The People Complain

14 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!”

^26 (A)“But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God, and you would not enter the land. ²⁷ You grumbled to one another: ‘The Lord hates us. He brought us out of Egypt just to hand us over to these Amorites, so that they could kill us. ²⁸ Why should we go there? We are afraid. The men we sent tell us that the people there are stronger and taller than we are, and that they live in cities with walls that reach the sky. They saw giants there!’

²⁹ “But I told you, ‘Don't be afraid of those people. ³⁰ The Lord your God will lead you, and he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt ^31 (B)and in the desert. You saw how he brought you safely all the way to this place, just as a father would carry his son.’ ^32 (C)But in spite of what I said, you still would not trust the Lord, ³³ even though he always went ahead of you to find a place for you to camp. To show you the way, he went in front of you in a pillar of fire by night and in a pillar of cloud by day.