The Fourth Book of Moses: Numbers

⭑ Douay-Rheims :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 14 -

(Deuteronomy 1:26–33)

Wherefore the whole multitude crying wept that night.

And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying:

Would God that we had died in Egypt and would God we may die in this vast wilderness, and that the Lord may not bring us into this land, lest we fall by the sword, and our wives and children be led away captives. Is it not better to return into Egypt?

And they said one to another: Let us appoint a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

And when Moses and Aaron heard this, they fell down flat upon the ground before the multitude of the children of Israel.

But Josue the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephone, who themselves also had viewed the land, rent their garments,

And said to all the multitude of the children of Israel: The land which we have gone round is very good:

If the Lord be favourable, he will bring us into it, and give us a land flowing with milk and honey.

Be not rebellious against the Lord: and fear ye not the people of this land, for we are able to eat them up as bread. All aid is gone from them: the Lord is with us, fear ye not.

And when all the multitude cried out, and would have stoned them, the glory of the Lord appeared over the tabernacle of the covenant to all the children of Israel.

And the Lord said to Moses: How long will this people detract me? how long will they not believe me for all the signs that I have wrought before them?

I will strike them therefore with pestilence, and will consume them: but thee I will make a ruler over a great nation, and a mightier than this is.

Moses Intercedes for Israel

And Moses said to the Lord: That the Egyptians, from the midst of whom thou hast brought forth this people,

And the inhabitants of this land, (who have heard that thou, O Lord, art among this people, and art seen face to face, and thy cloud protecteth them, and thou goest before them in a pillar of a cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night,)

May hear that thou hast killed so great a multitude as it were one man and may say:

He could not bring the people into the land for which he had sworn, therefore did he kill them in the wilderness.

Let their the strength of the Lord be magnified, as thou hast sworn, saying:

The Lord is patient and full of mercy, taking away iniquity and wickedness, and leaving no man clear, who visitest the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

Forgive, I beseech thee, the sins of this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast been merciful to them from their going out of Egypt unto this place.

God’s Forgiveness and Judgment

(Deuteronomy 1:34–40)

And the Lord said: I have forgiven according to thy word.

As I live: and the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

But yet all the men that have seen my majesty, and the signs that I have done in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now ten times, and have not obeyed my voice,

Shall not see the land for which I aware to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that hath detracted me behold it.

My servant Caleb, who being full of another spirit hath followed me, I will bring into this land which he hath gone round: and his seed shall possess it.

For the Amalecite and the Chanaanite dwell in the valleys. Tomorrow remove the camp, and return into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel.

Say therefore to them: As I live, saith the Lord: According as you have spoken in my hearing, so will I do to you.

In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against me,

Shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my bend to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun.

But your children, of whom you said, that they should be a prey to the enemies, will I bring in: that they may see the land which you have despised.

Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness.

Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed ill the desert,

According to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land: year shall be counted for a day. And forty years you shall receive your iniquities, and shall know my revenge:

For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against me: in this wilderness shall it faint away and die.

The Plague on the Ten Spies

Therefore all the men, whom Moses had sent to view the land, and who at their return had made the whole multitude to murmur against him, speaking ill of the land that it was naught,

Died and were struck in the sight of the Lord.

But Josue. the son of Nun. and Caleb the son of Jephone lived, of all them that had gone to view the land.

And Moses spoke all these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned exceedingly.

The Defeat at Hormah

(Deuteronomy 1:41–46)

And behold rising up very early in the morning, they went up to the top of the mountain, and said: We are ready to go up to the place, of which the Lord hath spoken: for we have sinned.

And Moses said to them: Why transgress you the word of the Lord, which shall not succeed prosperously with you?

Go not up, for the Lord is not with you: lest you fall before your enemies.

The Amalecite and the Chanaanite are before you, and by their sword you shall fall, because you would not consent to the Lord, neither will the Lord be with you.

But they being blinded went up to the top of the mountain. But the ark of the testament of the Lord and Moses departed not from the camp.

And the Amalecite came down, and the Chanaanite that dwelt in the mountain: and smiting and slaying them pursued them as far as Horma.

(Deuteronomy 1:26–33)

All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness!

Why does the LORD bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?”

They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.”

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

Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.

They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.

If the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey.

Only don’t rebel against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us. Don’t fear them.”

But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. The LORD’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.

The LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? How long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?

I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for Israel

Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them.

They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you LORD are among this people; for you LORD are seen face to face, and 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.

Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,

‘Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’

Now please let the power of the Lord(a) be great, according as you have spoken, saying,

‘The LORD is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’

Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

God’s Forgiveness and Judgment

(Deuteronomy 1:34–40)

The LORD said, “I have pardoned according to your word;

but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the LORD’s glory—

because all those men who have seen my glory and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;

surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it.

But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it.

Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me.

Tell them, ‘As I live, says the LORD, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you.

Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,

surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

But I will bring in your little ones that you said should be captured or killed, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.

But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.

Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness.

After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’

I, the LORD, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”

The Plague on the Ten Spies

The men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land,

even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before the LORD.

But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.

Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.

The Defeat at Hormah

(Deuteronomy 1:41–46)

They rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which the LORD has promised; for we have sinned.”

Moses said, “Why now do you disobey the commandment of the LORD, since it shall not prosper?

Don’t go up, for the LORD isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies.

For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned back from following the LORD; therefore the LORD will not be with you.”

But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of the LORD’s covenant and Moses didn’t depart out of the camp.

Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down even to Hormah.

Footnotes

(a)14:17 The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”