25. Then, taking along some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, “The land the Lord, our God, is giving us is good.”
26. But you refused to go up; you defied the command of the Lord, your God.
27. You set to murmuring in your tents, “Out of hatred for us the Lord has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the power of the Amorites and destroy us.
28. What shall we meet with up there? Our men have made our hearts melt by saying, ‘The people are bigger and taller than we, and their cities are large and fortified to the sky; besides, we saw the Anakim there.’”
29. But I said to you, “Have no dread or fear of them.
30. The Lord, your God, who goes before you, is the one who will fight for you, just as he acted with you before your very eyes in Egypt,
31. as well as in the wilderness, where you saw how the Lord, your God, carried you, as one carries his own child, all along your journey until you arrived at this place.”
32. Despite this, you would not trust the Lord, your God,
33. who journeys before you to find you a place to camp—by night in the fire, and by day in the cloud, to show you the way to go.
34. When the Lord heard your words, he was angry, and took an oath:
35. Not a single one of this evil generation shall look upon the good land I swore to give to your ancestors,
36. except Caleb, son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, for to him and to his descendants I will give the land he trod upon, because he has fully followed the Lord.
37. The Lord was angered against me also on your account, and said, You shall not enter there either,
38. but Joshua, son of Nun, your attendant, shall enter. Encourage him, for he is the one who is to give Israel its possession.
39. Your little ones, who you said would become plunder, and your children, who as yet do not know good from evil—they shall enter there; to them I will give it, and they shall take possession of it.
40. But as for yourselves: turn back and proceed into the wilderness on the Red Sea road.
41. In reply you said to me, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up ourselves and fight, just as the Lord, our God, commanded us.” And each of you girded on his weapons, making light of going up into the hill country.
42. But the Lord said to me, Warn them: Do not go up and fight—for I will not be in your midst—lest you be beaten down before your enemies.