Previous Chapter Full Page Full Page Next Chapter

Numbers 14 :: Amplified Bible (AMP)

The People Rebel

Num 14:1

Then all the congregation [of Israel] raised their voices and cried out, and the people wept that night.

Num 14:2All the Israelites murmured [in discontent] against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Oh that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness!
Num 14:3“Why is the LORD bringing us to this land [of Canaan], to fall by the sword? Our wives and [fn]children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”
Num 14:4So they said one to another, “Let us appoint a [new] leader and return to Egypt.”
Num 14:5

Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the Israelites.

Num 14:6Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes [as a sign of grief],
Num 14:7and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land through which we passed as spies is an exceedingly good land.
Num 14:8“If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which [fn]flows with milk and honey.
Num 14:9“Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them.”
Num 14:10But all the congregation said to stone Joshua and Caleb with stones. But the glory and brilliance of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle) before all the sons of Israel.

Moses Pleads for the People

Num 14:11

The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me disrespectfully and reject Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the [miraculous] signs which I have performed among them?

Num 14:12“I will strike them with the pestilence (plague) and dispossess them, and will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”
Num 14:13

But Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up these people from among them,

Num 14:14and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, LORD, are among these people [of Israel], that You, LORD, are seen face to face, while Your cloud stands over them; and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
Num 14:15“Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations (Gentiles) that have heard of Your fame will say,
Num 14:16‘Because the LORD was not able to bring these people into the land which He promised to give them, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’
Num 14:17“But now, please, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, saying,
Num 14:18‘The LORD is slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving wickedness and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting (avenging) the wickedness and guilt of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generations [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers].’
Num 14:19“Please pardon the wickedness and guilt of these people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You have forgiven these people, from Egypt even until now.”

The LORD Pardons and Rebukes

Num 14:20

So the LORD said, “I have pardoned them according to your word;

Num 14:21but indeed as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD.
Num 14:22“Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My [miraculous] signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice,
Num 14:23will by no means see the land which I swore to [give to] their fathers; nor will any who treated me disrespectfully and rejected Me see it.
Num 14:24“But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land into which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.
Num 14:25“Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valley; tomorrow turn and set out for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.”
Num 14:26

The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

Num 14:27“How long shall I put up with this evil congregation who murmur [in discontent] against Me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites, which they are making against Me.
Num 14:28“Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just what you have spoken in My hearing I will most certainly do to you;
Num 14:29your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, even all who were numbered of you, your entire number from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me.
Num 14:30‘Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, not one of you shall enter the land in which I swore [an oath] to settle you.
Num 14:31‘But your children whom you said would become plunder, I will bring in, and they will know the land which you have despised and rejected.
Num 14:32‘But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness.
Num 14:33‘Your sons shall be wanderers and shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness (spiritual infidelity), until your corpses are consumed in the wilderness.
Num 14:34‘According to the number of days in which you spied out the land [of Canaan], forty days, for each day, you shall bear and suffer a year for your sins and guilt, for forty years, and you shall know My displeasure [the revoking of My promise and My estrangement because of your sin].
Num 14:35‘I, the LORD, have spoken. I will most certainly do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed [by war, disease, and plagues], and here they shall die.’”
Num 14:36

As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, and who returned and made all the congregation murmur and complain against him by bringing back a bad report concerning the land,

Num 14:37even those [ten] men who brought back the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the LORD.
Num 14:38But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land.

Israel Repulsed

Num 14:39

Moses spoke the Lord’s words to all the Israelites, and the people mourned greatly.

Num 14:40They got up early in the morning and went up to the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Look, here we are; we have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which the LORD has promised.”
Num 14:41But Moses said, “Why then are you transgressing the commandment of the LORD, when it will not succeed?
Num 14:42“Do not go up, or you will be struck down before your enemies, for the LORD is not among you.
Num 14:43“For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, because you have turned away from following the LORD; therefore the LORD will not be with you.”
Num 14:44But [in their arrogance] they dared to go up to the ridge of the hill country; however, neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses left the camp.
Num 14:45Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and struck the Israelites and scattered them as far as Hormah.
AMP Footnotes
Lit little ones.
See note 13:27.
Translation Copyright Logo

Amplified Bible Copyright (c) 2015 by

The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631 All rights reserved.

For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Numbers Chapter 14 — Additional Translations: