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and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.
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If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, 'a land which flows with milk and honey.'
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Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them."
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And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel.
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Then the Lord said to Moses: "How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?
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I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."
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And Moses said to the Lord: "Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them,
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and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are among these people; that You, Lord, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
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Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying,
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'Because the Lord was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.'
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And now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying,
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'The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.'
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Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now."
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Then the Lord said: "I have pardoned, according to your word;
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but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord--
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because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice,
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they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.
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But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.
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Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley; tomorrow turn and move out into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea."
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And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
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"How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me.