1And all the congregation lifted up and gave their voice, and the people wept in that night.
2And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, and all the congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or in this wilderness would that we had died!
3And why is YHWH bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives (ishah) and our little ones will be for a prey. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?"
4And they said, a man (ish) to his brother, "Let us give a head, and let us return to Egypt."
5And 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, of those who spied out the land, tore their garments.
7And they said to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "The land which we passed through to spy it out, the land is exceedingly, exceedingly good.
8If YHWH delights in us, then he will bring us to this land and give it to us, a land which is flowing with milk and honey.
9Only against YHWH do not rebel, and you, do not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their shadow has departed from over them, and YHWH is with us; do not fear them."
10And all the congregation said to stone them with stones; but the glory of YHWH appeared in the tent (ohel) of appointed time (moed) to all the children of Israel.
11And YHWH said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs (ot) which I have done in their midst?
12I will smite them with the pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than them."
13And Moses said to YHWH, "Then the Egyptians will hear—for you brought up this people by your might from their midst—
14and they will say to the inhabitant of this land—they have heard that you, YHWH, are in the midst of this people, that you, YHWH, are seen eye to eye, and your cloud stands over them, and in a pillar of cloud you go before them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night—
15and if you kill this people as one man (ish), then the nations which have heard your fame will say, saying,
16'Because YHWH was not able to bring this people to the land which he swore to them, therefore he slaughtered them in the wilderness.'
17And now, let the power of my Lord (Adonai) be great, as you have spoken, saying,
18'YHWH is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.'
19Pardon, please, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your lovingkindness, and as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even until here."
20And YHWH said, "I have pardoned according to your word.
21But nevertheless, as I live (chai), and the glory of YHWH shall fill all the earth—
22for all the men (ish) who saw my glory and my signs (ot), which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice,
23surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers; and all who despised me shall not see it.
24But my servant Caleb, because another spirit (ruach) was with him, and he fully followed after me, I will bring him to the land where he went, and his seed shall possess it.
25Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley; tomorrow turn and journey for yourselves to the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds."
26And YHWH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
27"How long shall I bear this evil congregation, which they keep murmuring against me? The murmurings of the children of Israel, which they keep murmuring against me, I have heard.
28Say to them, 'As I live (chai),' declares YHWH, 'surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you.
29In this wilderness your carcasses shall fall, even all your numbered ones according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who murmured against me.
30Surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I lifted up my hand to make you dwell in it, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
31But your little ones, whom you said would be a prey, I will bring them in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
32But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness.
33And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and they shall bear your harlotries, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.
34According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a day for a year, a day for a year, you shall bear your iniquities forty years, and you shall know my opposition.
35I, YHWH, have spoken; surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me; in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.'"
36And the men (ish) whom Moses sent to spy out the land, and who returned and made all the congregation murmur against him by bringing out a report against the land,
37even the men (ish), the bringers of the evil report of the land, died by the plague before YHWH.
38But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh lived, of those men (ish) who went to spy out the land.
39And Moses spoke these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
40And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, "Here we are, and we will go up to the place which YHWH said; for we have sinned."
41And Moses said, "Why is this that you transgress the mouth of YHWH? And it shall not prosper.
42Do not go up, for YHWH is not in your midst, lest you be struck before your enemies.
43For the Amalekite and the Canaanite are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned back from following YHWH, and YHWH will not be with you."
44But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain; but the ark of the covenant (berit) of YHWH and Moses did not depart from the midst of the camp.
45And the Amalekite and the Canaanite who dwelt in that mountain came down, and smote them and beat them down, as far as Hormah.