16. “And I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘When hearing between your brothers, judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger who is with him.
17. ‘Do not show partiality in right-ruling, hear the small as well as the great. Do not be afraid of anyone’s face, for the right-ruling belongs to Elohim. And the case which is too hard for you, bring it to me, and I shall hear it.’
18. “And I commanded you at that time all the words which you should do.
19. “Then we set out from Ḥorĕḇ, and went through all that great and awesome wilderness which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorites, as יהוה our Elohim had commanded us. And we came to Qaḏĕsh Barnĕa.
20. “And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which יהוה our Elohim is giving us.
21. ‘See, יהוה your Elohim has set the land before you. Go up and possess it, as יהוה Elohim of your fathers has spoken to you. Do not fear, nor be discouraged.’
22. “And all of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we would come.’
23. “And the matter was good in my eyes, so I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe.
24. “And they turned and went up into the mountains, and came to the wadi Eshkol, and spied it out.
25. “And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. And they brought back word to us, saying, ‘The land which יהוה our Elohim is giving us is good.’
26. “But you would not go up and rebelled against the mouth of יהוה your Elohim,
27. and grumbled in your tents, and said, ‘Because יהוה was hating us, He has brought us out of the land of Mitsrayim to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
28. ‘Where are we going to? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we, the cities are great and walled up to the heavens, and we saw the sons of the Anaqim there too.” ’
29. “Then I said to you, ‘Have no dread or fear of them.
30. ‘יהוה your Elohim, who is going before you, He does fight for you, according to all He did for you in Mitsrayim before your eyes,
31. and in the wilderness, where you saw how יהוה your Elohim has borne you, as a man bears his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’
32. “Yet in this matter you are putting no trust in יהוה your Elohim,
33. who is going before you in the way to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in fire by night and in a cloud by day.
34. “And יהוה heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and took an oath, saying,
35. ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers,