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:
35. You people of this generation are evil, and I refuse to let you go into the good land that I promised your ancestors.
36. Caleb son of Jephunneh is the only one of your generation that I will allow to go in. He obeyed me completely, so I will give him and his descendants the land he explored.
37. The Lord was even angry with me because of you people, and he said, “Moses, I won't let you go into the land either.
38. Instead, I will let Joshua your assistant lead Israel to conquer the land. So encourage him.”
39. Then the Lord spoke to you again:People of Israel, you said that your innocent young children would be taken prisoner in the battle for the land. But some day I will let them go into the land, and with my help they will conquer it and live there.
40. Now, turn round and go back into the desert by way of Red Sea Road.
41. Then you told me, “We disobeyed the Lord our God, but now we want to obey him. We will go into the hill country and fight, just as he told us to do.” So you picked up your weapons, thinking it would be easy to take over the hill country.
42. But the Lord said, “Moses, warn them not to go into the hill country. I won't help them fight, and their enemies will defeat them.”