33. Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for 40 years and bear the penalty for your acts of unfaithfulness until all your corpses lie scattered in the wilderness.
34. You will bear the consequences of your sins 40 years based on the number of the 40 days that you scouted the land, a year for each day. You will know My displeasure.
35. I, Yahweh, have spoken. I swear that I will do this to the entire evil community that has conspired against Me. They will come to an end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”
36. So the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and who returned and incited the entire community to complain about him by spreading a negative report about the land —
37. those men who spread the negative report about the land were struck down by the Lord.
38. Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to scout out the land.
39. When Moses reported these words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome with grief.
40. They got up early the next morning and went up the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Let’s go to the place the Lord promised, for we were wrong.”
41. But Moses responded, “Why are you going against the Lord’s command? It won’t succeed.
42. Don’t go, because the Lord is not among you and you will be defeated by your enemies.
43. The Amalekites and Canaanites are right in front of you, and you will fall by the sword. The Lord won’t be with you, since you have turned from following Him.”
44. But they dared to go up the ridge of the hill country, even though the ark of the Lord’s covenant and Moses did not leave the camp.