38. Instead, your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will lead the people into the land. Encourage him, for he will lead Israel as they take possession of it.
39. I will give the land to your little ones—your innocent children. You were afraid they would be captured, but they will be the ones who occupy it.
40. As for you, turn around now and go on back through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.’
41. “Then you confessed, ‘We have sinned against the lord! We will go into the land and fight for it, as the lord our God has commanded us.’ So your men strapped on their weapons, thinking it would be easy to attack the hill country.
42. “But the lord told me to tell you, ‘Do not attack, for I am not with you. If you go ahead on your own, you will be crushed by your enemies.’
43. “This is what I told you, but you would not listen. Instead, you again rebelled against the lord’s command and arrogantly went into the hill country to fight.
44. But the Amorites who lived there came out against you like a swarm of bees. They chased and battered you all the way from Seir to Hormah.
45. Then you returned and wept before the lord, but he refused to listen.
46. So you stayed there at Kadesh for a long time.