^29 (A)your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, all ^(B)your ^[a]numbered men according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. ³⁰ By no means will you come into the land where I ^[b]swore to settle you, ^(C)except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. ^31 (D)Your children, however, whom you said would become plunder—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. ^32 (E)But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Also, your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for ^(F)forty years, and they will ^[c]suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your bodies perish in the wilderness. ³⁴ In accordance with the ^(G)number of days that you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall suffer the punishment for your ^[d]guilt a year, that is, forty years, and you will know My opposition. ^35 (H)I, the Lord, have spoken, I certainly will do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. They shall be worn out in this wilderness, and there they shall die.’”

^36 (I)As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, and who returned and led all the congregation to grumble against him by bringing a bad report about the land, ^37 (J)those men who brought the bad report of the land also died by a ^(K)plague in the presence of the Lord. ³⁸ But 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

³⁹ Now when Moses spoke ^(L)these words to all the sons of Israel, ^(M)the people mourned greatly. ⁴⁰ In the morning, however, they got up early and went up to the ^[e]ridge of the hill country, saying, “^(N)Here we are; and we will go up to the place which the Lord has ^[f]promised, for ^[g]we have sinned.” ⁴¹ But Moses said, “^(O)Why then are you ^(P)violating the ^[h]command of the Lord, when doing so will not succeed? ^42 (Q)Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, ^[i]to prevent you from being defeated ^[j]by your enemies. ⁴³ For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there ^[k]to confront you, and you will fall by the sword, since you have turned back from following the Lord. And the Lord will not be with you.” ⁴⁴ But they foolishly dared to go up to the ^[l]ridge of the hill country; neither ^(R)the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and scattered them as far as ^(S)Hormah.

^37 (A)those men who brought the bad report of the land also died by a ^(B)plague in the presence of the Lord.

⁶⁵ For the Lord had said ^[a]of them, “^(A)They shall certainly die in the wilderness.” And not a man was left of them, ^(B)except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

¹⁷ And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, ^(A)whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness?

⁵ Now I want to ^(A)remind you, though ^(B)you know everything once and for all, that ^[a]the Lord, ^(C)after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, ^[b]subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.