Chapter 84
mine it, and they explored the whole land from the wilderness of Sin to Rechob as thou comest to Chamoth.
36. And at the end of forty days they came to Moses and Aaron, and they brought him word as it was in their hearts, and ten of the men brought up an evil report to the children of Israel about the land they had explored, saying, it is better for us to return to Egypt than to go to this land, a land that consumes its inhabitants.
37. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephuneh, who were of those that explored the land, said, the land is exceedingly good.
38. If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us to this land and give it to us, for it is a land flowing with milk and honey.
39. But the children of Israel would not hearken to them, and they hearkened to the words of the ten men who had brought up an evil report about the land.
40. And the Lord heard the murmurings of the children of Israel and He was angry and swore, saying:
41. Surely, not one man of this wicked generation shall see the land from twenty years old and upward excepting Caleb, the son of Jephneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun.
42. But surely this wicked generation shall perish in this wilderness, and their children shall come to the land and they shall possess it. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness for forty years until that wicked generation came to an end, because they did not follow the Lord.
43. And the people dwelt in the wilderness of Paran for a long time, and they afterward proceeded to the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.
1. AT that time Korah, the son of Jetzer the son of Kehath the son of Levi, gathered many men of the children of Israel, and they rose up and quarrelled with Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation.
2. And the Lord was angry with them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their houses and all their belongings, and all the men belonging to Korah.
3. And after this, God made the people go round by the way of Mount Seir for a long time.
4. At that time the Lord said unto Moses: Provoke not a war against the children of Esau, for I will not give you anything that belongs to them, as much as the sole of the foot could tread upon, for I have given Mount Seir for an inheritance to Esau. [Ch. 47, v. 33 ]
5. Therefore did the children of Esau fight against the children of Seir in former times. And the Lord delivered the children of Seir into the hands of the children of Esau and destroyed them from before them, and the children of Esau have dwelt in their stead unto this day.
6. Therefore the Lord said to the children of Israel: Fight not against your brethren, the children of Esau, for nothing in their land belongs to you, but you may buy food from them for money and eat it, and buy water from them for money and drink it.
7. And the children of Israel did according to the word of the Lord.
8. And the children of Israel went about in the wilderness, going round by the way of Mount Sinai for a long time, and touched not the children of Esau, and they continued in that district for nineteen years.
9. At that time died Latinus king of the children of Chittim, in the forty fifth year of his reign, which is the fourteenth year of the children of Israel's departure from Egypt.
10. And they buried him in his place which he had built for himself in the land of Chittim, and Abimnas reigned in his place for thirty eight years.
11. And the children of Israel passed the boundary of the children of Esau in those days, at the end of nineteen years, and they came and passed the road of the wilderness of Moab.
12. And the Lord said to Moses: Besiege not Moab, and do not fight against them, for I will give you nothing of their land.
13. And the children of Israel passed the road of the wilderness of Moab for nineteen years, and they did not fight against them.
14. And in the thirty sixth year of the children of Israel's departure from Egypt the Lord smote the heart of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and he waged war, and went forth to fight against the children of Moab.
15. And Sihon sent messengers to Beor, the son of Janeas the son of Balaam, a counsellor to the king of Egypt, and to Balaam his son, to curse Moab, in order that it might be delivered into the hand of Sihon.
16. And the messengers went and brought Beor, the son of Janeas, and Balaam his son, from Pethor in Mesopo-