1
And all the congregation lifted up their voice and gave forth their sound, and the people wept that night.
2
And all the sons of Yisra’el murmured against Mosheh and against Aharon, and all the congregation said to them, “Who would have given that we had died in the land of Mitzrayim, or who would have given that we had died in this wilderness!
3
And why is Yahuah bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our women and our little ones shall become plunder. Would it not be better for us to return to Mitzrayim?”
4
And each ish said to his brother, “Let us appoint a head and return to Mitzrayim.”
5
And Mosheh and Aharon fell upon their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Yisra’el.
6
And Yehoshua son of Nun and Kalev son of Yefunneh, from those who had searched out the land, tore their garments.
7
And they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Yisra’el, saying, “The land through which we passed to search it out—the land is exceedingly, exceedingly good.
8
If Yahuah delights 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 Yahuah, and you—do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection has turned away from over them, and Yahuah is with us. Do not fear them.”
10
And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. And the glory of Yahuah appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the sons of Yisra’el.
11
And Yahuah said to Mosheh, “How long will this people despise Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs that I have done in their midst?
12
I will strike them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”
13
And Mosheh said to Yahuah, “Then Mitzrayim will hear, for by Your power You brought this people up from its midst,
14
and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Yahuah, are in the midst of this people; that eye to eye You, Yahuah, are seen; and Your cloud stands over them; and in a pillar of cloud You go before their face by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15
And if You put this people to death as one ish, then the nations who have heard Your report will speak, saying,
16
‘Because Yahuah was not able to bring this people into the land that He swore to them, He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’
17
And now, please, let the power of Adonai be great, according to what You spoke, saying,
18
‘Yahuah is slow to anger and abundant in covenant-faithfulness, forgiving iniquity and transgression, yet clearing, He does not clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and to the fourth generation.’
19
Please forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your covenant-faithfulness, and according to how You have borne this people from Mitzrayim even until now.”
20
And Yahuah said, “I have forgiven according to your word.
21
But as surely as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahuah,
22
surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs that I did in Mitzrayim and in the wilderness, and yet have tested Me these ten times and have not listened to My voice,
23
they shall not see the land that I swore to their fathers. And all who despise Me shall not see it.
24
But My servant Kalev, because another ruach was with him and he followed fully after Me, I will bring him into the land into which he went, and his seed shall possess it.
25
Now the Amaleqi and the Kena’ani dwell in the valley. Tomorrow turn and journey for yourselves into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds.”
26
And Yahuah spoke to Mosheh and to Aharon, saying,
27
“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Yisra’el that they murmur against Me.
28
Say to them: ‘As surely as I live,’ declares Yahuah, ‘according to what you have spoken in My ears, so I will do to you.
29
In this wilderness your corpses shall fall—all those counted of you, according to all your number, from twenty years old and above, who murmured against Me.
30
Surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I raised My hand to cause you to dwell in it, except Kalev son of Yefunneh and Yehoshua son of Nun.
31
But your little ones, whom you said would become plunder, I will bring them in, and they shall know the land that you rejected.
32
But as for you, your corpses shall fall in this wilderness.
33
And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and they shall bear your whoredoms until your corpses are consumed in the wilderness.
34
According to the number of the days in which you searched out the land, forty days—a day for a year, a day for a year—you shall bear your iniquities forty years, and you shall know My opposition.
35
I, Yahuah, have spoken. Surely this I will do to all this evil congregation gathered together against Me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.’”
36
And the men whom Mosheh had sent to search out the land, who returned and caused all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing out an evil report concerning the land—
37
those men who brought out the evil report of the land died by the plague before Yahuah.
38
But Yehoshua son of Nun and Kalev son of Yefunneh remained alive from those men who went to search out the land.
39
And Mosheh spoke these words to all the sons of Yisra’el, and the people mourned exceedingly.
40
And they rose early in the morning and went up toward the top of the mountain, saying, “See, we are here, and we will go up to the place that Yahuah has spoken of, for we have sinned.”
41
And Mosheh said, “Why is this that you are transgressing the mouth of Yahuah? It will not succeed.
42
Do not go up, for Yahuah is not in your midst, so that you are not struck down before the face of your enemies.
43
For the Amaleqi and the Kena’ani are there before your face, and you shall fall by the sword, because you turned back from following Yahuah; therefore Yahuah will not be with you.”
44
But they presumed to go up toward the top of the mountain. Yet the ark of the covenant of Yahuah and Mosheh did not move from the midst of the camp.
45
And the Amaleqi and the Kena’ani who dwelt in that mountain came down and struck them and beat them down as far as Chormah.