26. Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
27. “How long must I put up with this wicked community that keeps complaining about me? I’ve heard the complaints the Israelites are making about me.
28. So tell them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, I solemnly swear I will do everything to you that you said I would do.
29. Your bodies will drop dead in this desert. All of you who are at least 20 years old, who were registered and listed, and who complained about me will die.
30. I raised my hand and swore an oath to give you this land to live in. But none of you will enter it except Caleb (son of Jephunneh) and Joshua (son of Nun).
31. You said your children would be taken as prisoners of war. Instead, I will bring them into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it.
32. However, your bodies will drop dead in this desert.
33. Your children will be shepherds in the desert for 40 years. They will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies dead in the desert.
34. For 40 days you explored the land. So for 40 years—one year for each day—you will suffer for your sins and know what it means for me to be against you.’
35. I, the Lord, have spoken. I swear I will do these things to all the people in this whole wicked community who have joined forces against me. They will meet their end in this desert. Here they will die!”
36. So the men Moses sent to explore the land died in front of the Lord from a plague.
37. They died because they had returned and made the whole community complain about Moses by spreading lies about the land.
38. Of all the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua (son of Nun) and Caleb (son of Jephunneh) survived.
39. When Moses told these things to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly, as if someone had died.
40. Early the next morning they headed into the mountain region. They said, “We have sinned. Now we’ll go to the place the Lord promised.”
41. But Moses asked, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? Your plan won’t work!
42. Don’t go! You will be defeated by your enemies because the Lord is not with you.
43. The Amalekites and Canaanites are there, and you will die in battle. Now that you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.”
44. But they headed into the mountain region anyway, even though the ark of the Lord’s promise and Moses stayed in the camp.