36 The men Moses had sent to explore the land had returned. They had spread complaints among all the Israelites. They had given a bad report about the land.
37 They were responsible for the bad report. So the Lord killed them with a terrible sickness.
38 Only two of the men did not die. They were Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh.
39 When Moses told these things to the Israelites, they were very sad.
40 Early the next morning they started to go toward the beginning of the mountains. They said, “We have sinned. We will go where the Lord told us.”
41 But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? You will not win!
42 Don’t go. The Lord is not with you. You will be beaten by your enemies.