1:18 So I instructed you at that time regarding everything you should do. 1:19 Then we left Horeb and passed through all that immense, forbidding wilderness that you saw on the way to the Amorite hill country as the Lord our God had commanded us to do, finally arriving at Kadesh Barnea. 1:20 Then I said to you, “You have come to the Amorite hill country which the Lord our God is about to give 24 us. 1:21 Look, he 25 has placed the land in front of you! 26 Go up, take possession of it, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to do. Do not be afraid or discouraged!” 1:22 So all of you approached me and said, “Let’s send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there.” 1:23 I thought this was a good idea, 27 so I sent 28 twelve men from among you, one from each tribe. 1:24 They left and went up to the hill country, coming to the Eshcol Valley, 29 which they scouted out. 1:25 Then they took 30 some of the produce of the land and carried it back down to us. They also brought a report to us, saying, “The land that the Lord our God is about to give us is good.”
1:26 You were not willing to go up, however, but instead rebelled against the Lord your God. 31 1:27 You complained among yourselves privately 32 and said, “Because the Lord hates us he brought us from Egypt to deliver us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us! 1:28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage 33 by describing people who are more numerous 34 and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven 35 itself! Moreover, they said they saw 36 Anakites 37 there.” 1:29 So I responded to you, “Do not be terrified 38 of them! 1:30 The Lord your God is about to go 39 ahead of you; he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt 40 1:31 and in the desert, where you saw him 41 carrying you along like a man carries his son. This he did everywhere you went until you came to this very place.” 1:32 However, through all this you did not have confidence in the Lord your God, 1:33 the one who was constantly going before you to find places for you to set up camp. He appeared by fire at night and cloud by day, to show you the way you ought to go.
1:34 When the Lord heard you, he became angry and made this vow: 42 1:35 “Not a single person 43 of this evil generation will see the good land that I promised to give to your ancestors! 1:36 The exception is Caleb son of Jephunneh; 44 he will see it and I will give him and his descendants the territory on which he has walked, because he has wholeheartedly followed me.” 45 1:37 As for me, the Lord was also angry with me on your account. He said, “You also will not be able to go there. 1:38 However, Joshua son of Nun, your assistant, 46 will go. Encourage him, because he will enable Israel to inherit the land. 47 1:39 Also, your infants, who you thought would die on the way, 48 and your children, who as yet do not know good from bad, 49 will go there; I will give them the land and they will possess it. 1:40 But as for you, 50 turn back and head for the desert by the way to the Red Sea.” 51
1:41 Then you responded to me and admitted, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will now go up and fight as the Lord our God has told us to do.” So you each put on your battle gear and prepared to go up to the hill country. 1:42 But the Lord told me: “Tell them this: ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you and you will be defeated by your enemies.’” 1:43 I spoke to you, but you did not listen. Instead you rebelled against the Lord 52 and recklessly went up to the hill country. 1:44 The Amorite inhabitants of that area 53 confronted 54 you and chased you like a swarm of bees, striking you down from Seir as far as Hormah. 55 1:45 Then you came back and wept before the Lord, but he 56 paid no attention to you whatsoever. 57 1:46 Therefore, you remained at Kadesh for a long time – indeed, for the full time. 58