28Joshua, Nun's son and Moses' assistant since his youth, responded, "My master Moses, stop them!"
29Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the LORD's people were prophets with the LORD placing his spirit on them!"
Quail from the sea
30Moses and Israel's elders were assembled in the camp. 31A wind from the LORD blew up and brought quails from the sea. It let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey all around the camp and about three feet deep on the ground. 32Then the people arose and gathered the quail all that day, all night, and all the next day. The least collected was ten homers,m and they laid them out around the camp. 33While the meat was still between their teeth and not yet consumed, the LORD's anger blazed against the people. The LORD struck the people with a very great punishment. 34The name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah,n because there they buried the people who had the craving.
Miriam and Aaron challenge Moses
35From Kibroth-hattaavah the people marched to Hazeroth.
Numbers 12When they were in Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses on account of the Cushite woman whom he had married--for he had married a Cushite woman. 2They said, "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Hasn't he also spoken through us?" The LORD heard it. 3Now the man Moses was humble, more so than anyone on earth.
The LORD defends Moses
4Immediately, the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, "You three go out to the meeting tent." So the three of them went out. 5Then the LORD descended in a column of cloud, stood at the entrance of the tent, and called to Aaron and Miriam. The two of them came forward. 6He said, "Listen to my words: If there is a prophet of the LORD among you,o I make myself known to him in visions. I speak to him in dreams. 7But not with my servant Moses. He has proved to be reliable with all my household. 8I speak with him face-to-face, visibly, not in riddles. He sees the LORD's form. So why aren't you afraid to criticize my servant Moses?"9The LORD's anger blazed against them, and they went back.
The LORD punishes Miriam
10When the cloud went away from over the tent, Miriam suddenly developed a skin disease flaky like snow. Aaron turned toward Miriam and saw her skin disease. 11Then Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my master, please don't punish us for the sin that we foolishly committed. 12Please don't let her be like the stillborn, whose flesh is half eaten as it comes out of the mother's womb."
13So Moses cried to the LORD, "God, please heal her!"
14The LORD said to Moses, "If her father had spit in her face, would she not be shamed for seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp for seven days, and afterward she will be brought back."15So they shut Miriam out of the camp seven days. And the people didn't march until Miriam was brought back. 16Afterward the people marched from Hazeroth, and they camped in the Paran desert.
Leaders explore the land of Canaan
Numbers 13The LORD spoke to Moses: 2Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, which I'm giving to the Israelites. Send one man from each ancestral tribe, each a chief among them. 3So Moses sent them out from the Paran desert according to the LORD's command. All the men were leaders among the Israelites. 4These are their names:
from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua, Zaccur's son;
5from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat, Hori's son;
6from the tribe of Judah, Caleb, Jephunneh's son;
7from the tribe of Issachar, Igal, Joseph's son;
8from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea, Nun's son;
9from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti, Raphu's son;
10from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel, Sodi's son;
11from the tribe of Joseph:
from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi, Susi's son;
12from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel, Gemalli's son;
13from the tribe of Asher, Sethur, Michael's son;
14from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi, Vophsi's son;
15from the tribe of Gad, Geuel, Machi's son.
16These are the names of the men whom Moses sent out to explore the land. Moses changed the name of Hoshea, Nun's son, to Joshua.
17When Moses sent them out to explore the land of Canaan, he said to them, "Go up there into the arid southern plain and into the mountains. 18You must inspect the land. What is it like? Are the people who live in it strong or weak, few or many?19Is the land in which they live good or bad? Are the towns in which they live camps or fortresses?20Is the land rich or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous and bring back the land's fruit." It was the season of the first ripe grapes.
21They went up and explored the land from the Zin desert to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22They went up into the arid southern plain and entered Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of the Anakites, lived. (Hebron was built seven years before Tanisp in Egypt.) 23Then they entered the Clusterq ravine, cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and carried it on a pole between them. They also took pomegranates and figs. 24That place was called the Cluster ravine because of the cluster of grapes that the Israelites cut down from there.
Report about the land of Canaan
25They returned from exploring the land after forty days. 26They went directly to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Paran desert at Kadesh. They brought back a report to them and to the entire community and showed them the land's fruit. 27Then they gave their report: "We entered the land to which you sent us. It's actually full of milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28There are, however, powerful people who live in the land. The cities have huge fortifications. And we even saw the descendants of the Anakites there. 29The Amalekites live in the land of the arid southern plain; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountains; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan."
30Now Caleb calmed the people before Moses and said, "We must go up and take possession of it, because we are more than able to do it."
31But the men who went up with him said, "We can't go up against the people because they are stronger than we."32They started a rumor about the land that they had explored, telling the Israelites, "The land that we crossed over to explore is a land that devours its residents. All the people we saw in it are huge men. 33We saw there the Nephilim (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We saw ourselves as grasshoppers, and that's how we appeared to them."
The Israelites' complaint
Numbers 14The entire community raised their voice and the people wept that night. 2All the Israelites criticized Moses and Aaron. The entire community said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt or if only we had died in this desert!3Why is the LORD bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our children will be taken by force. Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?"4So they said to each other, "Let's pick a leader and let's go back to Egypt."
5Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the assembled Israelite community. 6But Joshua, Nun's son, and Caleb, Jephunneh's son, from those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7and said to the entire