Study Desk

"Then we set out from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness that you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the LORD our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.

And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea.

"And I said to you, 'You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is about to give us.

And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us.

'See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.'

Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.

"Then all of you approached me and said, 'Let us send men ahead of us, so that they may spy out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up, and the cities which we should enter.'

And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.

"The plan pleased me, and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe.

And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:

"Then they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.

And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.

"And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They also brought us back a report and said, 'The land that the LORD our God is about to give us is good.'

And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us.

"Yet you were unwilling to go up; instead you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God;

Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God:

and you grumbled in your tents and said, 'Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us.

And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

'Where can we go up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, by saying, "The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there."'

Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.

"But I said to you, 'Do not be terrified, nor fear them.

Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.

'The LORD your God, who goes before you, will Himself fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;

and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, on all of the road which you have walked until you came to this place.'

And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.

"Yet in spite of all this, you did not trust the LORD your God,

Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God,

who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to make camp, in the fire by night to show you the way by which you should go, and in the cloud by day.

Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.