18. ‘The lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. But he does not excuse the guilty. He lays the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.’
19. In keeping with your magnificent, unfailing love, please pardon the sins of this people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”
20. Then the lord said, “I will pardon them as you have requested.
21. But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the lord’s glory,
22. not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice.
23. They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it.
24. But my servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will possess their full share of that land.
25. Now turn around, and don’t go on toward the land where the Amalekites and Canaanites live. Tomorrow you must set out for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.”
26. Then the lord said to Moses and Aaron,
27. “How long must I put up with this wicked community and its complaints about me? Yes, I have heard the complaints the Israelites are making against me.
28. Now tell them this: ‘As surely as I live, declares the lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say.