Numbers 14

That night the whole community broke into loud crying, and the people wept.

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

2All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole community said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died here in this desert!

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!

3Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, only to have us die by the sword? Our wives and our children will be carried off as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back 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?

Note"Plunder" here means captives. A defeated population's women and children were routinely carried off by the victors as property, so the fear is enslavement, not just loss of goods.

4And they said to one another, "Let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt."

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

NoteChoosing "a leader" means replacing Moses. In the ancient setting this is an attempted overthrow, not a vote.

5Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown on the ground in front of the whole gathered community of Israel.

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

NoteFalling face down on the ground was the standard gesture of desperate appeal or submission. Moses and Aaron make it toward the people, which is startling: the gesture normally goes to a king or to God.

6Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of the men who had explored the land, tore their clothes in grief.

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

NoteTearing one's clothes was a public, unmistakable sign of grief, horror or outrage, the ancient equivalent of a visible breakdown, done deliberately so everyone could see it.

7They said to the whole community of Israel, "The land we traveled through and explored is a very good 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.

8If the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us into that land and give it to us, a 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.

Note"Flowing with milk and honey" is a fixed idiom for land rich enough to support herds (milk) and yield wild sweetness (honey from bees, or syrup from dates and figs). It describes abundance, not literal streams.

9Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people who live in that land. They will be like bread for us to eat. Whatever protected them is gone, and the LORD is with us. Do not 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.

NoteTwo idioms. "Bread for us" means they will be swallowed as easily as a meal. The Hebrew behind "whatever protected them is gone" says literally "their shadow has turned aside from them", shade in a desert climate meant shelter and protection, so the phrase means they have been left exposed.

10But the whole community talked of stoning Joshua and Caleb to death. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting, where all the Israelites could see it.

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.

NoteStoning was the community's own method of execution: everyone threw, so responsibility was shared and no single executioner existed. The "glory of the LORD" is the visible blaze of light that signaled God's presence. The Tent of Meeting was the portable tent shrine pitched at the center of the camp, where God was understood to meet Moses.

11The LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to trust me, after all the 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 strike them with a deadly disease and destroy them, so they lose what I promised them. Then I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they are."

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

Note"Destroy them, so they lose what I promised" translates a Hebrew verb meaning to dispossess, to cut a people off from the land they were to inherit. The offer to make Moses into a great nation repeats, word for word, the promise once made to Abraham.

13But Moses said to the LORD, "Then the Egyptians will hear about it, since it was you who brought these people out from among them by your great power.

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

14And the Egyptians will tell the people who live in this land. Those people have already heard that you, LORD, are among these people, and that you have been seen face to face. They have heard that your cloud stands over them, and that you go ahead of them in a pillar of cloud by day and a 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.

NoteThe pillar of cloud by day and fire by night was the visible column that had gone ahead of Israel since they left Egypt. "Seen face to face" is an idiom for direct, in-person dealing rather than communication through messengers or dreams.

15If you kill all these people at once, the nations who have heard reports about you 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 these people into the land he had promised them with an oath, so he killed them in the desert.'

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.

Note"Promised with an oath" refers to the sworn promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their descendants would receive this land. An oath in the ancient world was legally binding and public; failing to keep one damaged the swearer's reputation.

17So now, I beg you, let my Lord's power be shown to be great, just as you said when you declared:

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 get angry and full of faithful love. He forgives sin and wrongdoing. But he certainly does not leave the guilty unpunished; he brings the punishment for the parents' sin on their children, to the third and fourth generation.'

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.

NoteMoses is quoting back to God the words God had spoken about himself at Sinai (Exodus 34:6–7). "To the third and fourth generation" reflects the ancient household, where three or four living generations often shared one dwelling: the phrase describes consequences working themselves out within a single living family, not indefinitely.

19Please forgive the sin of these people, because your faithful love is so great, just as you have forgiven them all the way from Egypt until now."

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.

20The LORD answered, "I have forgiven them, as you asked.

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

21But as surely as I live, and as surely as the whole earth is filled with the glory of the LORD, here is my oath:

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

Note"As surely as I live" is the strongest oath form in Hebrew, sworn by the life of the one speaking. Because God swears by himself, there is no higher guarantee to appeal to.

