Numbers 14:1-4

The People Rebel

1Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people awept that night. 2And all the people of Israel bgrumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or cwould that we had died in this wilderness! 3Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? dOur wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4And they said to one another, e“Let us choose a leader and fgo back to Egypt.”

Numbers 14:10-41

10 gThen all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But hthe glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

11And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people idespise me? And how long will they not jbelieve in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I kwill make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for the People

13But lMoses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, 14and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. mThey have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and nyour cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, 16‘It is because the Lord owas not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ 17And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 18 p‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, qvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ 19Please rpardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just sas you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

God Promises Judgment

20Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, taccording to your word. 21But truly, as I live, and as all uthe earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, 22 vnone of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these wten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 xshall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. 24But my servant yCaleb, because he has a different spirit and has zfollowed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. 25 aaNow, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, abturn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

26And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27How long shall acthis wicked congregation grumble against me? adI have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28Say to them, ae‘As I live, declares the Lord, afwhat you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 agyour dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and ahof all your number, listed in the census aifrom twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30not one shall come into the land where I ajswore that I would make you dwell, akexcept Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 alBut your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that amyou have rejected. 32But as for you, anyour dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33And your children aoshall be shepherds in the wilderness apforty years and shall aqsuffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 arAccording to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, asforty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ 35 atI, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all authis wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

36 avAnd the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land 37the men who brought up a bad report of the landawdied by plague before the Lord. 38Of those men who went to spy out the land, axonly Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

Israel Defeated in Battle

39When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people aymourned greatly. 40And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, azHere we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” 41 baBut Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed?

Isaiah 63:10

10 bbBut they rebelled
bcand grieved his Holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
and himself fought against them.
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