24 Preface قالوا يا موسىٰ إِنّا لَن نَدخُلَها أَبَدًا ما داموا فيها ۖ فَاذهَب أَنتَ وَرَبُّكَ فَقاتِلا إِنّا هاهُنا قاعِدونَYusuf AliThey said: “O Moses! while they remain there, never shall we be able to enter, to the end of time. Go thou, and thy Lord, and fight ye two, while we sit here (and1 watch).”The advice of Joshua and Caleb, and the proposals of Moses under divine instructions were unpalatable to the crowd, whose prejudices were further inflamed by the other ten men who had gone with Joshua and Caleb. They made an “evil report,” and were frightened by the great stature of the Canaanites. The crowd was in open rebellion, was prepared to stone Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb, and return to Egypt. Their reply to Moses was full of irony, insolence, blasphemy, and cowardice. In effect they said: “You talk of your God and all that: go with your God and fight there if you like: we shall sit here and watch.”