Numbers 14:2-15

²All the Israelites went and complained to Moses and Aaron, telling them, “If only we'd died in Egypt, or here in this desert!

³Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to get us killed? Our wives and children will be captured and taken away as slaves! Wouldn't we be better off going back to Egypt?”

⁴They said to one another, “Let's choose a new leader us and go back to Egypt.”

⁵Moses and Aaron fellfacedown on the ground in front of all the assembled Israelites.

⁶Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, were there. They had been part of the group who had gone to spy out the land. They ripped their clothes,

⁷and told the Israelites, “The country we traveled through and explored has very good land.

⁸If the Lord is happy with us, he will take us there and give it to us, a land that's so productive it's like flowing with milk and honey.

⁹Don't rebel and fight against the Lord. You don't need to be afraid of the people living there in the country—we can take them easily! They're defenseless and the Lord is with us. Don't be frightened of them!”

¹⁰In reply all the people shouted out, “Stone them!” But the glory of the Lord suddenly appeared in the Tent of Meeting, right in the middle of the Israelites.

¹¹The Lord told Moses, “How long are these people going to reject me? How long are these people going to refuse to trust in me despite all the miracles I have done right in front of them?

¹²I'm going to make them sick with a disease and kill them. Then I will make you into a nation that's greater and strong than them.”

¹³But Moses told the Lord, “The Egyptians will find out about it! It was by your power that you led the Israelites out from among them.

¹⁴They will tell the people living in this country all about it. They've already heard that you, Lord, are with us Israelites, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, that your cloud stands guard over them, and that you lead them by a pillar of cloud during day and a pillar of fire at night.

¹⁵If you kill all these people in one go, the nations who have heard about you will say,