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The Israelites Are Punished for Complaining

26 The Lord told Moses and Aaron 27-28 to give this message to the people of Israel:

You sinful people have complained against me too many times! Now I swear by my own life that I will give you exactly what you wanted.[a] 29 (A) You will die right here in the desert, and your dead bodies will cover the ground. You have insulted me, and none of you men who are over 20 years old 30 will enter the land that I solemnly promised to give you as your own—only Caleb and Joshua[b] will go in.

31 You were worried that your own children would be captured. But I, the Lord, will let them enter the land you have rejected. 32 You will die here in the desert! 33 (B) Your children will wander around in this desert 40 years, suffering because of your sins, until all of you are dead. 34 I will punish you severely every day for the next 40 years—one year for each day that the land was explored. 35 You sinful people who ganged up against me will die here in the desert.

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Footnotes

  1. 14.27,28 wanted: See verse 2.
  2. 14.30 Caleb and Joshua: Hebrew “Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.”

26 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 27 “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.(A) 28 So tell them, ‘As surely as I live,(B) declares the Lord, I will do to you(C) the very thing I heard you say: 29 In this wilderness your bodies will fall(D)—every one of you twenty years old or more(E) who was counted in the census(F) and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land(G) I swore with uplifted hand(H) to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh(I) and Joshua son of Nun.(J) 31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.(K) 32 But as for you, your bodies will fall(L) in this wilderness. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years,(M) suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 For forty years(N)—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land(O)—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ 35 I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things(P) to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.(Q)

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