The People Rebel

1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people ⁱwept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel ^jgrumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or ^kwould that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? ^lOur wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, ^m“Let us choose a leader and ⁿgo back to Egypt.”

5 Then ^oMoses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. 6 ^pAnd Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, ^q“The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If ^rthe Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, ^sa land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only ^tdo not rebel against the Lord. And ^udo not fear the people of the land, for ^vthey are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” 10 ^wThen all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But ^xthe glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people ^ydespise me? And how long will they not ^zbelieve in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I ^awill make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for the People

13 But ^bMoses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, 14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. ^cThey have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and ^dyour cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, 16 ‘It is because the Lord ^ewas not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ 17 And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 18 ^f‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, ^gvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ 19 Please ^hpardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just ⁱas you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

God Promises Judgment

20 Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, ^jaccording to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all ^kthe earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, 22 ^lnone of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ^mten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 ⁿshall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant ^oCaleb, because he has a different spirit and has ^pfollowed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. 25 ^qNow, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, ^rturn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

26 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall ^sthis wicked congregation grumble against me? ^tI have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ^u‘As I live, declares the Lord, ^vwhat you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 ^wyour dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and ^xof all your number, listed in the census ^yfrom twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I ^zswore that I would make you dwell, ^aexcept Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 ^bBut your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that ^cyou have rejected. 32 But as for you, ^wyour dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children ^dshall be shepherds in the wilderness ^eforty years and shall ^fsuffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 ^gAccording to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, ^hforty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ 35 ⁱI, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all ^jthis wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

36 ^kAnd the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— 37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—^ldied by plague before the Lord. 38 Of those men who went to spy out the land, ^monly Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

Israel Defeated in Battle

39 When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people ⁿmourned greatly. 40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, ^o“Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” 41 ^pBut Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? 42 ^qDo not go up, ^rfor the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. 43 For there ^sthe Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” 44 ^tBut they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither ^uthe ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. 45 Then ^vthe Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to ^wHormah.

Save Me, O God

To the choirmaster: according to ^tLilies. Of David.

I Am the Good Shepherd

1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 ^yA stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus ^zused with them, but they ^adid not understand what he was saying to them.

7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^bI am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, ^che will be saved and will go in and out and ^dfind pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and ^ekill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 ^fI am the good shepherd. The good shepherd ^glays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is ^ha hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and ⁱleaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and ^jscatters them. 13 He flees because ^khe is a hired hand and ^lcares nothing for the sheep. 14 ^mI am the good shepherd. ⁿI know my own and ^omy own know me, 15 ^pjust as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and ^qI lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And ^rI have other sheep that are not of this fold. ^sI must bring them also, and ^tthey will listen to my voice. So there will be ^uone flock, ^vone shepherd. 17 ^wFor this reason the Father loves me, ^xbecause ^yI lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 ^zNo one takes it from me, but ^yI lay it down ^aof my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and ^bI have authority to take it up again. ^cThis charge I have received from my Father.”

19 ^dThere was again a division among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them said, ^e“He has a demon, and ^fis insane; why listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. ^gCan a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

I and the Father Are One

22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, ^hin the colonnade of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are ⁱthe Christ, ^jtell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. ^kThe works that I do ^lin my Father’s name bear witness about me, 26 but ^myou do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 ⁿMy sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 ^oI give them eternal life, and ^pthey will never perish, and ^qno one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, ^rwho has given them to me,^{1 s}is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of ^tthe Father’s hand. 30 ^uI and the Father are one.”

31 ^vThe Jews picked up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but ^wfor blasphemy, because you, being a man, ^xmake yourself God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in ^yyour Law, ^z‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be ^abroken— 36 do you say of him whom ^bthe Father consecrated and ^csent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because ^dI said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 ^eIf I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 but if I do them, ^feven though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that ^gthe Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 39 ^hAgain they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place ⁱwhere John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. 41 And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but ^jeverything that John said about this man was true.” 42 And ^kmany believed in him there.