35. I, the lord, have spoken! I will certainly do these things to every member of the community who has conspired against me. They will be destroyed here in this wilderness, and here they will die!”
36. The ten men Moses had sent to explore the land—the ones who incited rebellion against the lord with their bad report—
37. were struck dead with a plague before the lord.
38. Of the twelve who had explored the land, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive.
39. When Moses reported the lord’s words to all the Israelites, the people were filled with grief.
40. Then they got up early the next morning and went to the top of the range of hills. “Let’s go,” they said. “We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to enter the land the lord has promised us.”
41. But Moses said, “Why are you now disobeying the lord’s orders to return to the wilderness? It won’t work.
42. Do not go up into the land now. You will only be crushed by your enemies because the lord is not with you.
43. When you face the Amalekites and Canaanites in battle, you will be slaughtered. The lord will abandon you because you have abandoned the lord.”
44. But the people defiantly pushed ahead toward the hill country, even though neither Moses nor the Ark of the lord’s Covenant left the camp.
45. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those hills came down and attacked them and chased them back as far as Hormah.