And the LORD said unto Moses, "Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with you. And say…unto the people, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and you shall eat flesh: for you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, ‘Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt’: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and you shall eat. You shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that you have despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, ‘Why came we forth out of Egypt?’"

And Moses said, "The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and you have said, ‘I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.’

Shall the flocks and the herds be killed for them, to satisfy them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to satisfy them?"

And the LORD said unto Moses, "Is the LORD'S hand become short? You shall see now whether my word shall come to pass unto you or not." And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.

And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.

And while the flesh was yet between their teeth…the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.

And the people journeyed from Kibrothhattaavah unto Hazeroth; and stayed at Hazeroth. And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, "Send…men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, everyone a ruler among them." And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

And they told Moses…, "We came unto the land where you sent us, and surely it flowed with milk and honey; nevertheless the people be strong that live in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and furthermore we saw the children of Anak there." And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, "The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eats up the inhabitants of it; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature."

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, "Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would God we had died in this wilderness! And why has the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Is it not better for us to return into Egypt?" And they said one to another, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt."

And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, tore their clothes: And they spoke unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, "The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us: a land, which flows with milk and honey. Only rebel not…against the LORD, neither fear…the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not."

But all the congregation said, "Stone them with stones."

And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the complaining of the children of Israel…. Say unto them, as truly as I live, says the LORD, as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you: Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, doubtless you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore to make you live in it, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.

"After the number of the days in which you searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall you bear your sins, even forty years, and you shall know my breach of promise. I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die." And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.

And the men, whom Moses sent to search the land…those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.

Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people stayed in Kadesh.… And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.

And the people were angry with Moses, and spoke, saying, "Would God that we had died when our brothers died before the LORD! And why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink."

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, "Take the rod, and gather…the assembly together, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak…unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give out his water, and you shall bring forth to them water out of the rock: so you shall give the congregation and their beasts drink."

And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, "Hear now, you rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?" And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he struck the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, "Because you believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them."

And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto Mount Hor. And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, "Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah." Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto Mount Hor."

And Moses did as the LORD commanded: and they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.... And Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

And when King Arad the Canaanite, which lived in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners.

And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, "If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities." And the LORD listened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah.

And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul detests this light bread."

And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against you; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." And Moses prayed for the people.

And the LORD said unto Moses, "Make…a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live."

And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of brass, he lived.

And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth.… And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah: And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth: And from Bamoth in the valley, that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks toward Jeshimon.

And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, "Let me pass through your land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well: but we will go along by the king's highway, until we be past your borders."

And Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

REFERENCES

Numbers 11:16, 18-23, 31-35; Numbers 12:16; Numbers 13:1-3, 25, 27a, 28, 32; Numbers 14:1-4, 6-10, 26-31, 34-35, 39, Numbers 14:36-38; Numbers 15:1; Numbers 20:1-3, 5, 7-8, 10-12, 22-25, 27, 28b-29; Numbers 21:1-10, 18b-23.

CHAPTER 13