Numbers 14

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

²All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness!

³Why does the LORD 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 return into Egypt?”

⁴They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.”

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

⁶Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.

⁷They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.

⁸If the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey.

⁹Only don’t rebel against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us. Don’t fear them.”

¹⁰But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. The LORD’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.

¹¹The LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? How long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?

¹²I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

¹³Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them.

¹⁴They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you LORD are among this people; for you LORD 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.

¹⁵Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,

¹⁶‘Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’

¹⁷Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying,

¹⁸‘The LORD is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’

¹⁹Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

²⁰The LORD said, “I have pardoned according to your word;

²¹but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the LORD’s glory—

²²because all those men who have seen my glory and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;

²³surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it.

²⁴But 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.

²⁵Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

²⁶The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²⁷“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me.

²⁸Tell them, ‘As I live, says the LORD, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you.

²⁹Your 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 complained against me,

³⁰surely 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 the son of Nun.

³¹But I will bring in your little ones that you said should be captured or killed, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.

³²But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.

³³Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness.

³⁴After 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.’

³⁵I, the LORD, 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.”

³⁶The men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land,

³⁷even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before the LORD.

³⁸But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.

³⁹Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.

⁴⁰They 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 the LORD has promised; for we have sinned.”

⁴¹Moses said, “Why now do you disobey the commandment of the LORD, since it shall not prosper?

⁴²Don’t go up, for the LORD isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies.

⁴³For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned back from following the LORD; therefore the LORD will not be with you.”

⁴⁴But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of the LORD’s covenant and Moses didn’t depart out of the camp.

⁴⁵Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down even to Hormah.

Previous Numbers 13

Next Numbers 15

Following the negative report of ten spies, the Israelites rebel against God's plan to enter the Promised Land, weeping and demanding to return to Egypt despite Joshua and Caleb's faithful testimony. God threatens to destroy the rebellious generation, but Moses intercedes, appealing to God's reputation among the nations and His merciful character. God pardons the people but declares that the current generation will die in the wilderness, with only their children entering the land after forty years of wandering.

Context

This chapter follows the spies' report in chapter 13 and establishes the forty-year wilderness wandering that dominates the remainder of Numbers.

Key Themes

Outline

1-4
The People's Rebellion Israel weeps and murmurs against Moses, wishing to return to Egypt rather than face the inhabitants of Canaan
5-10
Joshua and Caleb's Faithful Appeal The two faithful spies urge trust in God's promise, but the congregation threatens to stone them
11-12
God's Anger and Threat The Lord expresses frustration with Israel's unbelief and threatens to destroy them and start over with Moses
13-19
Moses' Intercession Moses pleads for the people based on God's reputation among the nations and His merciful character
20-45
God's Judgment and Mercy God pardons but pronounces that the current generation will die in the wilderness over forty years

The Spies and the Rebellion at Kadesh

13:1–14:45

narrative narration fearful

Twelve spies explore the Promised Land, but ten give a fearful report leading to Israel's rebellion and refusal to enter. This results in God's judgment of forty years wandering in the wilderness.

person_contrast

Moses, typically associated with law-giving and obedience, here becomes the reluctant executor of divine judgment against the very disobedience that will define Israel's wilderness generation.

Insight Character Study

Moses, typically associated with law-giving and obedience, here becomes the reluctant executor of divine judgment against the very disobedience that will define Israel's wilderness generation.

Cross-References

Connected passages across Scripture

Numbers 14:5 1 reference

Lexicals 1

Numbers 16:3 Lexical

They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much on yourself, si…

Numbers 14

The Spies and the Rebellion at Kadesh

Insights

Cross-References

Numbers 14:5 1 reference

Numbers 14:6 5 references

Numbers 14:8 5 references

Numbers 14:10 3 references

Numbers 14:14 5 references

Numbers 14:16 1 reference

Numbers 14:18 5 references

Numbers 14:19 1 reference

Numbers 14:25 5 references

Numbers 14:29 5 references

Numbers 14:30 5 references

Numbers 14:32 1 reference

Numbers 14:33 4 references

Numbers 14:35 1 reference

Numbers 14:36 1 reference

Numbers 14:38 5 references

Numbers 14:40 3 references

Numbers 14:42 2 references

Numbers 14:44 2 references

Numbers 14:45 1 reference

Interlinear

Historical Context