Exploring Canaan

13 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Send some men to explore^(A) the land of Canaan,^(B) which I am giving to the Israelites.^(C) From each ancestral tribe^(D) send one of its leaders.”

²⁵ At the end of forty days^(A) they returned from exploring the land.^(B)

The People Rebel

14 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.^(A)

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.

³⁴ For forty years^(A)—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land^(B)—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^(C) to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.^(D)”