Numbers 13-14New King James Version (NKJV)
Spies Sent into Canaan
13 And the Lord spoke to Moses,
saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan,
which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers
you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”
3 So Moses sent them from the
Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men
who were heads of the children of Israel. 4 Now
these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the
son of Zaccur; 5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat
the son of Hori; 6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb
the son of Jephunneh; 7 from the tribe of Issachar,
Igal the son of Joseph; 8 from the tribe of
Ephraim, Hoshea[a] the son of Nun; 9 from
the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; 10 from
the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 11 from
the tribe of Joseph, that is, from the tribe of Manasseh,
Gaddi the son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan,
Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13 from the tribe of
Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; 14 from the tribe
of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; 15 from the
tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
16 These are the
names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea[b] the son of Nun,
Joshua.
17 Then Moses sent them to spy out
the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way into the
South, and go up to the mountains, 18 and see what
the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong
or weak, few or many; 19 whether the land they
dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like
camps or strongholds; 20 whether the land is rich
or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And
bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the
season of the first ripe grapes.
21 So they went up and spied out the
land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near the entrance of
Hamath. 22 And they went up through the South and
came to Hebron; Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there.
(Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 Then
they came to the Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster
of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some
of the pomegranates and figs. 24 The place was
called the Valley of Eshcol,[c]because of the cluster which
the men of Israel cut down there. 25 And they
returned from spying out the land after forty days.
26 Now they departed and came back to
Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the
Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the
congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 Then
they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows
with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless
the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very
large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The
Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the
Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along
the banks of the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb quieted the people
before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are
well able to overcome it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with
him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger
than we.” 32 And they gave the children of Israel a
bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through
which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its
inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men
of great stature. 33 There we saw
the giants[d](the descendants of Anak
came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so
we were in their sight.”
Israel Refuses to Enter Canaan
14 So all the congregation lifted up their
voices and cried, and the people wept that night. 2 And
all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole
congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if
only we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why has
the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives
and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to
Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let us
select a leader and return to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their
faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb
the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out
the land, tore their clothes; 7 and they spoke to
all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed
through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If
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.’[e]9 Only do not
rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our
bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with
us. Do not fear them.”
10 And all the congregation said to
stone them with stones. Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the
tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel.
Moses Intercedes for the People
11 Then the Lord said to
Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not
believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? 12 I
will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of
you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
13 And Moses said to the Lord:
“Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You
brought these people up from among them, 14 and
they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have
heard that You, Lord, are among these people; that
You, Lord, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above 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 kill these
people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak,
saying, 16 ‘Because the Lord was not able
to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He
killed them in the wilderness.’ 17 And now, I pray,
let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, 18 ‘The Lord is
longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but
He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’[f] 19 Pardon
the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy,
just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
20 Then the Lord said: “I
have pardoned, according to your word; 21 but
truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of
the Lord— 22 because all these men who have
seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and
have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My
voice, 23 they certainly shall not see the land of
which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see
it. 24 But My servant Caleb, because he has a
different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land
where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. 25 Now
the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley; tomorrow turn and move
out into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.”
Death Sentence on the Rebels
26 And the Lord spoke to
Moses and Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall
I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have
heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. 28 Say
to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My
hearing, so I will do to you: 29 The carcasses of
you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you
who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and
above. 30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and
Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I
would make you dwell in. 31 But your little ones,
whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land
which you have despised. 32 But as for you,
your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And
your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt
of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. 34 According
to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each
day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years,
and you shall know My rejection. 35 I
the Lord have spoken this. I will surely do so to all this evil
congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they
shall be consumed, and there they shall die.’”
36 Now the men whom Moses sent to spy
out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him
by bringing a bad report of the land, 37 those very
men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before
the Lord. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun and
Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the
land.
A Futile Invasion Attempt
39 Then Moses told these words to all
the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. 40 And
they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying,
“Here we are, and we will go up to the place which the Lord has
promised, for we have sinned!”
41 And Moses said, “Now why do you
transgress the command of the Lord? For this will not succeed. 42 Do
not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the Lord is not
among you. 43 For the Amalekites and the
Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the
sword; because you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will
not be with you.”
44 But they presumed to go up to the
mountaintop. Nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of
the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp. 45 Then
the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and
attacked them, and drove them back as far as Hormah.
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