they will by no means see the land that I swore to their fathers, nor will any of them who despised me see it.

But Moses said, “Why are you now transgressing the commandment of the Lord? It will not succeed!

They put him in custody, because there was no clear instruction about what should be done to him.

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

But Edom said to him, “You will not pass through me, or I will come out against you with the sword.”

But he said, “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful force.

And on the first day there is to be a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work on it.

On the seventh day you are to have a holy assembly, you must do no regular work.

“‘On the eighth day you are to have a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work on it.

But all the young women who have not had sexual intercourse with a man will be yours.

We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has his inheritance.

“But if you do not do this, then look, you will have sinned against the Lord. And know that your sin will find you out.

But if they do not cross over with you armed, they must receive possessions among you in Canaan.”

Then the priest will put the woman under oath and say to the her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you, and if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be free from this bitter water that brings a curse.

But the man who is ceremonially clean, and was not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people. Because he did not bring the Lord’s offering at its appointed time, that man must bear his sin.

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.”

It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to burn incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company – just as the Lord had spoken by the authority of Moses.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to show me as holy before the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.”

Please let us pass through your country. We will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well. We will go by the King’s Highway; we will not turn to the right or the left until we have passed through your region.’”

Those of them who were numbered were 23,000, all males from a month old and upward, for they were not numbered among the Israelites; no inheritance was given to them among the Israelites.