Numbers 14

Joshua and Caleb's Appeal Numbers 14:6–10

⁶Verse 6. Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes. ⁷Verse 7. They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. ⁸Verse 8. If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey. ⁹Verse 9. Only don’t rebel against Yahweh, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and Yahweh is with us. Don’t fear them.”

¹⁰Verse 10. But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. Yahweh’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.

God's Response to Rebellion Numbers 14:11–19

¹¹Verse 11. Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them? ¹²Verse 12. I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” ¹³Verse 13. Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them. ¹⁴Verse 14. They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are among this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.

¹⁵Verse 15. Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying, ¹⁶Verse 16. ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷Verse 17. Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying, ¹⁸Verse 18. ‘Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’

¹⁹Verse 19. Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

Divine Judgment Declared Numbers 14:20–24

²⁰Verse 20. Yahweh said, “I have pardoned according to your word: ²¹Verse 21. but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with Yahweh’s glory; ²²Verse 22. because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice; ²³Verse 23. surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it. ²⁴Verse 24. But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it.

Wilderness Consequences Announced Numbers 14:25–35

²⁵Verse 25. Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn, and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.” ²⁶Verse 26. Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²⁷Verse 27. “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. ²⁸Verse 28. Tell them, ‘As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you. ²⁹Verse 29. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me,

³⁰Verse 30. surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. ³¹Verse 31. But your little ones, that you said should be captured or killed, them I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. ³²Verse 32. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. ³³Verse 33. Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness. ³⁴Verse 34. After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’

³⁵Verse 35. I, Yahweh, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation, who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”

Fate of the Spies Numbers 14:36–39

³⁶Verse 36. The men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land, ³⁷Verse 37. even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Yahweh. ³⁸Verse 38. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land. ³⁹Verse 39. Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.

Failed Attempt to Enter Canaan Numbers 14:40–45

⁴⁰Verse 40. They rose up early in the morning, and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised: for we have sinned.” ⁴¹Verse 41. Moses said, “Why now do you disobey the commandment of Yahweh, since it shall not prosper? ⁴²Verse 42. Don’t go up, for Yahweh isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies. ⁴³Verse 43. For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword, because you turned back from following Yahweh, therefore Yahweh will not be with you.”

⁴⁴Verse 44. But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of Yahweh’s covenant and Moses didn’t depart out of the camp. ⁴⁵Verse 45. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down, even to Hormah.