אֶ֫רֶץ

So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land that they had spied out: “The land we explored devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw there are great in stature.

All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!

Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes

…and said to the whole congregation of Israel, “The land we passed through and explored is an exceedingly good land.

If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us.

Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”

And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

“Yet as surely as I live and as surely as the whole earth is filled with the glory of the LORD,

…not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it.

But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it.

Surely none of you will enter the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

But I will bring your children, whom you said would become plunder, into the land you have rejected—and they will enjoy it.

In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.

So the men Moses had sent to spy out the land, who had returned and made the whole congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report about the land—

…those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD.

Of those men who had gone to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive.

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land that I am giving you as a home

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land to which I am bringing you

…and you eat the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the LORD.

I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.”

Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?

Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!”

…and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions.

They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.

At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!”

The firstfruits of everything in their land that they bring to the LORD will belong to you. Every ceremonially clean person in your household may eat them.

Then the LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

Please let us pass through your land. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will stay on the King’s Highway; we will not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

And at Mount Hor, near the border of the land of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

“Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will not enter the land that I have given the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah.

Then they set out from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, in order to bypass the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient on the journey

“Let us pass through your land. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will stay on the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”

And Israel put him to the sword and took possession of his land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok—but only up to the border of the Ammonites, because it was fortified.

Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land as far as the Arnon.

So Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

But the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, along with all his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”

So they struck down Og, along with his sons and his whole army, until no remnant was left. And they took possession of his land.

…he sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of his people. “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt,” said Balak. “They cover the face of the land and have settled next to me.

So please come now and put a curse on this people, because they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land; for I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed.”

‘Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them away.’”

So Balaam got up the next morning and said to Balak’s princes, “Go back to your homeland, because the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”