The People Complain
1 All night long the people cried out in distress. 2 They complained against Moses and Aaron, and said, “It would have been better to die in Egypt or even here in the wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord taking us into that land? We will be killed in battle, and our wives and children will be captured. Wouldn't it be better to go back to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt!”
5 Then Moses and Aaron bowed to the ground in front of all the people. 6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of the spies, tore their clothes in sorrow 7 and said to the people, “The land we explored is an excellent land. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will take us there and give us that rich and fertile land. 9 Do not rebel against the Lord and don't be afraid of the people who live there. We will conquer them easily. The Lord is with us and has defeated the gods who protected them; so don't be afraid.” 10 The whole community was threatening to stone them to death, but suddenly the people saw the dazzling light of the Lord's presence appear over the Tent.
Moses Prays for the People
11 The Lord said to Moses, “How much longer will these people reject me? How much longer will they refuse to trust in me, even though I have performed so many miracles among them? 12 I will send an epidemic and destroy them, but I will make you the father of a nation that is larger and more powerful than they are!”
13 But Moses said to the Lord, “You brought these people out of Egypt by your power. When the Egyptians hear what you have done to your people, 14 they will tell it to the people who live in this land. These people have already heard that you, Lord, are with us, that you appear in plain sight when your cloud stops over us, and that you go before us in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you kill all your people, the nations who have heard of your fame will say 16 that you killed your people in the wilderness because you were not able to bring them into the land you promised to give them. 17 So now, Lord, I pray, show us your power and do what you promised when you said, 18 ‘I, the Lord, am not easily angered, and I show great love and faithfulness and forgive sin and rebellion. Yet I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents.’ 19 And now, Lord, according to the greatness of your unchanging love, forgive, I pray, the sin of these people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”
20 The Lord answered, “I will forgive them, as you have asked. 21 But I promise that as surely as I live and as surely as my presence fills the earth, 22 none of these people will live to enter that land. They have seen the dazzling light of my presence and the miracles that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, but they have tried my patience over and over again and have refused to obey me. 23 They will never enter the land which I promised to their ancestors. None of those who have rejected me will ever enter it. 24 But because my servant Caleb has a different attitude and has remained loyal to me, I will bring him into the land which he explored, and his descendants will possess the land 25 in whose valleys the Amalekites and the Canaanites now live. Turn back tomorrow and go into the wilderness in the direction of the Gulf of Aqaba.”
The Lord Punishes the People for Complaining
26 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 27 “How much longer are these wicked people going to complain against me? I have heard enough of these complaints! 28 Now give them this answer: ‘I swear that as surely as I live, I will do to you just what you have asked. I, the Lord, have spoken. 29 You will die and your corpses will be scattered across this wilderness. Because you have complained against me, none of you over twenty years of age will enter that land. 30 I promised to let you live there, but not one of you will, except Caleb and Joshua. 31 You said that your children would be captured, but I will bring them into the land that you rejected, and it will be their home. 32 You will die here in this wilderness. 33 Your children will wander in the wilderness for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last one of you dies. 34 You will suffer the consequences of your sin for forty years, one year for each of the forty days you spent exploring the land. You will know what it means to have me against you! 35 I swear that I will do this to you wicked people who have gathered together against me. Here in the wilderness every one of you will die. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
36-37 The men Moses had sent to explore the land brought back a false report which caused the people to complain against the Lord. And so the Lord struck them with a disease, and they died. 38 Of the twelve spies only Joshua and Caleb survived.
The First Attempt to Invade the Land
(Deuteronomy 1.41-46)39 When Moses told the Israelites what the Lord had said, they mourned bitterly. 40 Early the next morning they started out to invade the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go to the place which the Lord told us about. We admit that we have sinned.”
41 But Moses said, “Then why are you disobeying the Lord now? You will not succeed! 42 Don't go. The Lord is not with you, and your enemies will defeat you. 43 When you face the Amalekites and the Canaanites, you will die in battle; the Lord will not be with you, because you have refused to follow him.”
44 Yet they still dared to go up into the hill country, even though neither the Lord's Covenant Box nor Moses left the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived there attacked and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hormah.
