1 And all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.

2 And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, Oh that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or that only we had died in this wilderness!

3 Why is Jehovah bringing us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become prey? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?

4 So they said to one another, Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.

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

6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, among those who spied out the land, tore their clothes;

7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.

8 If Jehovah has delighted in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us; a land flowing with milk and honey.

9 Only do not rebel against Jehovah, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their shade has departed from them, and Jehovah is with us. Do not fear them.

10 And all the congregation intended to stone them with stones. And the glory of Jehovah appeared in the tent of meeting before all the children of Israel.

11 And Jehovah said to Moses: How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have done among them?

12 I will strike them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.

13 And Moses said to Jehovah: Then the Egyptians will hear it (for by Your might You brought these people up from among them),

14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Jehovah, are among these people; that You, Jehovah, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

15 Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying,

16 Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.

17 And now, I beseech You, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying,

18 Jehovah is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but not acquitting to leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation.

19 Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have borne this people, from Egypt even until now.

20 And Jehovah said: I have pardoned, according to your word;

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

22 because all these men seeing My glory and the signs which I have done in Egypt and in the wilderness, and tested Me now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice,

23 they shall not see the land of which I have sworn to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.

24 But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his seed shall possess it.

25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) Tomorrow turn and set out into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

26 And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the murmurings which the children of Israel grumble against Me.

28 Say to them, As I live, says Jehovah, just as you have spoken in My ears, so I will do to you:

29 The carcasses of you who have grumbled against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.

30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I raised My hand and swore to make you dwell there.

31 But your little ones, whom you said would be prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.

32 But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness.

33 And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear your harlotry, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.

34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your iniquities one year; forty years; and you shall know My opposition.

35 I Jehovah have spoken: I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.

36 Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing an evil report of the land,

37 those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before Jehovah.

38 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the land.

39 And Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.

40 And they arose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, Here we are, and we will go up to the place which Jehovah has promised; for we have sinned.

41 And Moses said, Why do you transgress the mouth of Jehovah? For it will not prosper.

42 Do not go up, that you not be smitten before your enemies, for Jehovah is not among you.

43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword, because you have turned away from Jehovah; Jehovah is not with you.

44 But they heedlessly went up to the top of the mountain; nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of Jehovah nor Moses departed from the camp.

45 And the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and struck them, and beat them to pieces, to Hormah.