First ReadingNumbers 13:1-2, 25—14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35
From the Book of Numbers
1The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,2“Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan,which I give to the children of Israel.Of every tribe of their fathers,you shall send a man,every one a prince among them.” verses 3–24 are not read25They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.26They went and came to Moses,to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel,to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh;and brought back word to them and to all the congregation.They showed them the fruit of the land.27They told him, and said,“We came to the land where you sent us.Surely it flows with milk and honey,and this is its fruit.28However, the people who dwell in the land are strong,and the cities are fortified and very large.Moreover, we saw the children of Anak there.29Amalek dwells in the land of the South.The Hittite, the Jebusite,and the Amorite dwell in the hill country.The Canaanite dwells by the sea,and along the side of the Jordan.”
30Caleb stilled the people before Moses,and said, “Let’s go up at once, and possess it;for we are well able to overcome it!”
31But the men who went up with him said,“We aren’t able to go up against the people;for they are stronger than we.”32They brought up an evil report of the landwhich they had spied out to the children of Israel,saying, “The land,through which we have gone to spy it out,is a land that eats up its inhabitants;and all the peoplewho we saw in it are men of great stature.33There we saw the Nephilim,the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim.We were in our own sight as grasshoppers,and so we were in their sight.”
1All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried;and the people wept that night. verses 2–25 are not read26The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,27“How long shall I bear with this evil congregationthat complain against me?I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel,which they complain against me.28Tell them, ‘As I live,says the Lord, surely as you have spoken in my ears,so I will do to you.29Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness;and all who were counted of you,according to your whole number,from twenty years old and upward,who have complained against me, verses 30–33 are not read34After the number of the days inwhich you spied out the land,even forty days, for every day a year,you will bear your iniquities,even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’35I, the Lord, have spoken.I will surely do this to all this evil congregationwho are gathered together against me.In this wilderness they shall be consumed,and there they shall die.”