Okungongota kwovanhu
1 Opo nee eongalo alishe la hovela okupopyaana nokukema novanhu va lila oufiku aushe. 2 Novana aveshe Ovaisraeli va ngongotela Moses naAron, neongalo alishe le va lombwela: “Akutu, ngeno twa filile medu laEgipiti! Ile ngeno twa lilile mombuwa ei! 3 Omolwashike Omwene te tu twala kedu linya tu dipawe keongamukonda? Ovalikadi vetu novana vetu tava ka ninga oshihakanwa shovatondadi. Ngeno shi dule fye tu shune kuEgipiti.” 4 Ndele vo ova kundafana tava ti: “Tu lihoololeleni omukulunhu, ndele tu shuneni kuEgipiti.”
5 Opo nee Moses naAron va wila eombe moipafi yeongalo alishe lovana vaIsrael. 6 Ndele Josua yaNun naKaleb yaJefunne, vavali ava va ile okulava edu, ova pombaula oikutu yavo, 7 ndele va lombwela eongalo alishe lovana vaIsrael, ndee tava ti: “Edu linya twe li lava nokweendaenda mulo, edu oliwa unene. 8 Omwene ngeenge e tu hokwa, Ye ote ke tu twala ko medu olo ndee te li tu pe, edu li yadi omashini nomaadi eenyiki. 9 Hano inamu twa ondubo nOmwene ndele inamu kala nokutila ovanhu vomoshilongo shinya, osheshi vo ohatu ke va pona po. Omupopili wavo e va efa, ndelenee Omwene e li pamwe nafye. Inamu va tila!” 10 Opo nee eongalo alishe la hala oku va dipaa nomamanya. Ndelenee oshinge shOmwene osha holoka metwali leongalo moipafi yovana aveshe vaIsrael.
11 Omwene okwa lombwela Moses ndee ta ti: “Oshiwana eshi otashi ka dina nge fiyo onaini? Ndele fiyo onaini hava kala ihava itavele nge, Ame nande nda ninga omadidiliko aa aeshe mokati kavo? 12 Ame ohandi ke va tumina oudu wolutapo noku va dima po. Ndele Ame ohandi ku ningi oshiwana shinene noshi neenghono shi va dule.” 13 Opo nee Moses a lombwela Omwene ndee ta ti: “Ndelenee Ovaegipiti ova uda ko kutya, Ove, meenghono doye wa pitifa mo muvo oshiwana eshi, 14 ndele ve shi tongela oonakukalamo moshilongo eshi. Venya ova uda nokutya, Ove Omwene u li mokati koshiwana eshi, osheshi Ove Omwene we liholola moipafi yavo. Noshilemo shoye tashi kala kombada yavo, ndele Ove ho va kwatele komesho moluudi loshilemo momutenya nomoluudi lomundilo oufiku. 15 Ovanhu ava ngeenge to va kombo po ngaashi omunhu umwe, opo nee oiwana, eshi tai udu eenghundana tadi ku tongo, otai ka tya: 16 ‘Omwene eshi a nyengwa okutwala ovanhu ava medu linya, Ye e li va udanekela nokwaana, Ye okwe va komba po mombuwa.’
17 “Eenghono doye, Omwene, nadi liholole hano ngaashi we di tile nokutya: 18 ‘Omwene Ye omutalanheni, omunene mouwanghenda, ou ta dimi po oilonga ii nomatauluko, ndele ita efa ina handukila, Ye ou ta kongolola po omanyonauno ooxe fiyo oludalo olutitatu nolutine.’ 19 Dima po omanyonauno ovanhu ava voye omolwounene wouwanghenda woye ngaashi Ove wa dima po shito omanyonauno ovanhu ava okudja muEgipiti fiyo opapa.”
20 Opo nee Omwene ta ti: “Ame ohandi dimi po omanyonauno omolwondjovo yoye. 21 Ndelenee oshili ngaashi Ame ndi nomwenyo nongaashi edu alishe tali ka kala li yadi oshinge shange, 22 ovalumenhu aveshe venya va mona oshinge shange nomadidiliko ange oo, nde a ninga muEgipiti nomombuwa, ndelenee paife vo va shinda nge efimbo alishe, ndele inava pwilikina ondaka yange, 23 venya itava ka mona edu linya nde li udanekela ooxe nokwaana, heeno, aveshe ava va handukifa nge, itave ke li mona. 24 Ndelenee omupiya wange Kaleb, osheshi muye omwa li omhepo imwe ndele ye a shikula nge nomwenyo aushe, ye ohandi ke mu twala medu linya, a ile mo noludalo laye tali ke li nangala. 25 Ndelenee Ovaamaleki nOvakaanan eshi hava kala momalufilulongo, nye pilukeni mongula mu shune kombuwa nondjila yEfuta Litilyana.”
