1 Then all the congregation {edah: assembled community} lifted up their voice, and the people {am: gathered nation} wept that night.
2 And all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died {matnu: perished, ceased to live} in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness {midbar: arid place}.”
3 And why is the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Guide} bringing us to this land {haaretz: promised territory} to fall by the sword and to have our wives and our little ones become plunder? Would it not be good for us to return to Egypt?
4 And each man said to his brother, “Let us appoint a leader {rosh: head, chief} and let us return {nashuvah: go back by turning} to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces {peneihem: face-down posture} before all the assembly {kehal: gathered assembly} of the congregation of the sons of Israel.
6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among the explorers {hatarim: spies} of the land, tore their garments {bigdeihem: mourning gesture}.
7 And they said to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, “The land {haaretz: God-promised territory} we passed through to spy out is very good, indeed exceedingly {meod: intensely}.”
8 If the LORD {YHWH, Gracious Elector} is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which is flowing {zavat: abundant supply} with milk and honey.
9 Surely, do not rebel against the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Defender}, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread {lechem: sustenance}. Their shadow has departed from over them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.
10 And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the LORD {YHWH, Manifest Presence} appeared in the tent of meeting {ohel moed: sacred assembly place} to all the sons of Israel.
11 And the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} said to Moses, “How long will this people despise Me {yenatzuni: treat with contempt}? And how long will they not believe in Me in all the signs that I have done among them?”
12 I {YHWH, Executor of Judgment} will strike them down with a plague {dever: divine pestilence} and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.
13 And Moses said to the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Defender}, “The Egyptians {Mitzrayim: land of bondage} will hear, for You have brought up this people by Your power from their midst.”
14 And they will tell the inhabitants of this land, “They have heard that You, LORD {YHWH, Manifest Presence}, are in the midst {bekerev: inner presence} of this people, that eye to eye You, LORD, have appeared, and Your cloud is standing over them, and in a pillar of cloud You go before them by day, and in a pillar of fire at night.”
15 And if You {YHWH, Righteous Judge} put to death this people as one man, then the nations {hagoyim: non-Israelite peoples} who have heard of Your report will say,
16 Because of the lack of ability {yekholet: incapacity} of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Sovereign} to bring this people into the land that He swore to them, He slaughtered them in the wilderness.
17 And now, let the strength of the Lord {Adonai, Sovereign Master} be great, just as you have spoken {dibarta: declared with authority}:
18 The LORD {YHWH, Patient and Faithful} is slow to anger and abundant in steadfast love {chesed: covenant loyalty}, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but He will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations.
19 Please forgive {selach-na: merciful plea} the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of Your {YHWH, Compassionate Sustainer} mercy, and just as You have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now.
20 And the LORD {YHWH, Merciful Judge} said, “I have forgiven {salakhti: granted pardon} according to your word.”
21 But truly, as I live {chai: living oath}, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD {YHWH, Majestic Presence}.
22 Because all the men who have seen My {YHWH, Covenant Judge} glory {kevodi: weighty presence} and My signs that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness have tested Me these ten times and have not listened to My voice.
23 None of them will see the land {ha’aretz: sworn inheritance} that I {nishba’ti: Divine Oath Giver} swore to their fathers, and all who despise Me will not see it.
24 But my {YHWH, Sovereign King} servant Caleb, because there was another spirit {ruach: steadfast resolve} with him and he fully followed Me, I will bring him into the land that he came to, and his descendants will inherit it.
25 For the Amalekite and the Canaanite are dwelling in the valley {emeq: narrow gorge}. Tomorrow, turn and set out for yourselves into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds {yam-suf: reed sea}.
26 And the LORD {YHWH: Divine Speaker} spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying {leʼemor: introductory command}.
27 How long shall this evil congregation {edah: rebellious assembly} continue to grumble against Me {YHWH, Patient Sustainer}? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel.
28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD {YHWH, Divine Judge}, just as you have spoken in My hearing {oznai: attentive presence}, so I will do to you.’
29 In this wilderness {midbar: arid wasteland} your corpses will fall—every one of your counted ones, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me {YHWH, Righteous Judge}.
30 Not one of you shall enter the land that I {YHWH, Covenantal Oath-Swearer} lifted up My hand {yad: solemn oath} to settle you in it, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
31 But your little ones {tappekhem: most vulnerable}, whom you said would be prey, I {YHWH, Deliverer of the Vulnerable} will bring them in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
32 But as for you, your corpses {piggar: physical bodies} will fall in this wilderness {midbar: arid wasteland}.
33 And your children will be shepherds {roim: nomadic guardians} in the wilderness for forty years, and they will bear the burden of your unfaithfulness {znut: covenant betrayal} until your corpses are finished in the wilderness.
34 By the number of the days that you explored the land—forty days, a day for a year, a day for a year—you will bear your iniquities for forty years, and you shall know my {YHWH, Righteous Judge} opposition {te-nu-a-ti: estrangement}.
35 I, the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Enforcer}, have spoken: surely this is what I will do to all this evil congregation {edah: assembled group} that has banded together against Me; in this wilderness they will be finished, and there they will die.
36 And the men whom Moses had sent to explore the land returned and provoked all the congregation {edah: assembled community} to complain against him by spreading a bad report {dibb’ah: slanderous accusation} about the land.
37 And the men who brought out an evil report {dibbat: slanderous accusation} of the land died by the plague before the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}.
38 But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive {chayu: continued in life} from among those men who went to scout {latur: survey and evaluate} the land.
39 And Moses {Moshe: appointed leader} spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people mourned {vayitabbelu: communal lament} greatly.
40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain to say, “Here we are, and we will go up to the place that the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Keeper} has spoken about, for we have sinned {chatanu: missed the mark}.”
41 And Moses said, “Why is this {lāmāh zēh: what reason for this}—are you transgressing the command of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Authority}? For it will not succeed.”
42 Do not go up, because the LORD {YHWH, Present Defender} is not among you {beqirbekhem: within your midst}, lest you be struck down before your enemies.
43 For the Amalekite and the Canaanite are there before you, and you will fall by the sword, therefore you have turned away {shavtem: covenant turning} from the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}, and the LORD will not be with you.
44 Yet they went up defiantly toward the summit of the mountain, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Witness} and Moses {Moshe: chosen leader} did not depart from the midst of the camp.
45 Then the Amalekite and the Canaanite, who lived in that mountain {har: hill country}, came down and struck them and beat {yaketum: crush completely} them down all the way to Hormah.