22All these men saw my glory and the miracles I did in Egypt and in the desert. Yet they have tested me ten times now, and they have not listened 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;

Note"Ten times" is a round number meaning "over and over again," though later Jewish tradition counted ten specific incidents of complaint between Egypt and this moment.

23So not one of them will see the land I promised with an oath to their fathers. No one who 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 spirit in him, and he has followed me completely. So I will bring him into the land he went into, and his descendants will own it.

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.

25(The Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valley.) Tomorrow turn around and set out into the desert along the road toward the Red Sea."

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

NoteThe Amalekites were a nomadic people of the southern desert, hostile to Israel since an attack shortly after the exodus. "Canaanites" is a broad term for the settled peoples of the land. The "Red Sea" translates Hebrew *yam suph*, "Sea of Reeds"; the road named here runs south toward the Gulf of Aqaba: that is, directly away from the land they were meant to enter.

26The 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 that keeps grumbling against me? 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.

28Tell them: 'As surely as I live, says the LORD, I will do to you exactly what 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:

29Your dead bodies will fall in this desert. This applies to every one of you counted in the census, everyone twenty years old or older, who grumbled against me.

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,

NoteThe census is the one taken earlier (Numbers 1), which counted men twenty years old and up, the age of military service. So the sentence covers the whole fighting-age generation of men.

30Not one of you will enter the land I swore to settle you in, except 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.

31But your little children, the ones you said would be carried off as plunder: I will bring them in, and they will come to know the land you rejected.

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.

32As for you, your dead bodies will fall in this desert.

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

33Your children will move from place to place in the desert for forty years. They will suffer because you were unfaithful, until the last of your bodies lies dead in the desert.

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

Note"Unfaithful" translates a Hebrew word for sexual infidelity, the standard image for breaking loyalty to God, who is pictured as a husband. The verb rendered "move from place to place" is the ordinary word for grazing flocks, so it can equally mean the children will live as herdsmen in the desert; both senses are present.

34You explored the land for forty days. For each of those days you will carry the guilt of your sin one year, forty years in all, and you will find out what it means to have me against you.

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.

Note"What it means to have me against you" renders a rare Hebrew word whose meaning is disputed, proposals include "my opposition," "my displeasure," and "my withdrawal." The King James translators read it as "my breach of promise." The day-for-a-year correspondence is a formal sentence: forty days spying, forty years bearing the consequence.

35I, the LORD, have spoken. I will surely do this to this whole wicked community that has banded together against me. In this desert they will meet their end, 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.

36Moses had sent men to explore the land. They came back and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a false, damaging report about the land.

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,

37Those men who spread the bad report about the land were struck down by a plague and died in front of the LORD.

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

NoteA "plague" here is a sudden lethal outbreak, understood as a direct act of God rather than as ordinary illness. "In front of the LORD" means at the sanctuary, in his presence.

38Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh stayed 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 told all these words to the Israelites, the people mourned deeply.

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

40Early the next morning they got up and headed for the top of the hill country. "We are here," they said, "and we will go up to the place the LORD promised, because we have sinned."

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.

NoteThe "hill country" is the highland spine of Canaan. Israel was camped in the desert below, so entering the land meant a physical climb upward, hence "go up," which throughout this chapter means both the ascent and the invasion.

41But Moses said, "Why are you now breaking the LORD's command? It will not succeed.

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

42Do not go up, because the LORD is not among you. If you go, your enemies will strike you down.

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

43The Amalekites and the Canaanites are there facing you, and you will die by the sword. You have turned away from the LORD, so the LORD will not be with you."

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 they dared to go up to the top of the hill country anyway, even though the ark of the covenant of the LORD and Moses did not leave 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.

NoteThe ark of the covenant was a gold-covered wooden chest holding the tablets of the covenant terms. It was carried ahead of the people on the march and into battle, as the sign that God went with them. Its staying behind in the camp, along with Moses, marks the attack as unauthorised.

45Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, attacked them, and drove them back in defeat all the way to Hormah.

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

NoteHormah is a place in the southern desert; its name resembles the Hebrew word for destruction, or for something handed over to destruction. "Drove them back in defeat" describes a rout, a broken force pursued as it runs.