Numbers 14
14
Israel’s Refusal to Enter Canaan
1Then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. 2All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, # 14:2 Ex 16:2,7–8; 17:3; Nm 14:27; 16:11,41; Ps 59:15 and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! 3Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. # 14:3 Gn 34:29; Nm 14:31 Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt? ” # 14:3 Nm 11:5; Dt 17:16; Neh 9:17; Ac 7:39 4So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”
5Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole assembly of the Israelite community. 6Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes 7and said to the entire Israelite community, “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land. # 14:7 Ex 3:8; Nm 13:27; Dt 1:25; 3:25 8If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, # 14:8 Ex 3:8; Lv 20:24; Nm 13:17; 16:13–14 and give it to us. 9Only don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. # 14:9 Nm 14:3 Their protection # 14:9 Ps 17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 63:7; 91:1; Is 49:2; 51:16 has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don’t be afraid of them! ”
10While the whole community threatened to stone them, # 14:10 Ex 17:4; Mt 23:37 the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.
God’s Judgment of Israel’s Rebellion
11The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people despise me? How long will they not trust in me despite all the signs I have performed among them? # 14:11 Ex 4:1–12:31; 14:11,21–22; Nm 14:22 12I will strike them with a plague and destroy them. Then I will make you into a greater and mightier nation than they are.” # 14:12 Gn 12:2; Ex 32:10
13But Moses replied to the Lord, “The Egyptians will hear about it, for by your strength you brought up this people from them. 14They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. # 14:14 Ex 15:13–15; Dt 2:25 They have heard that you, Lord, are among these people, how you, Lord, are seen face to face, how your cloud stands over them, and how you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. # 14:14 Ex 13:21–22; Nm 9:16–17; Dt 1:33 15If you kill this people with a single blow, # 14:15 Lit people as one man,# 14:15 Ex 32:9–12 the nations that have heard of your fame # 14:15 Dt 2:25; Jos 2:10; 9:9; Is 66:19; Hab 3:2 will declare, 16‘Since the Lord wasn’t able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them, # 14:16 Gn 12:7; 13:14–17; 15:7; Ac 7:5 he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ # 14:16 Dt 9:28
17“So now, may my Lord’s power be magnified just as you have spoken: 18The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love, # 14:18 Neh 9:17; Ps 86:5,15; 103:8; 145:8; Jl 2:13; Jnh 4:2 forgiving iniquity and rebellion. # 14:18 Ezr 9:13; Ps 78:38; 85:2; Is 43:25; 44:22 But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, # 14:18 Pr 11:21; Jr 25:29; Nah 1:3 bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generation. # 14:18 Ex 20:5; 34:6–7; Dt 5:9; Jr 32:18 19Please pardon the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of your faithful love, # 14:19 Ex 34:9; Ps 25:11; 86:5; Jl 2:13 just as you have forgiven them from Egypt until now.”
20The Lord responded, “I have pardoned them as you requested. 21Yet as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, # 14:21 Ps 72:19; Hab 2:14 22none of the men who have seen my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested me these ten times and did not obey me, 23will ever see the land I swore to give their ancestors. # 14:23 Gn 12:7; 13:14–17; 15:7; Ac 7:5 None of those who have despised me # 14:23 Nm 14:11; Dt 31:20; Ps 74:18 will see it. 24But since my servant Caleb has a different spirit and has remained loyal to me, I will bring him into the land where he has gone, and his descendants will inherit it. # 14:24 Jos 14:6–15; Jdg 1:10–12,20 25Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the lowlands, # 14:25 Lit valley turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.” # 14:25 Nm 21:4; Dt 1:40; 2:1
26Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 27“How long must I endure this evil community that keeps complaining about me? I have heard the Israelites’ complaints that they make against me. # 14:27 Ex 16:2,7–8; 17:3; Nm 14:29,36; 16:11,41; Dt 1:27 28Tell them: As I live — this is the Lord’s declaration — I will do to you exactly as I heard you say. 29Your corpses will fall in this wilderness — all of you who were registered in the census, the entire number of you twenty years old or more # 14:29 Nm 1:3 — because you have complained about me. 30I swear that none of you will enter the land I promised # 14:30 Lit I raised my hand to settle you in, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31I will bring your children whom you said would become plunder # 14:31 Nm 14:3 into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it. # 14:31 Dt 1:39 32But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. 33Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years and bear the penalty for your acts of unfaithfulness until all your corpses lie scattered in the wilderness. 34You will bear the consequences of your iniquities forty years based on the number of the forty days that you scouted the land, a year for each day. # 14:34 Lit a day for the year, a day for the year,# 14:34 Nm 13:25; 32:13; Dt 2:14; Ps 95:10; Ezk 4:6 You will know my displeasure. # 14:34 Or my opposition 35I, the Lord, have spoken. I swear that I will do this to the entire evil community that has conspired against me. # 14:35 Nm 16:11; 27:3; Ps 2:1–3 They will come to an end in the wilderness, and there they will die.” # 14:35 Nm 14:30; 26:64–65; 1Co 10:5
36So the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and who returned and incited the entire community to complain about him by spreading a negative report about the land — 37those men who spread the negative report about the land were struck down by the Lord. 38Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to scout out the land.
