The People Complain
1 All night long the people cried out in distress. 2 They complained against Moses and Aaron, and said, “It would have been better to die in Egypt or even here in the wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord taking us into that land? We will be killed in battle, and our wives and children will be captured. Wouldn't it be better to go back to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt!”
5 Then Moses and Aaron bowed to the ground in front of all the people. 6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of the spies, tore their clothes in sorrow 7 and said to the people, “The land we explored is an excellent land. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will take us there and give us that rich and fertile land. 9 Do not rebel against the Lord and don't be afraid of the people who live there. We will conquer them easily. The Lord is with us and has defeated the gods who protected them; so don't be afraid.” 10 The whole community was threatening to stone them to death, but suddenly the people saw the dazzling light of the Lord's presence appear over the Tent.
Moses Prays for the People
11 The Lord said to Moses, “How much longer will these people reject me? How much longer will they refuse to trust in me, even though I have performed so many miracles among them? 12 I will send an epidemic and destroy them, but I will make you the father of a nation that is larger and more powerful than they are!”
13 But Moses said to the Lord, “You brought these people out of Egypt by your power. When the Egyptians hear what you have done to your people, 14 they will tell it to the people who live in this land. These people have already heard that you, Lord, are with us, that you appear in plain sight when your cloud stops over us, and that you go before us in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you kill all your people, the nations who have heard of your fame will say 16 that you killed your people in the wilderness because you were not able to bring them into the land you promised to give them. 17 So now, Lord, I pray, show us your power and do what you promised when you said, 18 ‘I, the Lord, am not easily angered, and I show great love and faithfulness and forgive sin and rebellion. Yet I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents.’ 19 And now, Lord, according to the greatness of your unchanging love, forgive, I pray, the sin of these people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”
20 The Lord answered, “I will forgive them, as you have asked. 21 But I promise that as surely as I live and as surely as my presence fills the earth, 22 none of these people will live to enter that land. They have seen the dazzling light of my presence and the miracles that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, but they have tried my patience over and over again and have refused to obey me. 23 They will never enter the land which I promised to their ancestors. None of those who have rejected me will ever enter it. 24 But because my servant Caleb has a different attitude and has remained loyal to me, I will bring him into the land which he explored, and his descendants will possess the land 25 in whose valleys the Amalekites and the Canaanites now live. Turn back tomorrow and go into the wilderness in the direction of the Gulf of Aqaba.”
The Lord Punishes the People for Complaining
26 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 27 “How much longer are these wicked people going to complain against me? I have heard enough of these complaints! 28 Now give them this answer: ‘I swear that as surely as I live, I will do to you just what you have asked. I, the Lord, have spoken. 29 You will die and your corpses will be scattered across this wilderness. Because you have complained against me, none of you over twenty years of age will enter that land. 30 I promised to let you live there, but not one of you will, except Caleb and Joshua. 31 You said that your children would be captured, but I will bring them into the land that you rejected, and it will be their home. 32 You will die here in this wilderness. 33 Your children will wander in the wilderness for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last one of you dies. 34 You will suffer the consequences of your sin for forty years, one year for each of the forty days you spent exploring the land. You will know what it means to have me against you! 35 I swear that I will do this to you wicked people who have gathered together against me. Here in the wilderness every one of you will die. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
36-37 The men Moses had sent to explore the land brought back a false report which caused the people to complain against the Lord. And so the Lord struck them with a disease, and they died. 38 Of the twelve spies only Joshua and Caleb survived.
The First Attempt to Invade the Land
(Deuteronomy 1.41-46)39 When Moses told the Israelites what the Lord had said, they mourned bitterly. 40 Early the next morning they started out to invade the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go to the place which the Lord told us about. We admit that we have sinned.”
41 But Moses said, “Then why are you disobeying the Lord now? You will not succeed! 42 Don't go. The Lord is not with you, and your enemies will defeat you. 43 When you face the Amalekites and the Canaanites, you will die in battle; the Lord will not be with you, because you have refused to follow him.”
44 Yet they still dared to go up into the hill country, even though neither the Lord's Covenant Box nor Moses left the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived there attacked and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hormah.
