New Living Translation

King James Bible

1Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night.

1And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

2Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained.

2And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!

3“Why is the LORD taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”

3And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

4Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!”

4And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

5Then Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground before the whole community of Israel.

5Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

6Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing.

6And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:

7They said to all the people of Israel, “The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land!

7And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.

8And if the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey.

8If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.

9Do not rebel against the LORD, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the LORD is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!”

9Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

10But the whole community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb. Then the glorious presence of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites at the Tabernacle.

10But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.

11And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?

11And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?

12I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are!” Moses Intercedes for the People

12I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.

13But Moses objected. “What will the Egyptians think when they hear about it?” he asked the LORD. “They know full well the power you displayed in rescuing your people from Egypt.

13And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)

14Now if you destroy them, the Egyptians will send a report to the inhabitants of this land, who have already heard that you live among your people. They know, LORD, that you have appeared to your people face to face and that your pillar of cloud hovers over them. They know that you go before them in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

14And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.

15Now if you slaughter all these people with a single blow, the nations that have heard of your fame will say,

15Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,

16‘The LORD was not able to bring them into the land he swore to give them, so he killed them in the wilderness.’

16Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.

17“Please, Lord, prove that your power is as great as you have claimed. For you said,

17And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,

18‘The LORD is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. But he does not excuse the guilty. He lays the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.’

18The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

19In keeping with your magnificent, unfailing love, please pardon the sins of this people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”

19Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

20Then the LORD said, “I will pardon them as you have requested.

20And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:

21But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the LORD’s glory,

21But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.

22not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice.

22Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

23They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it.

23Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:

24But my servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will possess their full share of that land.

24But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

25Now turn around, and don’t go on toward the land where the Amalekites and Canaanites live. Tomorrow you must set out for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea. ” The LORD Punishes the Israelites

25(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.

26Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

26And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

27“How long must I put up with this wicked community and its complaints about me? Yes, I have heard the complaints the Israelites are making against me.

27How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.

28Now tell them this: ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say.

28Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:

29You will all drop dead in this wilderness! Because you complained against me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die.

29Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,

30You will not enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

30Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

31“‘You said your children would be carried off as plunder. Well, I will bring them safely into the land, and they will enjoy what you have despised.

31But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.

32But as for you, you will drop dead in this wilderness.

32But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.

33And your children will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness for forty years. In this way, they will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.

33And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

34“‘Because your men explored the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. Then you will discover what it is like to have me for an enemy.’

34After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.

35I, the LORD, have spoken! I will certainly do these things to every member of the community who has conspired against me. They will be destroyed here in this wilderness, and here they will die!”

35I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.

36The ten men Moses had sent to explore the land—the ones who incited rebellion against the LORD with their bad report—

36And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,

37were struck dead with a plague before the LORD.

37Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.

38Of the twelve who had explored the land, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive.

38But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.

39When Moses reported the LORD’s words to all the Israelites, the people were filled with grief.

39And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.

40Then they got up early the next morning and went to the top of the range of hills. “Let’s go,” they said. “We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to enter the land the LORD has promised us.”

40And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned.

41But Moses said, “Why are you now disobeying the LORD’s orders to return to the wilderness? It won’t work.

41And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper.

42Do not go up into the land now. You will only be crushed by your enemies because the LORD is not with you.

42Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.

43When you face the Amalekites and Canaanites in battle, you will be slaughtered. The LORD will abandon you because you have abandoned the LORD.”

43For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.

44But the people defiantly pushed ahead toward the hill country, even though neither Moses nor the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant left the camp.

44But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.

45Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those hills came down and attacked them and chased them back as far as Hormah.

45Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com.