They came back to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.

They told Moses, "We went to the land where you sent us. It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

But the inhabitants are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.

The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan."

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, "Let us go up and occupy it, for we are well able to conquer it."

We even saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed liked grasshoppers both to ourselves and to them."

Then all the community raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.

And all the Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished in this wilderness!

Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?"

So they said to one another, "Let's appoint a leader and return to Egypt."

Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground before the whole assembled community of the Israelites.

And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of those who had investigated the land, tore their garments.

If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us -- a land that is flowing with milk and honey.

Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection has turned aside from them, but the Lord is with us. Do not fear them!"

The Lord said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me, and how long will they not believe in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?

I will strike them with the pestilence, and I will disinherit them; I will make you into a nation that is greater and mightier than they!"

then they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night.

Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to them, he killed them in the wilderness.'

The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.'

For all the people have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tempted me now these ten times, and have not obeyed me,

Only my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit and has followed me fully -- I will bring him into the land where he had gone, and his descendants will possess it.

(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys.) Tomorrow, turn and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea."

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron:

Your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness -- all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me.

You will by no means enter into the land where I swore to settle you. The only exceptions are Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

But I will bring in your little ones, whom you said would become victims of war, and they will enjoy the land that you have despised.

and your children will wander in the wilderness forty years and suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your dead bodies lie finished in the wilderness.

According to the number of the days you have investigated this land, forty days -- one day for a year -- you will suffer for your iniquities, forty years, and you will know what it means to thwart me.

I, the Lord, have said, "I will surely do so to all this evil congregation that has gathered together against me. In this wilderness they will be finished, and there they will die!"'"

The men whom Moses sent to investigate the land, who returned and made the whole community murmur against him by producing an evil report about the land,

But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among the men who went to investigate the land, lived.

And early in the morning they went up to the crest of the hill country, saying, "Here we are, and we will go up to the place that the Lord commanded, for we have sinned."

Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, and you will be defeated before your enemies.

For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you."

So the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country swooped down and attacked them as far as Hormah.

"Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'When you enter the land where you are to live, which I am giving you,

and you make an offering by fire to the Lord from the herd or from the flock (whether a burnt offering or a sacrifice for discharging a vow or as a freewill offering or in your solemn feasts) to create a pleasing aroma to the Lord,

and for a drink offering you must offer one-third of a hin of wine as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

And when you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice for discharging a vow or as a peace offering to the Lord,

and you must present as the drink offering half a hin of wine with the fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

If a resident foreigner is living with you -- or whoever is among you in future generations -- and prepares an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he must do it the same way you are to do it.

One statute must apply to you who belong to the congregation and to the resident foreigner who is living among you, as a permanent statute for your future generations. You and the resident foreigner will be alike before the Lord.

One law and one custom must apply to you and to the resident foreigner who lives alongside you.'"

"Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'When you enter the land to which I am bringing you

and you eat some of the food of the land, you must offer up a raised offering to the Lord.

"'If you sin unintentionally and do not observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses --

all that the Lord has commanded you by the authority of Moses, from the day that the Lord commanded Moses and continuing through your future generations --

then if anything is done unintentionally without the knowledge of the community, the whole community must prepare one young bull for a burnt offering -- for a pleasing aroma to the Lord -- along with its grain offering and its customary drink offering, and one male goat for a purification offering.

And the priest is to make atonement for the whole community of the Israelites, and they will be forgiven, because it was unintentional and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to the Lord, and their purification offering before the Lord, for their unintentional offense.

And the whole community of the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them will be forgiven, since all the people were involved in the unintentional offense.

And the priest must make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally -- when he sins unintentionally before the Lord -- to make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.

You must have one law for the person who sins unintentionally, both for the native-born among the Israelites and for the resident foreigner who lives among them.

Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person must be completely cut off. His iniquity will be on him.'"

Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community.

So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

"Speak to the Israelites and tell them to make tassels for themselves on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and put a blue thread on the tassel of the corners.

You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and obey them and so that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness.

Thus you will remember and obey all my commandments and be holy to your God.

Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites, took men

and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders of the community, chosen from the assembly, famous men.

And they assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, "You take too much upon yourselves, seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the Lord?"

Then he said to Korah and to all his company, "In the morning the Lord will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that person to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him.

Do this, Korah, you and all your company: Take censers,

put fire in them, and set incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses will be holy. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!"

Does it seem too small a thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the community of Israel to bring you near to himself, to perform the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the community to minister to them?

He has brought you near and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you. Do you now seek the priesthood also?

Therefore you and all your company have assembled together against the Lord! And Aaron -- what is he that you murmur against him?"

Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, "We will not come up.

Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a prince over us?

Moreover, you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can blind these men? We will not come up."

Moses was very angry, and he said to the Lord, "Have no respect for their offering! I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them!"

Then Moses said to Korah, "You and all your company present yourselves before the Lord -- you and they, and Aaron -- tomorrow.

And each of you take his censer, put incense in it, and then each of you present his censer before the Lord: 250 censers, along with you, and Aaron -- each of you with his censer."

So everyone took his censer, put fire in it, and set incense on it, and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron.

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron:

Then they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said, "O God, the God of the spirits of all people, will you be angry with the whole community when only one man sins?"

"Tell the community: 'Get away from around the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'"

Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel went after him.

And he said to the community, "Move away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because of all their sins."

So they got away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stationed themselves in the entrances of their tents with their wives, their children, and their toddlers.

But if the Lord does something entirely new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up along with all that they have, and they go down alive to the grave, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!"

and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, along with their households, and all Korah's men, and all their goods.

They and all that they had went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed over them. So they perished from among the community.

Then a fire went out from the Lord and devoured the 250 men who offered incense.

"Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pick up the censers out of the flame, for they are holy, and then scatter the coals of fire at a distance.

As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, they must be made into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the Lord and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites."

So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers presented by those who had been burned up, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar.

It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to burn incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company -- just as the Lord had spoken by the authority of Moses.

But on the next day the whole community of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You have killed the Lord's people!"

When the community assembled against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting -- and the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

Then Moses and Aaron stood before the tent of meeting.

Then Moses said to Aaron, "Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord -- the plague has begun!"

So Aaron did as Moses commanded and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague was just beginning among the people. So he placed incense on the coals and made atonement for the people.

He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.

Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.

"Speak to the Israelites, and receive from them a staff from each tribe, one from every tribal leader, twelve staffs; you must write each man's name on his staff.

And the staff of the man whom I choose will blossom; so I will rid myself of the complaints of the Israelites, which they murmur against you."

So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader, according to their tribes -- twelve staffs; the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.

On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony -- and the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, and brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded almonds!

So Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each man took his staff.