Numbers 14:8-32

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,

¹⁶‘The Lord killed these people in the desert because he wasn't able to take them to the country he promised to give them. He's killed them all in desert!’

¹⁷Now, Lord, please demonstrate the extent of your power just as you have said:

¹⁸The Lord is slow to become angry and is full of trustworthy love, forgiving sin and rebellion. However, he will not allow the guilty to go unpunished, bringing the consequences of the parents' sin on their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

¹⁹Please forgive the sin of these people since your trustworthy love is so great, in the same way that you have forgiven them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

²⁰“I have forgiven them as you asked,” the Lord replied.

²¹“But even so, as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord's glory,

²²not a single one of the those who saw my glory and the miracles I did in Egypt and in the desert—but provoked me and refused to obey me time and time again—

²³not a single one of them is ever going to see the country I promised to give their forefathers. None of those who rejected me will see it.

²⁴But because my servant Caleb has a totally different spirit and is fully committed to me, I will lead him to the country he visited, and his descendants will own it.

²⁵Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, tomorrow you are to turn around and head back into the desert, taking the route towards the Red Sea.”

²⁶The Lord told Moses and Aaron,

²⁷“How much longer are these wicked people going to criticize me? I've heard what they're saying, making complaints against me.

²⁸Go and tell them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, I'll do just what I heard you say you wanted, believe me!

²⁹All of you will die in this desert, everyone who was registered in the census that counted those aged twenty or over, because you made complaints against me.

³⁰Absolutely none of you will enter the country I promised to give you to live in, except for Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun.

³¹However, I will take your children—those you said would be taken away as plunder—into the country you rejected, and they will appreciate it.

³²But you—you are all going to die in this desert.