Numbers 12; Numbers 13; Numbers 14

1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife (he had married a Cushite).

2 They said, "Is Moses the only one the Lord speaks through? Doesn't he also speak through us?" And the Lord heard this.

3 (Now Moses was very humble. He was the least proud person on earth.)

4 So the Lord suddenly spoke to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, "All three of you come to the Meeting Tent." So they went.

5 The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance to the Tent. He called to Aaron and Miriam, and they both came near.

6 He said, "Listen to my words: When a prophet is among you, I, the Lord, will show myself to him in visions; I will speak to him in dreams.

7 But this is not true with my servant Moses. I trust him to lead all my people.

8 I speak face to face with him -- clearly, not with hidden meanings. He has even seen the form of the Lord. You should be afraid to speak against my servant Moses."

9 The Lord was very angry with them, and he left.

10 When the cloud lifted from the Tent and Aaron turned toward Miriam, she was as white as snow; she had a skin disease.

11 Aaron said to Moses, "Please, my master, forgive us for our foolish sin.

12 Don't let her be like a baby who is born dead. (Sometimes a baby is born with half of its flesh eaten away.)"

13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, "God, please heal her!"

14 The Lord answered Moses, "If her father had spit in her face, she would have been shamed for seven days, so put her outside the camp for sev-en days. After that, she may come back."

15 So Miriam was put outside of the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until she came back.

16 After that, the people left Hazeroth and camped in the Desert of Paran.

1 The Lord said to Moses,

2 "Send men to explore the land of Canaan, which I will give to the Israelites. Send one leader from each tribe."

3 So Moses obeyed the Lord's command and sent the Israelite leaders out from the Desert of Paran.

4 These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur;

5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;

6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;

8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;

9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;

10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;

11 from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi;

12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;

13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;

14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;

15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.

16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the new name Joshua.)

17 Moses sent them to explore Canaan and said, "Go through southern Canaan and then into the mountains.

18 See what the land looks like. Are the people who live there strong or weak? Are there a few or many?

19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What about the towns they live in -- are they open like camps, or do they have walls?

20 What about the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees there? Try to bring back some of the fruit from that land." (It was the season for the first grapes.)

21 So they went up and explored the land, from the Desert of Zin all the way to Rehob by Lebo Hamath.

22 They went through the southern area to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak lived. (The city of Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

23 In the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch of a grapevine that had one bunch of grapes on it and carried that branch on a pole between two of them. They also got some pomegranates and figs.

24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because the Israelites cut off the bunch of grapes there.

25 After forty days of exploring the land, the men returned to the camp.

26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and all the Israelites at Kadesh, in the Desert of Paran. The men reported to them and showed everybody the fruit from the land.

27 They told Moses, "We went to the land where you sent us, and it is a fertile land! Here is some of its fruit.

28 But the people who live there are strong. Their cities are walled and very large. We even saw some Anakites there.

29 The Amalekites live in the southern area; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountains; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan River."

30 Then Caleb told the people near Moses to be quiet, and he said, "We should certainly go up and take the land for ourselves. We can certainly do it."

31 But the men who had gone with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are."

32 And those men gave the Israelites a bad report about the land they explored, saying, "The land that we explored is too large to conquer. All the people we saw are very tall.

33 We saw the Nephilim people there. (The Anakites come from the Nephilim people.) We felt like grasshoppers, and we looked like grasshoppers to them."

1 That night all the people in the camp began crying loudly.

2 All the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron, and all the people said to them, "We wish we had died in Egypt or in this desert.

3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land to be killed with swords? Our wives and children will be taken away. We would be better off going back to Egypt."

4 They said to each other, "Let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt."

5 Then Moses and Aaron bowed facedown in front of all the Israelites gathered there.

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

7 They said to all of the Israelites, "The land we explored is very good.

8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land and give us that fertile land.

9 Don't turn against the Lord! Don't be afraid of the people in that land! We will chew them up. They have no protection, but the Lord is with us. So don't be afraid of them."

10 Then all the people talked about killing them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the Meeting Tent to all the Israelites.

11 The Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people ignore me? How long will they not believe me in spite of the miracles I have done among them?

12 I will give them a terrible sickness and get rid of them. But I will make you into a great nation that will be stronger than they are."

13 Then Moses said to the Lord, "The Egyptians will hear about it! You brought these people from there by your great power,

14 and the Egyptians will tell this to those who live in this land. They have already heard about you, Lord. They know that you are with your people and that you were seen face to face. They know that your cloud stays over your people and that you lead your people with that cloud during the day and with fire at night.

15 If you put these people to death all at once, the nations who have heard about your power will say,

16 'The Lord was not able to bring them into the land he promised them. So he killed them in the desert.'

17 "So show your strength now, Lord. Do what you said:

18 'The Lord doesn't become angry quickly, but he has great love. He forgives sin and law breaking. But the Lord never forgets to punish guilty people. When parents sin, he will also punish their children, their grandchildren, their great-grandchildren, and their great-great-grandchildren.'

19 By your great love, forgive these people's sin, just as you have forgiven them from the time they left Egypt until now."

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

21 But, as surely as I live and as surely as my glory fills the whole earth, I make this promise:

22 All these men saw my glory and the miracles I did in Egypt and in the desert, but they disobeyed me and tested me ten times.

23 So not one of them will see the land I promised to their ancestors. No one who rejected me will see that land.

24 But my servant Caleb thinks differently and follows me completely. So I will bring him into the land he has already seen, and his children will own that land.

25 Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, leave tomorrow and follow the desert road toward the Red Sea."

26 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

27 "How long will these evil people complain about me? I have heard the grumbling and complaining of these Israelites.

28 So tell them, 'This is what the Lord says. I heard what you said, and as surely as I live, I will do those very things to you:

29 You will die in this desert. Every one of you who is twenty years old or older and who was counted with the people -- all of you who complained against me -- will die.

30 Not one of you will enter the land where I promised you would live; only Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun will go in.

31 You said that your children would be taken away, but I will bring them into the land to enjoy what you refused.

32 As for you, you will die in this desert.

33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years. Because you were not loyal, they will suffer until you lie dead in the desert.

34 For forty years you will suffer for your sins -- a year for each of the forty days you explored the land. You will know me as your enemy.'

35 I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will certainly do these things to all these evil people who have come together against me. So they will all die here in this desert."

36 The men Moses had sent to explore the land had returned and spread complaints among all the people. They had given a bad report about the land.

37 The men who gave a very bad report died; the Lord killed them with a terrible sickness.

38 Only two of the men who explored the land did not die -- Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh.

39 When Moses told these things to all the Israelites, they were very sad.

40 Early the next morning they started to go toward the top of the mountains, saying, "We have sinned. We will go where the Lord told us."

41 But Moses said, "Why are you disobeying the Lord's command? You will not win!

42 Don't go, because the Lord is not with you and you will be beaten by your enemies.

43 You will run into the Amalekites and Canaanites, who will kill you with swords. You have turned away from the Lord, so the Lord will not be with you."

44 But they were proud. They went toward the top of the mountains, but Moses and the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord did not leave the camp.

45 The Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those mountains came down and attacked the Israelites and beat them back all the way to Hormah.