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14
1 All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2 All the children of Israel [God prevails] murmured against Moses [Drawn out] and against Aaron [Light-bringer]. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt [Abode of slavery], or that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why does Adonai bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to teshuvah ·completely return· into Egypt [Abode of slavery]?” 4 They said to one another, “Let us make a captain, and let us teshuvah ·completely return· into Egypt [Abode of slavery].”
5 Then Moses [Drawn out] and Aaron [Light-bringer] fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel [God prevails].
6 Joshua [Salvation Yah] the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes. 7 They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel [God prevails], saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. (3) 8 If Adonai delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey. 9 Only don’t rebel against Adonai , neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and Adonai is with us. Don’t fear them.”
10 But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones.
The kavod Yahweh ·weighty glory of He sustains breathing· appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel [God prevails]. 11 Adonai said to Moses [Drawn out], “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? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
13 Moses [Drawn out] said to Adonai , “Then the Egyptians [people from Abode of slavery] will sh'ma ·hear obey· it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them. 14 They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have sh'ma ·heard obeyed· that you Adonai are in the middle of this people; for you Adonai 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. 15 Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have sh'ma ·heard obeyed· the fame of you will speak, saying, 16 ‘Because Adonai was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’ 17 Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying, 18 ‘Adonai is slow to anger, and abundant in cheshed ·loving-kindness·, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’ 19 Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your cheshed ·loving-kindness·, and according as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt [Abode of slavery] even until now.”
20 Adonai said, “I have pardoned according to your word: 21 but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the kavod Yahweh ·weighty glory of He sustains breathing·; 22 because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt [Abode of slavery] and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not sh'ma ·heard obeyed· my voice; 23 surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it. 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. 25 Since the Amalekite [Descendant of Man who licks up] and the Canaanite [Descendant of Humbled] dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn, and go into the wilderness by the way to the Sea of Suf [Reed Sea].” (4) 26 Adonai spoke to Moses [Drawn out] and to Aaron [Light-bringer], saying, 27 “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have sh'ma ·heard obeyed· the murmurings of the children of Israel [God prevails], which they murmur against me. 28 Tell them, ‘As I live, says Adonai , surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you. 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, 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 [Salvation Yah] the son of Nun. 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. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, * Quoted in Acts 13:18; Heb 3:17 and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness. 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.’ 35 I, Adonai , 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.”
36 The men, whom Moses [Drawn out] sent to spy out the land, who teshuvah ·completely returned·, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land, 37 even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Adonai . 38 But Joshua [Salvation Yah] the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
39 Moses [Drawn out] told these words to all the children of Israel [God prevails], and the people mourned greatly. 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 Adonai has promised: for we have sinned.”
41 Moses [Drawn out] said, “Why are you disobeying the order of Adonai ? You shall not succeed! 42 Don’t go up, for Adonai is not among you; that you not be struck down before your enemies. 43 For there the Amalekite [Descendant of Man who licks up] and the Canaanite [Descendant of Humbled] are before you, and you shall fall by the sword, because you turned back from following Adonai , therefore Adonai will not be with you.”
44 But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of Adonai ’s covenant and Moses [Drawn out] didn’t depart out of the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites [Descendants of Man who licks up] came down, and the Canaanites [Descendants of Humbled] who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down, even to Hormah.

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*14:33 Quoted in Acts 13:18; Heb 3:17

© 2016 Thomas Robinson