Numbers 14:26-35

The Israelites’ punishment

²⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ²⁷ How long will this wicked community complain against me? I’ve heard the Israelites’ dissent as they continue to complain against me. ²⁸ Say to them, “As I live,” says the Lord, “just as I’ve heard you say, so I’ll do to you. ²⁹ Your dead bodies will fall in this desert. None of you who were enlisted and were registered from 20 years old and above, who complained against me, ³⁰ will enter the land in which I promised to settle you, with the exception of Caleb, Jephunneh’s son, and Joshua, Nun’s son. ³¹ But your children, whom you said would be taken by force, I’ll bring them in and they will know the land that you rejected. ³² Your bodies, however, will fall in this desert, ³³ and your children will be shepherds in the desert for forty years. They will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies fall in the desert. ³⁴ For as many days as you explored the land, that is, forty days, just as many years you’ll bear your guilt, that is, forty years. This is how you will understand my frustration.” ³⁵ I the Lord have spoken. I will do this to the entire wicked community who gathered against me. They will die in this desert. There they’ll meet their end.