Numbers 13 - 14, Romans 2, Psalm 95 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Spies Sent into Canaan

13Then ^aYahweh spoke to Moses saying, ²“^aSend out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.” ³So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the ¹command of Yahweh, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel. ⁴These then were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;

⁵from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; ⁶from the tribe of Judah, ^aCaleb the son of Jephunneh; ⁷from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; ⁸from the tribe of Ephraim, ^aHoshea the son of Nun; ⁹from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; ¹⁰from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; ¹¹from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; ¹²from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; ¹³from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; ¹⁴from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; ¹⁵from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

¹⁶These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called ^aHoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.

¹⁷So Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up ¹there into ^athe ²Negev; then go up into the hill country. ¹⁸“And see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. ¹⁹“And how is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are they ¹like open camps or with fortifications? ²⁰“^aAnd how is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? ¹Make an ^beffort then to get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

²¹So they went up and spied out the land from ^athe wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, ¹^,^bat Lebo-hamath. ²²And they had gone up into ^athe Negev and ¹came to Hebron where ^bAhiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the ²descendants of ^cAnak were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before ^dZoan in Egypt.)

²³Then they came to the ¹valley of ²^,^aEshcol and from there cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two men with some of the pomegranates and the figs. ²⁴That place was called the valley of ¹Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there.

The Spies Recount What They Saw

²⁵Then they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, ²⁶and went and came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel ¹in the wilderness of Paran, at ^aKadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷Thus they recounted to him and said, “We went in to the land where you sent us; and ^ait certainly does flow with milk and honey, and ^bthis is its fruit. ²⁸“Nevertheless, ^athe people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw ^bthe ¹descendants of Anak there. ²⁹“Amalek is living in the land of ^athe Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and ^bthe Amorites are living in the hill country, and ^cthe Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.”

³⁰Then Caleb quieted the people ¹before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we are surely able to overcome it.” ³¹But the men who had gone up with him said, “^aWe are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” ³²So they gave out to the sons of Israel ^aa bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land, which we have passed through to spy out on, is ^ba land that devours its ¹inhabitants; and ^call the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. ³³“There also we saw the ^aNephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and ^bwe became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

The People Rebel

14Then all the congregation ¹lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept ²that night. ²And all the sons of Israel ^agrumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “^bWould that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! ³“And why is Yahweh bringing us into this land, ^ato fall by the sword? ^bOur wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴So they said to one another, “^aLet us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

⁵^aThen Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel. ⁶And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; ⁷and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “^aThe land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. ⁸“^aIf Yahweh is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—^ba land which flows with milk and honey. ⁹“But as for you, only ^ado not rebel against Yahweh; and do not ^bfear the people of the land, for they are our ¹bread. Their ²protection has been removed from them, and Yahweh is with us; do not fear them.” ¹⁰^aBut all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then ^bthe glory of Yahweh appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.

Moses Prays for the People

¹¹^aYahweh said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will ^bthey not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have done in their midst? ¹²“I will strike them with ¹^,^apestilence and dispossess them, and I ^bwill make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

¹³^aBut Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your power You brought up this people from their midst, ¹⁴and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Yahweh, are in the midst of this people, for ^aYou, O Yahweh, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵“Now if You put this people to death as one man, ^athen the nations who have heard of Your fame will ¹say, ¹⁶‘Because Yahweh ^awas not able to bring this people into the land which He swore to them, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷“So now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have ¹declared, ¹⁸‘^aYahweh is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but ^bHe will by no means clear the guilty, ^cvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children ¹to the third and the fourth generations.’ ¹⁹“^aPardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

Evil Complainers

²⁰So Yahweh said, “^aI have pardoned them according to your word; ²¹but indeed, ^aas I live, ¹^,^ball the earth will be filled with the glory of Yahweh. ²²“Surely ^aall the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I have done in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet ^bhave put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, ²³^ashall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. ²⁴“But My servant Caleb, ^abecause he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, ¹^,^bI will bring into the land ²which he entered, and his seed shall take possession of it. ²⁵“^aNow the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the ¹Red Sea.”

²⁶Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²⁷“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are ^agrumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are ¹making against Me. ²⁸“Say to them, ‘^aAs I live,’ declares Yahweh, ‘just as ^byou have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; ²⁹^ayour corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all ^byour ¹numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. ³⁰‘Surely you shall not come into the land in which I ¹swore to make you dwell, ^aexcept Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. ³¹‘^aYour little ones, however, who you said would become plunder—I will bring them in, so that they will know the land which you have rejected. ³²‘^aBut as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. ³³‘And your sons shall be shepherds for ^aforty years in the wilderness, and they will ¹suffer for your ²unfaithfulness, until your corpses come to an end in the wilderness. ³⁴‘According to the ^anumber of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your ¹guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. ³⁵‘^aI, Yahweh, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall come to an end, and there they will die.’”

