23. It seemed like a good idea, so I chose twelve men, one from each tribe.
24. They explored the hill country as far as Bunch Valley
25. and even brought back some of the fruit. They said, “The Lord our God is giving us good land.”
26. You did not want to go into the land, and you refused to obey the Lord your God.
27. You stayed in your tents and grumbled, “The Lord must hate us—he brought us out of Egypt, just so he could hand us over to the Amorites and get rid of us.
28. We are afraid, because the men who explored the land told us that the cities are large, with walls that reach to the sky. The people who live there are taller and stronger than we are, and some of them are Anakim. We have nowhere to go.”
29. Then I said, “Don't worry!
30. The Lord our God will lead the way. He will fight on our side, just as he did when we saw him do all those things to the Egyptians.
31. And you know that the Lord has taken care of us the whole time we've been in the desert, just as you might carry one of your children.”
32. But you still would not trust the Lord,
33. even though he had always been with us in the desert. During the daytime, the Lord was in the cloud, leading us in the right direction and showing us where to camp. And at night, he was there in the fire.
34. You had made the Lord angry, and he said: