The People Rebel

¹Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people iwept that night. ²And all the people of Israel jgrumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or kwould that we had died in this wilderness! ³Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? lOur wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴And they said to one another, m“Let us choose a leader and ngo back to Egypt.”

⁵Then oMoses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. ⁶pAnd Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes ⁷and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, q“The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. ⁸If rthe Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, sa land that flows with milk and honey. ⁹Only tdo not rebel against the Lord. And udo not fear the people of the land, for vthey are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” ¹⁰wThen all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But xthe glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

¹¹And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people ydespise me? And how long will they not zbelieve in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? ¹²I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I awill make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for the People

¹³But bMoses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, ¹⁴and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. cThey have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and dyour cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, ¹⁶‘It is because the Lord ewas not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ¹⁸f‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, gvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ ¹⁹Please hpardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just ias you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

God Promises Judgment

²⁰Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, jaccording to your word. ²¹But truly, as I live, and as all kthe earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, ²²lnone of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these mten times and have not obeyed my voice, ²³nshall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. ²⁴But my servant oCaleb, because he has a different spirit and has pfollowed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. ²⁵qNow, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, rturn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

²⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²⁷“How long shall sthis wicked congregation grumble against me? tI have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. ²⁸Say to them, u‘As I live, declares the Lord, vwhat you have said in my hearing I will do to you: ²⁹wyour dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and xof all your number, listed in the census yfrom twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, ³⁰not one shall come into the land where I zswore that I would make you dwell, aexcept Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. ³¹bBut your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that cyou have rejected. ³²But as for you, wyour dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. ³³And your children dshall be shepherds in the wilderness eforty years and shall fsuffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. ³⁴gAccording to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, hforty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ ³⁵iI, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all jthis wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

³⁶kAnd the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— ³⁷the men who brought up a bad report of the land—ldied by plague before the Lord. ³⁸Of those men who went to spy out the land, monly Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

Israel Defeated in Battle

³⁹When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people nmourned greatly. ⁴⁰And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, o“Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” ⁴¹pBut Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? ⁴²qDo not go up, rfor the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. ⁴³For there sthe Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” ⁴⁴tBut they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither uthe ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. ⁴⁵Then vthe Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to wHormah.

God Himself Is Judge

A Psalm of nAsaph.

¹oThe Mighty One, God the Lord,

speaks and summons the earth

pfrom the rising of the sun to its setting.

²Out of Zion, qthe perfection of beauty,

rGod shines forth.

³Our God comes; he sdoes not keep silence;1

before him is a devouring tfire,

around him a mighty tempest.

⁴uHe calls to the heavens above

and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

⁵“Gather to me my faithful ones,

who made va covenant with me by sacrifice!”

⁶wThe heavens declare his righteousness,

for xGod himself is judge! Selah

⁷y“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;

O Israel, I will testify against you.

zI am God, your God.

⁸Not for your sacrifices ado I rebuke you;

your burnt offerings are continually before me.

⁹I will not accept a bull from your house

or goats from your folds.

¹⁰For every beast of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹bI know all the birds of the hills,

and all that moves in the field is mine.

¹²“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

cfor the world and its fullness are mine.

¹³Do I eat the flesh of bulls

or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴dOffer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,2

and eperform your vows to the Most High,

¹⁵and fcall upon me in the day of trouble;

I will gdeliver you, and you shall hglorify me.”

¹⁶But to the wicked God says:

“What right have you to recite my statutes

or take my covenant on your lips?

¹⁷iFor you hate discipline,

jand you cast my words behind you.

¹⁸If you see a thief, kyou are pleased with him,

land you keep company with adulterers.

¹⁹“You give your mouth free rein for evil,

mand your tongue frames deceit.

²⁰You sit and speak against your brother;

you slander your own mother's son.

²¹These things you have done, and I nhave been silent;

you thought that I3 was one like yourself.

But now I orebuke you and play the charge before you.

²²“Mark this, then, you who qforget God,

lest I tear you apart, and there be rnone to deliver!

²³The one who soffers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;

to one who torders his way rightly

I will show the usalvation of God!”

Isaiah 3

Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem

¹For behold, the sLord God of hosts

is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah

support and supply,1

all tsupport of bread,

and all support of water;

²uthe mighty man and the soldier,

the judge and the prophet,

the diviner and the elder,

³the captain of fifty

and the man of rank,

the counselor and the skillful magician

and the expert in charms.

⁴vAnd I will make boys their princes,

and infants2 shall rule over them.

⁵wAnd the people will oppress one another,

every one his fellow

and every one his neighbor;

the youth will be insolent to the elder,

and the despised to the honorable.

