⁷ Now why will you ^(A)discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them?

¹³ Then Paul answered, ^(A)“What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

²⁸ Where can we go up? Our brethren have ^[a]discouraged our hearts, saying, ^(A)“The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the ^(B)Anakim there.” ’

⁹ For ^(A)when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them.

The Bronze Serpent

⁴ Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to ^(A)go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very ^[a]discouraged on the way.

²⁷ Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly ^[a]flows with ^(A)milk and honey, ^(B)and this is its fruit. ²⁸ Nevertheless the ^(C)people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of ^(D)Anak there. ^29 (E)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 ^(F)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 (G)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 ^(H)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 ^(I)all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. ³³ There we saw the ^[b]giants (^(J)the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were ^(K)like^[c] grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were ^(L)in their sight.”

Israel Refuses to Enter Canaan

14 So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people ^(M)wept that night. ^2 (N)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 ^[d]fall by the sword, that our wives and ^(O)children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to one another, ^(P)“Let us select a leader and ^(Q)return to Egypt.”