1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried; and the people wept all that night. 2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron; and all the congregation said to them, If only we had died in the land of Egypt! or in this wilderness, if only we had died! 3 And why does the Lord bring us into this land to fall in war? our wives and our children shall be for a prey: now then it is better to return into Egypt. 4 And they said one to another, Let us make a ruler, and return into Egypt. 5 And Moses and Aaron fell upon their face before all the congregation of the children of Israel. 6 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of the number of those who spied out the land, tore their garments, 7 and spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we surveyed is indeed extremely good. 8 If the Lord chooses us, he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not depart from the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they are food for us; for the season of prosperity is departed from them, but the Lord is among us: do not fear them. 10 And all the congregation said to stone them with stones; and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud on the tabernacle of witness to all the children of Israel. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, How long does this people provoke me? and how long do they refuse to believe me for all the signs which I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with death, and destroy them; and I will make of you and of your father's house a great nation, and much greater than this. 13 And Moses said to the Lord, So Egypt shall hear, for you have brought up this people from them by your might. 14 Moreover all the dwellers upon this land have heard that you are Lord in the midst of this people, who, Lord, are seen by them face to face, and your cloud rests upon them, and you go before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire. 15 And if you shall destroy this nation as one man; then all the nations that have heard your name shall speak, saying, 16 Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which he swore to them, he has overthrown them in the wilderness. 17 And now, Lord, let your strength be exalted, as you spoke, saying, 18 The Lord is longsuffering and merciful, and true, removing transgressions and iniquities and sins, and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. 19 Forgive this people their sin according to your great mercy, as you were favorable to them from Egypt until now. 20 And the Lord said to Moses, I am gracious to them according to your word. 21 But as I live and my name is living, so the glory of the Lord shall fill all the earth. 22 For all the men who see my glory, and the signs which I did in Egypt, and in this wilderness, and have tempted me this tenth time, and have not listened to my voice, 23 surely they shall not see the land, which I swore to their fathers; but their children which are with me here, as many as do not know good or evil, every inexperienced youth, I will give them the land; but none who have provoked me shall see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because there was another spirit in him, and he followed me, I will bring him into the land into which he entered, and his seed shall inherit it. 25 But Amalek and the Canaanite dwell in the valley: tomorrow turn and depart for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. 26 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 27 How long shall I endure this wicked congregation? I have heard their murmurings against me, even the murmuring of the children of Israel, which they have murmured concerning you. 28 Say to them, As I live, says the Lord: surely as you spoke into my ears, so I will do to you. 29 Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all those of you that were reviewed, and those of you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, all that murmured against me, 30 you shall not enter into the land for which I stretched out my hand to establish you upon it; except only Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 And your little ones, who you said should be a prey, I will bring them into the land; and they shall inherit the land, which you rejected. 32 And your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your sons shall be fed in the wilderness forty years, and they shall bear your fornication, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of the days during which you spied the land, forty days, a day for a year, you shall bear your sins forty years, and you shall know my fierce anger. 35 I the Lord have spoken, Surely I will do thus to this evil congregation that has risen up together against me: in this wilderness they shall be utterly consumed, and there they shall die. 36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, and who came and murmured against it to the assembly so as to bring out evil words concerning the land, 37 the men that spoke evil reports against the land, even died of the plague before the Lord.⁠a 38 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh still lived of those men that went to spy out the land. 39 And Moses spoke these words to all the children of Israel; and the people mourned exceedingly. 40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, Look, we that are here will go up to the place of which the Lord has spoken, because we have sinned. 41 And Moses said, Why do you transgress the word of the Lord? you shall not prosper. 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not with you; so you will fall before the face of your enemies. 43 For Amalek and the Canaanite are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have disobeyed the Lord and turned aside, and the Lord will not be among you. 44 And having forced their passage, they went up to the top of the mountain; but the ark of the covenant of the Lord and Moses did not stir out of the camp. 45 And Amalek and the Canaanite that lived in that mountain came down, and routed them, and destroyed them to Hormah;⁠b and they returned to the camp.