THE FOURTH BOOK OF
MOSES,
called
N U M B E R S
Numbers 14 ©
The people murmur against Moses and Aaron, v. 1, etc. What Moses, Aaron, Caleb and Joshua did to appease the people, 5. What did ensue thereupon, in regard as well of the people remaining obstinate in their rebellion, as of God, threatening to destroy them, 10. Moses intercedes for them, 13. God hears him, 20. Yet with the condition that the murmurers should not enter into the land of Canaan, commanding them to turn back into the wilderness, 21. A further setting forth of this judgment upon the murmurers, showing their age, and excepting those who were to be free of this punishment, 35. Together with the account of them who would not return, but go on forthwith to invade and take possession of the land of Canaan, 39.
AND all the congregation 1lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
And all the children of Israel murmured 2against 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!
And 3wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall 4by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a 5prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
And they said 6one to another, Let us 7make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Then Moses and Aaron 8fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
¶And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, 9rent their clothes:
And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an 10exceeding good land.
11If 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.
Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither feara ye the people of the land; for 12they are bread for us: their 13defence is departed from them, and 14the LORD is with us: fear them not.
But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the 15glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
¶And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe 16me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
I will smite them with the pestilence, and 17disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
¶And Moses said unto the LORD, Thenb18the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)
And 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 19face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thouc goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
¶Now if thou shalt kill all this people 20as one man, then the nations which have heard the 21fame of thee will speak, saying,
Becaused 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.
And now, I beseech thee, let the 22power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
The LORDeis 23longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, 24and by no means clearing the guilty, 25visitingf the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the 26third and fourth generation.
Pardon, 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.
And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the 27glory of the LORD.
Because 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 28ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
29Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neitherg shall any of them that provoked me see it:
But 30my servanth Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, 31and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt 32in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the 33Red sea.
¶And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
34How longishall 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.
Say unto them, Asj truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have 35spoken in mine ears, 36so will I do to you:
Your carcasesk shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were 37numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I 38sware to make you dwell therein, savel Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
But 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.
But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.
And your children shall 39wander in the wilderness 40forty years, and bear 41your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even fortym days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your 42iniquities, even 43forty years, and ye shall know 44my breach of promise.
I the LORD have said,45 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.
And 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,
Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, 46diedn by the 47plague 48before the LORD.
But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.
And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
¶And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into 49the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for 50we have sinned.
And Moses said, Whereforeo now do ye transgress 51the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper.
Go not up, for the LORD is not 52among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.
For 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.
But they 53presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.
Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto 54Hormah.