With God We Shall Do Valiantly

A Song. A Psalm of David.

The People Rebel

14 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people ^(A)wept that night. ² And all the people of Israel ^(B)grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or ^(C)would that we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? ^(D)Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to one another, ^(E)“Let us choose a leader and ^(F)go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then ^(G)Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. ^6 (H)And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, ^(I)“The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If ^(J)the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, ^(K)a land that flows with milk and honey. ⁹ Only ^(L)do not rebel against the Lord. And ^(M)do not fear the people of the land, for ^(N)they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” ^10 (O)Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But ^(P)the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people ^(Q)despise me? And how long will they not ^(R)believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? ¹² I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I ^(S)will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for the People

¹³ But ^(T)Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, ¹⁴ and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. ^(U)They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and ^(V)your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, ¹⁶ ‘It is because the Lord ^(W)was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ^18 (X)‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, ^(Y)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ Please ^(Z)pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just ^(AA)as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

God Promises Judgment

²⁰ Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, ^(AB)according to your word. ²¹ But truly, as I live, and as all ^(AC)the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, ^22 (AD)none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ^(AE)ten times and have not obeyed my voice, ^23 (AF)shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. ²⁴ But my servant ^(AG)Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has ^(AH)followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. ^25 (AI)Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, ^(AJ)turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

²⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²⁷ “How long shall ^(AK)this wicked congregation grumble against me? ^(AL)I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. ²⁸ Say to them, ^(AM)‘As I live, declares the Lord, ^(AN)what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: ^29 (AO)your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and ^(AP)of all your number, listed in the census ^(AQ)from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, ³⁰ not one shall come into the land where I ^(AR)swore that I would make you dwell, ^(AS)except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. ^31 (AT)But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that ^(AU)you have rejected. ³² But as for you, ^(AV)your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. ³³ And your children ^(AW)shall be shepherds in the wilderness ^(AX)forty years and shall ^(AY)suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. ^34 (AZ)According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, ^(BA)forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ ^35 (BB)I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all ^(BC)this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

^36 (BD)And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— ³⁷ the men who brought up a bad report of the land—^(BE)died by plague before the Lord. ³⁸ Of those men who went to spy out the land, ^(BF)only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

Israel Defeated in Battle

³⁹ When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people ^(BG)mourned greatly. ⁴⁰ And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, ^(BH)“Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” ^41 (BI)But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? ^42 (BJ)Do not go up, ^(BK)for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. ⁴³ For there ^(BL)the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” ^44 (BM)But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither ^(BN)the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. ⁴⁵ Then ^(BO)the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to ^(BP)Hormah.

The Abomination of Desolation

¹⁵ “So when you see the abomination of desolation ^(A)spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in ^(B)the holy place (^(C)let the reader understand), ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ^17 (D)Let the one who is on ^(E)the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, ¹⁸ and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. ¹⁹ And ^(F)alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! ²⁰ Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be ^(G)great tribulation, ^(H)such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. ²² And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for ^(I)the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ^23 (J)Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For ^(K)false christs and ^(L)false prophets will arise and ^(M)perform great signs and wonders, ^(N)so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, ^(O)I have told you beforehand. ²⁶ So, if they say to you, ‘Look, ^(P)he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ^27 (Q)For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be ^(R)the coming of the Son of Man. ^28 (S)Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁹ “Immediately after ^(T)the tribulation of those days ^(U)the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and ^(V)the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ Then ^(W)will appear in heaven ^(X)the sign of the Son of Man, and then ^(Y)all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and ^(Z)they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven ^(AA)with power and great glory. ³¹ And ^(AB)he will send out his angels with a loud ^(AC)trumpet call, and they will ^(AD)gather ^(AE)his elect from ^(AF)the four winds, ^(AG)from one end of heaven to the other.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

³² “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. ³³ So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, ^(AH)at the very gates. ^34 (AI)Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ^35 (AJ)Heaven and earth will pass away, but ^(AK)my words will not pass away.

No One Knows That Day and Hour

³⁶ “But concerning that day and hour ^(AL)no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, ^(AM)nor the Son,^{[a] (AN)}but the Father only. ^37 (AO)For as were the days of Noah, ^(AP)so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ^38 (AQ)For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, ^(AR)marrying and giving in marriage, until ^(AS)the day when Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, ^(AT)so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. ^41 (AU)Two women will be grinding ^(AV)at the mill; one will be taken and one left. ⁴² Therefore, ^(AW)stay awake, for you do not know on what day ^(AX)your Lord is coming. ^43 (AY)But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night ^(AZ)the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ^(BA)ready, for ^(BB)the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

⁴⁵ “Who then is ^(BC)the faithful and ^(BD)wise servant,^[b] whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? ^46 (BE)Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷ Truly, I say to you, ^(BF)he will set him over all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master ^(BG)is delayed,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants^[c] and eats and drinks with ^(BH)drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come ^(BI)on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know ⁵¹ and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place ^(BJ)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.