26 Opo nee Omwene okwa popya naMoses naAron ndee ta ti: 27 “Oshiwana eshi shii shi nondubo tashi ngongotele nge fiyo onaini? Ame nda uda omangongoto ovana vaIsrael, vo eshi va kala nokungongotela nge, 28 va lombwela: ‘Oshili, ngaashi Ame ndi nomwenyo, Omwene ta ti, oshili ngaashi va popya momatwi ange, osho handi ke va ningila. 29 Oimhu yeni tai ka nangala mombuwa ei nokutya, aveshe ava va valwa, pamuvalo wavo, ava va wanifa omido omilongo mbali naava va koya po, ava va nongotela nge. 30 Oshili, nye itamu ka ya medu olo nde li mu udanekela nokwaana nye mu li nangale, Kaleb yaJefunne oye aeke naJosua yaNun. 31 Ndelenee ovana veni ava mwa tonga: otava ka ninga oihakanwa, ohandi ke va twala mo ndele tava ka shiiva oshilongo shinya, nye mwe shi dina. 32 Ndelenee oimhu yeni tai ka nangala mombuwa ei. 33 Novana veni tava ka elaela ngaashi ovafita voimuna mombuwa omido omilongo nhee, osho ngaha hava humbata oudjuu omolwokuhadulika kweni, omido omilongo nhee, osho ngaha hava humbata oudjuu omolwokuhadulika kweni, fiyo oimhu yeni ya olela mo mombuwa. 34 Pamuvalo womafiku enya mwa li okulava edu, omafiku omilongo nhee, efiku limwe tali yeleke omudo umwe, nye mu nokuhumbata okuhadulika kweni, omido omilongo nhee nokushiiva eshi oshike Ame ngeenge nde likufa po punye. 35 Ame, Omwene, onde shi popya. Oshili eshi ohandi ke shi ningila oiwana aishe ei ii, yo ya hovela okutwila nge ondubo. Vo otava ka xula po mombuwa ei nokufila mo muyo.’ ” 36 Novalumenhu ava va tuminwe kuMoses okulava edu ndele mokwaaluka kwavo va xwameka eongalo alishe oku mu ngongotela molwokutandavelifa eendjovo doipupulu da tongelwa edu linya, 37 ovalumenhu tuu ovo va tandavelifa eendjovo dii dedu linya, ova fila moshiponga koshipala shOmwene. 38 Ndelenee movalumenhu ava va lavele edu, omwa xupa ve nomwenyo Josua yaNun naKaleb yaJefunne.
39 Ndele Moses eshi a lombwela ovana vaIsrael eendjovo edi adishe, ovanhu va nyika oluhodi unene, 40 ndele ongula inene ove lilongekida va londe konhele yomhunda ndee tava ti: “Fye twe lilongekida okuya oko, Omwene e tu lombwela, osheshi fye otwa nyona.” 41 Ndele Moses e va lombwela: “Omolwashike tamu tauluka vali elombwelo lOmwene, osheshi nye itamu ka dula? 42 Inamu ya ko, osheshi Omwene ke mo mokati keni, inamu ya ko, otamu ka tewa kovatondadi veni. 43 Osheshi Ovaamaleki nOvakaanan oko ve li komesho yeni ndele nye otamu ka dipawa keongamukonda, shaashi mwe liteeka kOmwene. Onghee hano Omwene ita ka kala pamwe nanye.” 44 Ndelenee ohaluka va ya mondubo yavo va ka londa komhunda. Ndelenee oshikefa shehangano naMoses inava dja monhanda. 45 Opo nee Ovaamaleki nOvakaanan ava va kala keemhunda ove uya ndele ve va taataa ndele ve va halakanifa fiyo okuHorma.