Bathu banodudumwa ngekwa Mushe na Aroni
1 Ipapo gubungano lose lakadila guwo, bakalala belila busiku gose. 2 Bakabe beng'ong'ola ngekwa Mushe na Aroni beti, “Kobe kuyita atakabe takafila mu shango ye Egipiti, pana kuti tiwofila mu tjilambanyika itjetji! 3 Apa ini Yahwe bangatizhisa mu shango iyeyi, kuwobulawa nge thumo kene? Bakadzi bedu ne bana bedu bawotapiwa, apa akungayite atingabgwilila ku Egipiti kene?”
4 Ngono bakalebesana bakati, “Atizwishalulileni ntungamili tibgwilileni ku Egipiti!” 5 Ndizo Mushe na Aroni bakathigama bakakotamisa misholo mbeli kwe gubungano lose le Baiziraela. 6 Ngono Joshuwa nkololo wa Nuni na Khalebu nkololo wa Jefune, bamwe be bakabe banoshola shango, bakapalula zwiambalo zwabo. 7 Bakadwa gubungano lose le Baiziraela bakati, “Shango yatakapalama kunoishola i shango yakanaka kwazo kwazo. 8 Ha Yahwe bangatishathila, banowotikotosa muili bakatipa iyo, shango inowunga nkaka ne butji gwe nyutji. 9 Koga musitongopandukila Yahwe, kakale musitongotja bathu be shango iyeyije, bamu maboko edu, kubakiligwa kwabo kwakadusiwa mubali, kakale musitongobatja, Yahwe banaswi.” 10 Ipapo gubungano lose likalebesana kuti libakikitidze nge mabgwe bafe. Ngono tjinyolotjo tjedza tja Yahwe tjikazwilakidza pezhugwi kwe nshasha we bushanganilo mu bathu bose be Iziraela.
Mushe unotembezelela Baiziraela
11 Yahwe bakadwa Mushe bakati, “Apa kowodza kukabe lini bathu ibaba bendilengudza kene? Kowodza kukabe lini basingagale moyo mundili, pezhugwi kwe zwilakidzo zose zwingapa zwandakabathamila kene? 12 Ndowobabulaya nge bugwele, ndibe ndibadusa mu thaka, ngono ndowothama ludzi lukulu ndiwe kakale gwakasima kubapinda.”
13 Mushe kadwa Yahwe kati, “Makadusa bathu ibaba mu Egipiti nge simba lenyu; ngono ha Baegipiti bangahwa tjamathama bathu benyu, 14 banowobudza bagali be shango iyeyi. Bathu ibaba bakahwa kale kuti munaswi, imwi Yahwe ne kuti mobong'wa muli patjena ha gole lenyu lima lakaangama pezhugwi kwedu ne kuti moyenda makatitungamila nge gole kuli masikati nenge moto kuli busiku. 15 Ngono ngwenu, ha mungalobesa bathu bose ibaba, shule kwa ikoku zwitjaba zwakahwa ngekwe tjibombo tjenyu zowoti, 16 ‘Ngoti Yahwe bakong'wa kunokotosa bathu ibaba mu shango yabakatuna beti banowobapa iyo, ndizo babalobesa mu tjilambanyika.’ 17 Ngono ngwenu, ndomutembezela Tetshi wangu, thamani kuti simba la Yahwe libe gulu sekwa makagadzabgwe, muti, 18 ‘Yahwe banononoka kuzhala bushongola, kakale bazhele ludo gusingazunguzike, banozwiibhatigwa jinyo ne bupanduki, koga abatowosunungula una nlandu ndodwa, banolobela bana matjinyo abo tate babo kunoti ku tjizekugwana tje butatu ne tje bunna.’ 19 Ndomutembezela Yahwe, muzwiibhatigwe jinyo le bathu ibaba kuyendidzana nge ludo gwenyu gusingazunguzike, ne kuyendidzana na sekwa makabazwiibhatigwa kudwa ku shango ye Egipiti kudzina kowobe nasi.”
20 Ipapo Yahwe bakadabila beti, “Sekwa wakumbila, ndabazwiibhatigwa, 21 koga tjoselele se nditjila, ne shango yose sekwa yawozhala gudzo langu, 22 Bathu bose bakabona gudzo langu ne zwilakidzo zwangu zwandakathama mu Egipiti ne mu tjilambanyika, ngono bakandilika ka gumi bakasihwilile dama langu, 23 Akuna wabo unowobona shango yandakagadzabgwe bobatategulu babo, kakale akuna wa ibabo bakandilengudza unowoibona. 24 Koga nlanda wangu Khalebu, ngoti akabe nge meya isingafanane neye bamwe kakale kandihwilila, ndononkotosa ku shango yaakanoshola, ne zwizekugwana zwizwe zowothuwa shango iyeyo. 25 Sakuno, se Baamaleki ne Bakanana begala mu mikuku, mangwana mushanduke mu ngine mu tjilambanyika nge zila inoyenda ku Gungwa Shaba.”
Yahwe banolobela bathu ng'ong'ola
26 Yahwe bakadwa Mushe na Aroni bakati, 27 “Apa kowodza kukabe lini gubungano ileli lakakombama ling'ong'ola nge kwangu kene? Ndakahwa ndebeleko dze Baiziraela, dze kung'ong'ola kwabo. 28 Ngwenu ubadwe uti, ‘Tjoselele se nditjila, ndowomuthamila sekwa makaleba mulonga mu zebe dzangu, koleba Yahwe. 29 Zwitumbu zwenyu zowoandama mu tjilambanyika itjetji, kudwa muna be makole ali makumi mabili bakazwagwa kuyenda pezhugwi akuna unowongina mu shango iyeyije. 30 Akuna ne nng'ompela wenyu unowoswika mu shango yandakatuna nditi ndowomugadza muili kuzhe kwa Khalebu nkololo wa Jefune na Joshuwa nkololo wa Nuni 31 Koga bana benyu bamakati banowotapiwa, ndowobakotosa, banowoziba shango yamakalamba. 32 Koga imwi mowofa zwitumbu zwenyu zwika kandalala mu tjilambanyika itjetji. 33 Bana benyu banowodzungayila mu tjilambanyika bali balisi kwe makole ali makumi manna (40), bedziyilila matjinyo enyu, kudzina nfi we bupelo itumbu tjitje tjiwila mu tjilambanyika. 34 Kuyendidzana nge mazhuba amakapalama shango muishola ali makumi manna (40) zhuba ling'ompela limwe ne limwe limilile gole, ngono mowosenga matjinyo enyu makole ali makumi manna (40). Ndiko kwamunowoziba kuti ku gwadza moyo kwangu kodwani! 35 Imi Yahwe, ndiko ndaleba, oku ndiko kwandinowothama mu gubungano lose ileli libiibi lakakubunganila kundipandukila. Banowoswika pa bhelelo labo mu tjilambanyika itjetji, banowofila ipapo.’ ”
36 Ipapo balume bakabe batumwa ndi Mushe kunoshola shango, bebe bezha bethama gubungano kuti li dudumwe ngekwa Yahwe ngopa mbiko ye manyepkhwa, 37 bakalobesiwa mbeli kwa Yahwe. 38 Joshuwa nkololo wa Nuni na Khalebu nkololo wa Jefune ndibo boga bakasala pafa, mu balume bakabe banoshola shango.
Baiziraela banotanga kuthasela
(Matama 1:41-46)39 Kukati Mushe ebikila bathu be Iziraela bose matama iyawa, bakalila tjililo tjikulu. 40 Bakabinduka, bakatathila ku shango ye matombo, bakabe beti, “Tipano, ngatiyendeni kwatakagadziwabgwe ndi Yahwe, ngobe takatjinya.”
41 Koga Mushe kabadwa kati, “Apa ini mutjuluka ndaulo ya Yahwe ngono kusina tjinowopunduka.” 42 Musiyende, zwita zwenyu zonomukulila, Yahwe abate bali mile namwi. 43 Mowonofila mu maboko e Baamaliki ne Bakanana, mowolobesiwa nge thumo, ngobe moshandukila Yahwe, Yahwe abangame namwi. 44 Koga nge misholo yakawoma bakatathila ku shango ye matombo, nenguba kwakajalo Bhokisi le Tjidumano tja Yahwe basinalo, kene iye Mushe kasibhude mu bukotokelo. 45 Ipapo Baamaliki ne Bakanana bakabe begala mu shango iyeyo ye matombo bakadeluka bakagwa nabo, bakabakulila bakatatana nabo bakanobasiya ku Horima.