⁶For xa man will take hold of his brother

in the house of his father, saying:

“You have a cloak;

you shall be our leader,

and this heap of ruins

shall be under your rule”;

⁷in that day he will speak out, saying:

“I will not be a yhealer;3

in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

you shall not make me

leader of the people.”

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled,

and Judah has fallen,

because their zspeech and their deeds are against the Lord,

adefying his glorious presence.4

⁹For the look on their faces bears witness against them;

they proclaim their sin blike Sodom;

they do not hide it.

Woe to them!

cFor they have brought evil on themselves.

¹⁰dTell the righteous that it shall be well with them,

efor they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

¹¹fWoe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,

for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.

¹²My people—ginfants are their oppressors,

and women rule over them.

O my people, hyour guides mislead you

and they have swallowed up5 the course of your paths.

¹³The Lord ihas taken his place to contend;

he stands to judge peoples.

¹⁴The Lord will enter into judgment

with the jelders and princes of his people:

“It is you who khave devoured6 the vineyard,

lthe spoil of the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵What do you mean by mcrushing my people,

by grinding the face of the poor?”

declares the Lord God of hosts.

¹⁶The Lord said:

nBecause othe daughters of Zion are haughty

and walk with outstretched necks,

glancing wantonly with their eyes,

mincing along as they go,

ptinkling with their feet,

¹⁷therefore the Lord qwill strike with a scab

the heads of othe daughters of Zion,

and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away rthe finery of the anklets, the sheadbands, and the tcrescents; ¹⁹the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; ²⁰the uheaddresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; ²¹the signet rings and vnose rings; ²²the wfestal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; ²³the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

²⁴Instead of xperfume there will be rottenness;

and instead of a ybelt, a rope;

and instead of zwell-set hair, abaldness;

and instead of a rich robe, a bskirt of sackcloth;

and cbranding instead of beauty.

²⁵Your men shall fall by the sword

and your mighty men in battle.

²⁶And dher gates shall lament and mourn;

empty, she shall esit on the ground.

Isaiah 4

¹fAnd seven women gshall take hold of fone man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; htake away our reproach.”

The Branch of the Lord Glorified

²In that day ithe branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and jthe fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. ³kAnd he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called lholy, everyone who has mbeen recorded for life in Jerusalem, ⁴when nthe Lord shall have washed away the filth of othe daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by pa spirit of burning.1 ⁵Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies qa cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be ra canopy. ⁶sThere will be a tbooth for shade by day from the heat, and ufor a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

By Faith

¹Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of ethings not seen. ²For by it the people of old received their commendation. ³By faith we understand that the universe was created by fthe word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of gthings that are visible.

⁴By faith hAbel offered to God ia more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And jthrough his faith, though he died, he kstill speaks. ⁵By faith lEnoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. ⁶And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God mmust believe that he exists and mthat he rewards those who seek him. ⁷By faith nNoah, being warned by God concerning oevents as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of pthe righteousness that comes by faith.

⁸By faith qAbraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place rthat he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he went to live in sthe land of promise, as in a foreign land, tliving in tents uwith Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to vthe city that has wfoundations, xwhose designer and builder is God. ¹¹By faith ySarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered zhim faithful who had promised. ¹²Therefore from one man, and ahim as good as dead, were born descendants bas many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

¹³These all died in faith, cnot having received the things promised, but dhaving seen them and greeted them from afar, and ehaving acknowledged that they were fstrangers and exiles on the earth. ¹⁴For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, gthey would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed hto be called their God, for ihe has prepared for them a city.

¹⁷By faith jAbraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, ¹⁸of whom it was said, k“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ¹⁹lHe considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. ²⁰By faith mIsaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. ²¹By faith nJacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, obowing in worship over the head of his staff. ²²By faith pJoseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

²³By faith qMoses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of rthe king's edict. ²⁴By faith Moses, when he was grown up, srefused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, ²⁵tchoosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy uthe fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶vHe considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to wthe reward. ²⁷By faith he xleft Egypt, ynot being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured zas seeing him who is invisible. ²⁸By faith ahe kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

²⁹By faith bthe people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. ³⁰By faith cthe walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹By faith dRahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she ehad given a friendly welcome to the spies.

³²And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of fGideon, gBarak, hSamson, iJephthah, of jDavid and kSamuel and the prophets— ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, lstopped the mouths of lions, ³⁴mquenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, nbecame mighty in war, nput foreign armies to flight. ³⁵oWomen received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. ³⁶Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even pchains and imprisonment. ³⁷qThey were stoned, they were sawn in two,1 rthey were killed with the sword. sThey went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy—twandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

³⁹And all these, uthough commended through their faith, udid not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰since God had provided something better for us, vthat apart from us they should not be made perfect.