dreadful wilderness which ye saw, by the way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. 20And I said unto you: 'Ye are come unto the hill-country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God giveth unto us. 21Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee; go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of thy fathers, hath spoken unto thee; fear not, neither be dismayed.' 22And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said: 'Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us back word of the way by which we must go up, and the cities unto which we shall come.' 23And the thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe; 24and they turned and went up into the mountains, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us back word, and said: 'Good is the land which the Lord our God giveth unto us.' 26Yet ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God; 27and ye murmured in your tents, and said: 'Because the Lord hated us, He hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28Whither are we going up? our brethren have made our heart to melt, saying: The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.' 29Then I said unto you: 'Dread not, neither be afraid of them. 30The Lord your God who goeth before you, He shall fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes; 31and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bore thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came unto this place. 32Yet in this thing ye do not believe the Lord your God, 33Who went before you in the way, to seek you out a place to pitch your tents in: in fire by night, to show you by what way ye should go, and in the cloud by day.'
34And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and swore, saying: 35'Surely there shall not one of these men, even this evil generation, see the good land, which I swore to give unto your fathers, 36save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, he shall see it; and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children; because he hath wholly followed the Lord.' 37Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying: Thou also shalt not go in thither; 38Joshua the son of Nun, who standeth before thee, he shall go in thither; encourage thou him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39Moreover your little ones, that ye said should be a prey, and your children, that this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. 40But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.' 41Then ye answered and said unto me: 'We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us.' And ye girded on every man his weapons of war, and deemed it a light thing to go up into the hill-country. 42And the Lord said unto me: 'Say unto them: Go not up,
213
