 37 Even those men that did bring up the evil
report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. 38 But Joshua
the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, [which were] of the men
that went to search the land, lived [still]. 39 And Moses told these
sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
40 And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top
of the mountain, saying, Lo, we [be here], and will go up unto the place
which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. 41 And Moses said,
Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall
not prosper. 42 Go not up, for the LORD [is] not among you; that ye be
not smitten before your enemies. 43 For the Amalekites and the
Canaanites [are] there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword:
because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be
with you. 44 But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless
the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the
camp. 45 Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt
in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, [even] unto Hormah.”
(Nu 14:1-45 AV)
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