14:1 1 Then all the community raised a loud cry, 2 and the people wept 3 that night. 14:2 And all the Israelites murmured 4 against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died 5 in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished 6 in this wilderness! 14:3 Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” 14:4 So they said to one another, 7 “Let’s appoint 8 a leader 9 and return 10 to Egypt.”
14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground 11 before the whole assembled community 12 of the Israelites. 14:6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of those who had investigated the land, tore their garments. 14:7 They said to the whole community of the Israelites, “The land we passed through to investigate is an exceedingly 13 good land. 14:8 If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us – a land that is flowing with milk and honey. 14 14:9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. 15 Their protection 16 has turned aside from them, but the Lord is with us. Do not fear them!”
14:10 However, the whole community threatened to stone them. 17 But 18 the glory 19 of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent 20 of meeting.
14:11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise 21 me, and how long will they not believe 22 in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them? 14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence, 23 and I will disinherit them; I will make you into a nation that is greater and mightier than they!”
14:13 Moses said to the Lord, “When the Egyptians hear 24 it – for you brought up this people by your power from among them – 14:14 then they will tell it to the inhabitants 25 of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, 26 that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night.