Numbers 14

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1 And all the congregation lifted up and put forth their voice, and the people wept in that night.

2 And all the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and all the congregation said to them, Would·​·that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would·​·that we had died in this wilderness!

3 And why has Jehovah brought us to this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our infants should be for plunder? Were it not better for us to return to Egypt?

4 And they said, a man to his brother, Let us put someone as head, and let us return to Egypt.

5 And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.

6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who explored the land, rent their garments;

7 and they said to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed·​·through to explore it, is a very, very good land.

8 If Jehovah delight in us, then He will bring us to this land, and give it to us, it is a land which flows with milk and honey.

9 Only revolt not against Jehovah, and fear you not the people of the land; for they are bread for us; their shadow is removed from upon them, and Jehovah is with us: fear them not.

10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. And the glory of Jehovah appeared in the Tabernacle of the congregation to all the sons of Israel.

11 And Jehovah said to Moses, Until what occasion will this people disdain Me? And until what occasion will they not believe in Me, in all the signs which I have done among them?

12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and dispossess them, and will make thee into a greater nation and more numerous than they.

13 And Moses said to Jehovah, And the Egyptians shall hear of it, for Thou broughtest·​·up this people with Thy power from among them,

14 and they will say it to those who dwell in this land; for they have heard that Thou, Jehovah art among this people, that Thou, Jehovah art seen eye to eye, and that Thy cloud stands over them, and that Thou goest before them, in a pillar of a cloud by·​·day, and in a pillar of fire by night.

15 And if Thou shalt·​·put·​·to·​·death this people as one man, then the nations that have heard the fame of Thee will say, saying,

16 Because Jehovah was· not ·able to bring this people to the land which He promised to them, therefore He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.

17 And now, I pray Thee, let the power of my Lord be·​·great, as Thou hast spoken, saying,

18 Jehovah is slow to anger, and of much mercy, bearing iniquity and transgression; but in not rendering·​·innocent, He does not render·​·innocent, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generation*.

19 Pardon, I pray Thee, the iniquity of this people according·​·to the greatness of Thy mercy, and as Thou hast borne for this people from Egypt until now.

20 And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according·​·to thy word;

21 nevertheless, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah;

22 for all the men who have seen My glory, and My signs, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me these ten times, and have not obeyed My voice,

23 they shall not see the land which I promised to their fathers, neither shall any of them that disdained Me see it;

24 but My servant Caleb, because there was another spirit with him, and he has·​·filled after Me*, then him will I bring into the land into which he came; and his seed shall possess it.

25 (And the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) Tomorrow turn yourselves, and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Suph sea*.

26 And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

27 How long will I be for this evil congregation, they who murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against Me.

28 Say to them, As I live, says Jehovah, as you have spoken in My ears, Will I not do so to you?

29 Your corpses shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were numbered of you, according·​·to all your number, from a son of twenty years and upward, who have murmured against Me,

30 you shall not come into the land, concerning which I lifted my hand to cause you to inhabit her, but Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

31 But your infants, whom you said should be a plunder, them will I bring·​·in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.

32 But you, your corpses, shall fall in this wilderness.

33 And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and bear your harlotries, until your corpses be entirely consumed in the wilderness.

34 By the number of the days that you explored the land, forty days, a day to a year, a day to a year, you shall bear your iniquities, forty years, and you shall know My disallowing.

35 I, Jehovah, have spoken; Surely I will do this to all this evil congregation who have congregated against Me; in this wilderness they shall be entirely consumed, and there they shall die.

36 And the men whom Moses sent to explore the land, and who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against Him by bringing·​·out an evil·​·report against the land,

37 even the men who brought·​·out the evil report of the land, died in being·​·struck before Jehovah.

38 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, they who were of the men who went to explore the land, lived.

39 And Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel; and the people mourned exceedingly.

40 And they got·​·up·​·early in the morning, and went·​·up to the head of the mountain, saying, Behold, we be here, and will go·​·up to the place which Jehovah has said; for we have sinned.

41 And Moses said, Why this, that you transgress the mouth of Jehovah? But it shall not prosper.

42 Go· not ·up, for Jehovah is not among you; and you will not be struck down before your enemies.

43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; for you have turned·​·back from following after Jehovah, and Jehovah will not be with you.

44 But they sought·​·the·​·summit to go·​·up to the head of the mountain; but the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and Moses, departed not from among the camp.

45 And the Amalekite came·​·down and the Canaanite who dwelt in that mountain and smote them and beat· them ·down, even·​·to Hormah.

   

Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.