25. They took some of the region’s fruit with them and brought it back to us. They reported, “The land that the Lord our God is giving us is good.”
26. But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to go.
27. You complained in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us! That’s why he brought us out of Egypt. He wanted to hand us over to the Amorites so that they could destroy us!
28. Where are we going anyway? Our own men have discouraged us by saying, ‘The people there are taller and stronger than we are. The cities are big with sky-high walls! We even saw the people of Anak there.’ ”
29. Then I said to you, “Don’t tremble. Don’t be afraid of them.
30. The Lord your God, who is going ahead of you, will fight for you as you saw him fight for you in Egypt
31. and in the desert.” There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as parents carry their children. He carried you wherever you went until you came to this place.
32. In spite of this, you didn’t trust the Lord your God,
33. who went ahead of you to find places for you to camp. He appeared in a column of fire at night and in a column of smoke during the day to show you which route to take.
34. When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and took this oath:
35. “Not one of these evil people will ever see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors,
36. except Caleb, son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give the land that he set his feet on to him and his descendants, because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord.”
37. The Lord became angry with me because of you. He said, “You won’t go there either.
38. But your assistant Joshua, son of Nun, will go there. Encourage him, because he will help Israel take possession of the land.
39. Although you thought the little children would be captured in war, your children, who are still too young to know the difference between good and evil, will enter that land. I will give it to them, and they will take possession of it.
40. Turn around, go back into the desert, and follow the road that goes to the Red Sea.”
41. You responded, “We have sinned against the Lord. We’ll go and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us to do.” Each of you armed yourself for war, thinking you could easily invade the mountain region.
42. But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t go and fight, because I won’t be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’ ”