Targoum sur Les Nombres 14:49

And all the congregation lifted up and gave forth their voice, and the people wept that night: and it was confirmed (as a punishment) that they should weep on that night in their generations.

And all the sons of Israel murmured against Mosheh and Aharon, and said: Would that we had died in the land of Mizraim, or that we may die in this wilderness!

Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword of the Kenaanaah, and our wives and little ones to become a prey? Will it not be better to return into Mizraim?

And one man said to his brother, Let us appoint a king over us for a chief, and return to Mizraim.

Let us set a king over us, and go round to Mizraim.

And Mosheh and Aharon bowed upon their faces before all the congregation of the sons of Israel;

and Jehoshua bar Nun and Kaleb bar Jephunneh of the explorers of the land rent their clothes,

and spake to the congregation, saying: The land we went to see is an exceedingly good land.

If the Lord hath pleasure in us, He will bring us into this land, and give it us, a land producing milk and honey.

Only do not rebel against the commandments of the Lord, and you need not fear the people of the land, for they are delivered into our hands; the strength of their power hath failed from them, but the Word of the Lord will be our helper; fear them not.

But all the congregation said they would stone them with stones. And the glorious Shekinah of the Lord was revealed in bright clouds at the tabernacle.

And the Lord said to Mosheh, How long will this people provoke Me to anger? How long will they disbelieve in My Word, for all the signs I have wrought among them?

I will strike them with deadly plague and destroy them, and will appoint thee for a people greater and stronger than they.

But Mosheh said, The children of the Mizraee, whom Thou didst drown in the sea, will hear that Thou didst bring up this people from among them by Thy power,

and will say with exultation to the people of this land, who have heard that Thou art the Lord, whose Shekinah dwelleth among this people, in whose eyes, O Lord, the Glory of Thy Shekinah appeared on the mountain of Sinai, and who there received Thy law; Thy Cloud hath shadowed, that neither heat nor rain might hurt them; and whom in the pillar of the Cloud Thou hast led on by day, that the mountains and hills might be brought low, and the valleys lifted up, and hast guided in the pillar of Fire by night:

and after all of these miracles wilt Thou kill this people as one man? Then the nations who have heard the fame and of Thy power will speak saying:

Because there was no (more) strength with the Lord to bring this people into the land which swearing He a promised to them, He hath killed them in the wilderness!

And now, I beseech Thee, magnify Thy power, O Lord, and let mercies be fulfilled upon us, and appoint me for (this) great people, as Thou hast spoken, saying:

The Lord is long­ suffering, and nigh in mercy, forgiving sins and covering transgressions, justifying such as return to His law though them who turn not He will not absolve, but will visit the sins of wicked fathers upon rebellious children unto the third and fourth generation.

The Lord is long-suffering, far from anger, near in mercy, multiplying the exercise of goodness and truth; though the Lord will not justify sinners, but will remember, in the day of judgment, the guilt of wicked fathers upon rebellious children.

Pardon now the sin of this people according to Thy great goodness, even as Thou hast forgiven them from the time that they came out from Mizraim until now.

And the Lord said, I have forgiven, according to thy word.

And the Word of the Lord said, Behold, I have absolved and pardoned, according to thy word.

Nevertheless, by oath have I sworn that the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

Because all the men who have beheld My glory, and My signs, which I have wrought in Mizraim and in the Desert, have tempted Me now ten times, and have not obeyed (received) My Word:

by oath have I said this, That they shall not see the land which I covenanted to their fathers; and the generation which have been provokeful before me shall not behold it.

But My servant, Kaleb, because there is in him another spirit, and he hath entirely followed (in) My fear, him will I bring into the land to which he went, and his children shall possess it.

But the Amalekites and Kenaanites dwell in the valley: tomorrow turn you and go into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

And the Lord spake with Mosheh and Aharon, saying:

How long (shall I bear with) this evil congregation who gather together against Me? The murmurs of the sons of Israel which they murmur against Me are heard before Me.

Say to them, By oath I decree that according to (what) you have spoken, so will I do to you.

In this wilderness your carcasses shall fall, the whole number of all who were counted from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me.

By a fast oath (have I sworn) that you shall not enter into the land which I covenanted in My Word to give you to inhabit, except Kaleb bar Jephunneh and Jehoshua bar Nun.

For I have uplifted My hand with an oath.

But your children, who you said would be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you rejected;

but your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness.

Yet your children will have to wander in this wilderness forty years, and bear your sins until the time that your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.

According to the number of the days in which you were exploring the land, forty days, a day for a year, a day for a year, you shall receive for your sins, forty years, and shall know (the consequence) of your murmuring against Me.

I the Lord have decreed in My Word, - if I have not made a decree in My Word against all this evil congregation who have gathered a rebel against Me in this wilderness, that they shall be consumed and die there.

But the men whom Mosheh had sent to explore the land, and who returning had made the whole congregation murmur against him, by bringing forth an evil report of the land,

(even those) men who had brought forth the evil of the report of the land died, on the seventh day of the month of Elul, with worms coming from their navels, and with worms devouring their tongues; and were buried in death from before the Lord.

Only Jehoshua bar Nun and Kaleb bar Jephunneh survived of those men who had gone to explore the land.

And Mosheh spake these words with all the sons of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.

And they arose in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain., saying: Behold, we will go up to the place of which the Lord hath spoken; for we have sinned.

But Mosheh said, Why will you act against the decree of the Word of the Lord? But it will not prosper with you.

Go not up, for the Lord's Shekinah dwelleth not among you; and the ark, the tabernacle, and the Cloud of Glory proceed not; and be not crushed before your enemies.

For the Amalekites and Kenaanites are there prepared for you, and you will fall slaughtered by the sword. For, because you have turned away from the service of the Lord, the Word of the Lord will not be your Helper.

But they armed themselves in the dark before the morning to go up to the height of the mountain: but the ark, in which was the covenant of the Lord, and Mosheh, stirred not from the midst of the camp.

And the Amalekites and Kenaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and slaughtered and destroyed them, and drave them hard to destruction.