The Israelites Talk Against Moses And Aaron
AND when the men returned, they said to Moses:"We came to the land to which you sent us.
It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it.
Yet the people are strong who dwell in the land, and the cities are walled and very large.
We saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites inhabit the south.
The Hittites, the Jebusites and the Amorites live in the mountains,
and the Canaanites have the land by the sea and along the River Jordan."
Caleb, who had been among the men sent to spy out the land, silenced the
people and said: "Let us go at once and take possession of the land, for we are strong
enough to overcome it."
But the others who had gone out with him said:"We are not able to fight those people,
for they are stronger than we."
And they gave an evil report to the children of Israel concerning the land
they had searched out,
saying:"The land which we went to look over is a land that eats up its inhabitants.
All the people we saw in it are men of great height.
We saw there giants, the sons of Anak who was descended from giants.
We looked like grasshoppers by the side of them."
Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried. All the people wept that night.
And the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron,
saying to them:"Would to God that we had died in the land of Egypt,
or that we had died in the wilderness!
Why has the Lord brought us to this land to be killed in battle,
so that our wives and children may be captured?
Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?"
And the people said to one another :"Let us choose a captain,and let us return to Egypt."
Then Caleb and Joshua,who had also been with those who had searched the land,
spoke to all the company of the children of Israel,
saying:"The land which we passed through to look over is an exceedingly good land.
If the Lord is pleased with us,then he will bring us into this land and give it to us,
a land flowing with milk and honey.
But do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they have no defence.
The Lord is with us. So do not fear them."
But the people threatened to stone them.
And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle before all the children of Israel,
and God said to Moses: "How long will this people provoke me? How long will it be before
they believe me, for all the signs which I have shown them? I will strike them with a plague.
I will disinherit them and make a great nation of you alone."
MOSES ASKS GODS FORGIVENESSS
Moses answered the Lord, saying:"Then the Egyptians shall hear of
it and they will tell the inhabitants of this land,
who have heard that you are the Lord of this people.
They have heard that you are seen by them face to face,
that your cloud stands over them,
and that you go before them by daytime in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night.
If now you kill all this people,
the nations which have heard of your fame will say, 'Because the Lord was not able to bring
this people into the land which he promised them, he has destroyed them in the wilderness.'
"Now I beg of you, let the Lord's power be great,
even as you have spoken saying: 'The Lord is patient, and of great mercy, forgiving sin and
wrongdoing.'
Forgive, I beg of you, the sin of this people, according to the greatness of your mercy,
as you have forgiven them from Egypt even until now."
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