Numbers 14
14
Murmurings
1And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! 3And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
4And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. 5Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. 6And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: 7and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 8If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. 9Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. 10But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
11And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? 12I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
Moses' Intercession
13And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) 14and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. 15Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, 16Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. 17And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my LORD be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, 18The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. 19Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
God's Judgement
20And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: 21but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. 22Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 23surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: 24but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. 25(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
26And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 27How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. 28Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: 29your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, 30doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 31But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. 32But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. 33And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. 34After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. 35I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
36And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, 37even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. 38But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still. 39And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
Selfwilled People
40And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. 41And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper. 42Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. 43For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you. 44But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. 45Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.
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Numbers 14: KJV
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Rights in the Authorized (King James) Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Published by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.
Learn More About King James VersionNumbers 14
14
The People Rebel against the LORD
1Then all the people in the Israelite community raised their voices and cried out loud all that night. 2They complained to Moses and Aaron, “If only we had died in Egypt or this desert! 3Why is the Lord bringing us to this land—just to have us die in battle? Our wives and children will be taken as prisoners of war! Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4They said to each other, “Let’s choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
5Immediately, Moses and Aaron bowed with their faces touching the ground in front of the whole community of Israel assembled there. 6At the same time, two of those who had explored the land, Joshua (son of Nun) and Caleb (son of Jephunneh), tore their clothes in despair. 7They said to the whole community of Israel, “The land we explored is very good. 8If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us. This is a land flowing with milk and honey! 9Don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. We will devour them like bread. They have no protection, and the Lord is with us. So don’t be afraid of them.”
10But when the whole community of Israel talked about stoning Moses and Aaron to death, they all saw the glory of the Lord ⌞shining⌟ at the tent of meeting. 11The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to trust me in spite of all the miraculous signs I have done among them? 12I’ll strike them with a plague, I’ll destroy them,#14:12 Or “I’ll take away the land I promised them.” and I’ll make you into a nation larger and stronger than they are.”
13But Moses said to the Lord, “What if the Egyptians hear about it? (You used your power to take these people away from them.) 14What if the Egyptians tell the people who live in this land? Lord, they have already heard that you are with these people, that they have seen you with their own eyes, that your column of smoke stays over them, and that you go ahead of them in a column of smoke by day and in a column of fire by night. 15But if you kill all these people at the same time, then the nations who have heard these reports about you will say, 16‘The Lord wasn’t able to bring these people into the land he promised them, so he slaughtered them in the desert.’
17“Lord, let your power be as great as when you said, 18‘The Lord … patient, forever loving…. He forgives wrongdoing and disobedience…. He never lets the guilty go unpunished, punishing children … for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation….’ 19By your great love, please forgive these people’s sins, as you have been forgiving them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
20The Lord said, “I forgive them, as you have asked. 21But as I live and as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, I solemnly swear that 22none of the people who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I did in Egypt and in the desert will see the land which I promised their ancestors. They have tested me now ten times and refused to obey me.#14:22 Part of verse 23 (in Hebrew) has been placed in verse 22 to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English. 23None of those who treat me with contempt will see it! 24But because my servant Caleb has a different attitude and has wholeheartedly followed me, I’ll bring him to the land he already explored. His descendants will possess it. 25(The Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys.) Tomorrow you must turn around, go back into the desert, and follow the road that goes to the Red Sea.”
26Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 27“How long must I put up with this wicked community that keeps complaining about me? I’ve heard the complaints the Israelites are making about me. 28So tell them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, I solemnly swear I will do everything to you that you said I would do. 29Your bodies will drop dead in this desert. All of you who are at least 20 years old, who were registered and listed, and who complained about me will die. 30I raised my hand and swore an oath to give you this land to live in. But none of you will enter it except Caleb (son of Jephunneh) and Joshua (son of Nun). 31You said your children would be taken as prisoners of war. Instead, I will bring them into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it. 32However, your bodies will drop dead in this desert. 33Your children will be shepherds in the desert for 40 years. They will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies dead in the desert. 34For 40 days you explored the land. So for 40 years—one year for each day—you will suffer for your sins and know what it means for me to be against you.’ 35I, the Lord, have spoken. I swear I will do these things to all the people in this whole wicked community who have joined forces against me. They will meet their end in this desert. Here they will die!”
36So the men Moses sent to explore the land died in front of the Lord from a plague. 37They died because they had returned and made the whole community complain about Moses by spreading lies about the land.#14:37 Part of verse 37 (in Hebrew) has been placed at the end of verse 36 to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English. 38Of all the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua (son of Nun) and Caleb (son of Jephunneh) survived.
The Amalekites and Canaanites Defeat Israel
39When Moses told these things to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly, as if someone had died. 40Early the next morning they headed into the mountain region. They said, “We have sinned. Now we’ll go to the place the Lord promised.”
41But Moses asked, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? Your plan won’t work! 42Don’t go! You will be defeated by your enemies because the Lord is not with you. 43The Amalekites and Canaanites are there, and you will die in battle. Now that you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.”
44But they headed into the mountain region anyway, even though the ark of the Lord’s promise and Moses stayed in the camp. 45The Amalekites and Canaanites who lived there came down from those mountains, attacked the Israelites, and defeated them at Hormah.#14:45 Or “and defeated them, chasing them all the way to Hormah.”
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