On the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle of the testimony.

Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up.

He then asked, “Which invasion route are we going to take?” Jehoram answered, “By the road through the Desert of Edom.”

They say, “Let’s attack Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it. Then we’ll set up the son of Tabeel as its king.”

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, “Let us go up and occupy it, for we are well able to conquer it.”

Then the Israelites said to him, “We will go along the highway, and if we or our cattle drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We will only pass through on our feet, without doing anything else.”

If they say to us, ‘Stay put until we approach you,’ we will stay right there and not go up to them.

Joab replied, “As surely as God lives, if you had not said this, it would have been morning before the people would have abandoned pursuit of their brothers!”

The nobles of the nations assemble, along with the people of the God of Abraham, for God has authority over the rulers of the earth. He is highly exalted!

Moreover, you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can blind these men? We will not come up.”

So all of you approached me and said, “Let’s send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there.”

Then you responded to me and admitted, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will now go up and fight as the Lord our God has told us to do.” So you each put on your battle gear and prepared to go up to the hill country.

Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple. He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side.