³⁶^aAs for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, ³⁷even ^athose men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a ^bplague before Yahweh. ³⁸But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land.

Israel Struck Down

³⁹Then Moses spoke ^athese words to all the sons of Israel, and ^bthe people mourned greatly. ⁴⁰In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ¹ridge of the hill country, saying, “^aHere we are; we will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised because we have indeed sinned.” ⁴¹But Moses said, “^aWhy then do you trespass against the ¹command of Yahweh, when it will not succeed? ⁴²“^aDo not go up, for Yahweh is not among you, so that you are not ¹defeated before your enemies. ⁴³“For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following Yahweh. And Yahweh will not be with you.” ⁴⁴But they went up heedlessly to the ¹ridge of the hill country; neither ^athe ark of the covenant of Yahweh nor Moses moved from the camp. ⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and beat them down as far as ^aHormah.

God’s Righteous Judgment

2Therefore you are ^awithout excuse, ^bO man, everyone who passes judgment, for in that which ^cyou judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ²And we know that the judgment of God ¹rightly falls upon those who practice such things. ³But do you presume this, ^aO man—who passes judgment on those who practice such things and does the same—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴Or do you think lightly of ^athe riches of His ^bkindness and ^cforbearance and ^dpatience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵But ¹because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart ^ayou are storing up wrath for yourself ^bin the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶^awho will repay to each according to his works: ⁷to those who by ^aperseverance in doing good seek for ^bglory and honor and ^cimmortality, ^deternal life; ⁸but to those who are ^aselfishly ambitious and ^bdo not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and anger. ⁹There will be ^aaffliction and turmoil ¹for every soul of man who works out evil, of the Jew ^bfirst and also of the Greek, ¹⁰but ^aglory and honor and peace to everyone who works good, to the Jew ^bfirst and also to the Greek. ¹¹For ^athere is no partiality with God.

¹²For all who have sinned ¹^,^awithout the Law will also perish ²without the Law, and all who have sinned ³under the Law will be judged ⁴by the Law. ¹³For it is ^anot the hearers ¹of the Law who are ²just before God, but the doers ³of the Law will be justified. ¹⁴For when Gentiles who do not have ¹the Law ^anaturally do the things of the Law, these, not having ²the Law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵in that they demonstrate ^athe work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, ¹⁶on the day when, ^aaccording to my gospel, ^bGod will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

The Jew Is Judged by the Law

¹⁷But if you bear the name “Jew” and ^arely ¹upon the Law and boast in God, ¹⁸and know His will and ¹^,^aapprove the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, ¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰a ¹corrector of the foolish, a teacher of ²the immature, having in the Law ^athe embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, ²¹you, therefore, ^awho teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who ¹preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? ²²You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ^arob temples? ²³You who ^aboast ¹in the Law, through your transgression of the Law, do you dishonor God? ²⁴For “^athe name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles ^bbecause of you,” just as it is written.

²⁵For indeed circumcision is of value if you ^apractice ¹the Law, but if you are a transgressor ²of the Law, ^byour circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶^aSo if ^bthe ¹uncircumcised man ^cobserves the righteous requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? ²⁷And ^ahe who is physically uncircumcised, if he ¹fulfills the Law, will he not ^bjudge you who, through the letter of the Law and circumcision, are a transgressor ²of the Law? ²⁸For ^ahe is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. ²⁹But ^ahe is a Jew who is one inwardly; and ^bcircumcision is that which is of the heart, by the ^cSpirit, not by the letter; ^dand his praise is not from men, but from God.

Let Us Kneel Before Yahweh Our Maker

95Oh come, let us ^asing for joy to Yahweh,Let us make a loud shout to ^bthe rock of our salvation.²Let us ^acome before His presence ^bwith ¹thanksgiving,Let us make a loud shout to Him ^cwith songs of praise.³For Yahweh is a ^agreat GodAnd a great King ^babove all gods,⁴In whose hand are the ^adepths of the earth,The peaks of the mountains are His also.⁵¹The sea is His, for it was He ^awho made it,And His hands formed the dry land.⁶Come, let us ^aworship and bow down,Let us ^bkneel before Yahweh our ^cMaker.⁷For He is our God,And ^awe are the people of His ^bpasture and the sheep of His hand.^cToday, ¹if you hear His voice,⁸Do not harden your hearts, as at ¹^,^aMeribah,As in the day of ²^,^bMassah in the wilderness,⁹“When your fathers ^atried Me,They tested Me, though they had seen My work.¹⁰“For ^aforty years I loathed that generation,And said they are a people who wander in their heart,And they do not know My ways.¹¹“Therefore I ^aswore in My anger,They shall never enter into My ^brest.”