16. “The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.”
17. ‘Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared:
18. “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
19. In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.’
20. The Lord replied, ‘I have forgiven them, as you asked.
21. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth,
22. not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times –
23. not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.
24. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.
25. Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out towards the desert along the route to the Red Sea.’