Israel Routed
39When Moses reported these words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome with grief. 40They got up early the next morning and went up the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Let’s go to the place the Lord promised, for we were wrong.” # 14:40 Dt 1:41–44
41But Moses responded, “Why are you going against the Lord’s command? It won’t succeed. 42Don’t go, because the Lord is not among you and you will be defeated by your enemies. 43The Amalekites and Canaanites are right in front of you, and you will fall by the sword. The Lord won’t be with you, since you have turned from following him.”
44But they dared to go up the ridge of the hill country, even though the ark of the Lord’s covenant and Moses did not leave the camp. 45Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them as far as Hormah. # 14:45 Nm 21:3; Jdg 1:17
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Numbers 14: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Numbers 14
14
The people rebel and are punished
The Israelites rebel against Moses
1After the Israelites heard the report from the twelve men who had explored Canaan, the people cried all night 2and complained to Moses and Aaron, “We wish we had died in Egypt or somewhere out here in the desert! 3Is the LORD leading us into Canaan, just to have us killed and our women and children captured? We'd be better off in Egypt.” 4Then they said to one another, “Let's choose our own leader and go back.”
5Moses and Aaron bowed down to pray in front of the crowd. 6Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes in sorrow 7and said:
We saw the land ourselves, and it's very good. 8If we obey the LORD, he will surely give us that land rich with milk and honey. 9So don't rebel. We have no reason to be afraid of the people who live there. The LORD is on our side, and they won't stand a chance against us!#He 3.16.
10The crowd threatened to stone Moses and Aaron to death. But just then, the LORD appeared in a cloud at the sacred tent.
Moses prays for the people
11The LORD said to Moses, “I have done great things for these people, and they still reject me by refusing to believe in my power. 12So they will no longer be my people. I will destroy them, but I will make you the ancestor of a nation even stronger than theirs.”
13-16Moses replied:#Ex 32.11-14.
With your mighty power you rescued your people from Egypt, so please don't destroy us here in the desert. If you do, the Egyptians will hear about it and tell the people of Canaan. Those Canaanites already know that we are your people, and that we see you face to face. And they have heard how you lead us with a thick cloud during the day and flaming fire at night. But if you kill us, they will claim it was because you weren't powerful enough to lead us into Canaan as you promised.
17Show us your great power, LORD. You promised 18that you love to show mercy and kindness. And you said that you are very patient, but that you will punish everyone guilty of doing wrong—not only them but their children and grandchildren as well.#Ex 20.5,6; 34.6,7; Dt 5.9,10; 7.9,10.
19You are merciful, and you treat people better than they deserve. So please forgive these people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.
20Then the LORD said to Moses:
In answer to your prayer, I do forgive them. 21But as surely as I live and my power has no limit,#He 3.18. 22-23I swear that not one of these Israelites will enter the land I promised to give their ancestors. These people have seen my power in Egypt and in the desert, but they will never see Canaan. They have disobeyed and tested me too many times.
24But my servant Caleb isn't like the others. So because he has faith in me, I will allow him to cross into Canaan, and his descendants will settle there.#Js 14.9-12.
25Now listen, Moses! The Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys of Canaan.#14.25 The Amalekites and the Canaanites…valleys of Canaan: That is, all possible ways into Canaan were blocked. And tomorrow morning, you'll need to turn round and head back into the desert towards the Red Sea.#14.25 Red Sea: Hebrew yam suph, here referring to the Gulf of Aqaba, since the term is extended to include the north-eastern arm of the Red Sea (see also the note at Exodus 13.18).
The Israelites are punished for complaining
26The LORD told Moses and Aaron 27-28to give this message to the people of Israel:
You sinful people have complained against me too many times! Now I swear by my own life that I will give you exactly what you wanted.#14.27,28 wanted: See verse 2. 29You will die here in the desert, and your dead bodies will cover the ground. You have insulted me, and none of you men who are over twenty years old#He 3.17. 30will enter the land that I solemnly promised to give you as your own—only Caleb and Joshua#14.30 Caleb and Joshua: Hebrew “Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun”. will go in.
31You were worried that your own children would be captured. But I, the LORD, will let them enter the land you have rejected. 32You will die here in the desert! 33Your children will wander around in this desert forty years, suffering because of your sins, until all of you are dead.#Ac 7.36. 34I will cruelly punish you every day for the next forty years—one year for each day that the land was explored. 35You sinful people who ganged up against me will die here in the desert.
36Ten of the men sent to explore the land had brought back bad news and had made the people complain against the LORD. 37So he sent a deadly disease that killed those men, 38but he let Joshua and Caleb live.
The Israelites fail to enter Canaan
(Deuteronomy 1.41-45)
39The people of Israel were very sad after Moses gave them the LORD's message. 40So they got up early the next morning and got ready to head towards the hill country of Canaan. They said, “We were wrong to complain about the LORD. Let's go into the land that he promised us.”
41But Moses replied, “You're disobeying the LORD! Your plan won't work, 42-43so don't even try it. The LORD refuses to help you, because you turned your backs on him. The Amalekites and the Canaanites are your enemies, and they will attack and defeat you.”
44But the Israelites ignored Moses#14.44 ignored Moses: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. and marched towards the hill country, even though the sacred chest and Moses did not go with them. 45The Amalekites and the Canaanites came down from the hill country, defeated the Israelites, and chased them as far as the town of Hormah.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012