40. But you—you must turn around, take the road to the Red Sea and go back into the desert.’
41. “Then you said, ‘Moses, we sinned against the Lord, but now we will do what the Lord our God commanded us before—we will go and fight.’ “Then each of you put on your weapons. You thought it would be easy to go and take the hill country.
42. But the Lord said to me, ‘Tell the people not to go up there and fight, because I will not be with them. Their enemies will defeat them!’
43. “I spoke to you, but you did not listen. You refused to obey the Lord’S command. You thought you could use your own power, so you went up into the hill country.
44. The Amorites who lived there came out like a swarm of bees and chased you all the way from Seir to Hormah.
45. Then you came back crying to the Lord for help, but the Lord refused to listen to you.
46. So you stayed at Kadesh for such a long time.