Deuteronomy 1

¹These are the words which Moses said to all Israel on the far side of Jordan, in the waste land in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran on the one side, and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab on the other.

²It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.

³Now in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses gave to the children of Israel all the orders which the Lord had given him for them;

⁴After he had overcome Sihon, king of the Amorites, ruling in Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, ruling in Ashtaroth, at Edrei:

⁵On the far side of Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses gave the people this law, saying,

⁶The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, You have been long enough in this mountain:

⁷Make a move now, and go on your way into the hill-country of the Amorites and the places near it, in the Arabah and the hill-country and in the lowlands and in the South and by the seaside, all the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

⁸See, all the land is before you: go in and take for yourselves the land which the Lord gave by an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their seed after them.

⁹At that time I said to you, I am not able to undertake the care of you by myself;

¹⁰The Lord your God has given you increase, and now you are like the stars of heaven in number.

¹¹May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times greater in number than you are, and give you his blessing as he has said!

¹²How is it possible for me by myself to be responsible for you, and undertake the weight of all your troubles and your arguments?

¹³Take for yourselves men who are wise, far-seeing, and respected among you, from your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.

¹⁴And you made answer and said to me, It is good for us to do as you say.

¹⁵So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men and respected, and made them rulers over you, captains of thousands and captains of hundreds and captains of fifties and captains of tens, and overseers of your tribes.

¹⁶And at that time I gave orders to your judges, saying, Let all questions between your brothers come before you for hearing, and give decisions uprightly between a man and his brother or one from another nation who is with him.

¹⁷In judging, do not let a man's position have any weight with you; give hearing equally to small and great; have no fear of any man, for it is God who is judge: and any cause in which you are not able to give a decision, you are to put before me and I will give it a hearing.

¹⁸And at that time I gave you all the orders which you were to do.

¹⁹Then we went on from Horeb, through all that great and cruel waste which you saw, on our way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as the Lord gave us orders; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.

²⁰And I said to you, You have come to the hill-country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.

²¹See now, the Lord your God has put the land into your hands: go up and take it, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has said to you; have no fear and do not be troubled.

²²And you came near to me, every one of you, and said, Let us send men before us to go through the land with care and give us an account of the way we are to go and the towns to which we will come.

²³And what you said seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from among you, one from every tribe;

²⁴And they went up into the hill-country and came to the valley of Eshcol, and saw what was there.

²⁵And taking in their hands some of the fruit of the land, they came down again to us, and gave us their account, saying, It is a good land which the Lord our God is giving us.

²⁶But going against the order of the Lord your God, you would not go up:

²⁷And you made an angry outcry in your tents, and said, In his hate for us the Lord has taken us out of the land of Egypt, to give us up into the hands of the Amorites for our destruction.

²⁸Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts feeble with fear by saying, The people are greater and taller than we are, and the towns are great and walled up to heaven; and more than this, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.

²⁹Then I said to you, Have no fear of them.

³⁰The Lord your God who goes before you will be fighting for you, and will do such wonders as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;

³¹And in the waste land, where you have seen how the Lord was supporting you, as a man does his son, in all your journeying till you came to this place.

³²But for all this, you had no faith in the Lord your God,

³³Who goes before you on your way, looking for a place where you may put up your tents, in fire by night, lighting up the way you are to go, and in a cloud by day.

³⁴And the Lord, hearing your words, was angry, and said with an oath,

³⁵Truly, not one of this evil generation will see that good land which I said I would give to your fathers,

³⁶But only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, he will see it; and to him and to his children I will give the land over which his feet have gone, because he has been true to the Lord with all his heart.

³⁷And, in addition, the Lord was angry with me because of you, saying, You yourself will not go into it:

³⁸Joshua, the son of Nun, your servant, he will go into the land: say to him that he is to be strong, for he will be Israel's guide into their heritage.

³⁹And your little ones, who, you said, would come into strange hands, your children, who now have no knowledge of good or evil, they will go into that land, and to them I will give it and it will be theirs.

⁴⁰But as for you, go back, journeying into the waste land by the way of the Red Sea.

⁴¹Then you said to me, We have done evil against the Lord, we will go up to the attack, as the Lord our God has given us orders. And arming yourselves every one, you made ready to go up without care into the hill-country.

⁴²And the Lord said to me, Say to them, Do not go up to the attack; for I am not among you, and you will be overcome by those who are against you.

⁴³This I said to you, but you gave no attention and went against the orders of the Lord, and in your pride went up into the hill-country.

⁴⁴And the Amorites who were in the hill-country came out against you and put you to flight, rushing after you like bees, and overcame you in Seir, driving you even as far as Hormah.

⁴⁵And you came back, weeping before the Lord; but the Lord gave no attention to your cries and did not give ear to you.

⁴⁶So you were kept waiting in Kadesh for a long time.

Deuteronomy 1

¹These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

²It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.

³It happened in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them;

⁴after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.

⁵Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,

⁶"The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, You have lived long enough in this mountain:

⁷turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all the places near there, in the Arabah, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the Negev, and by the sea coast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

⁸Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them."

⁹I spoke to you at that time, saying, "I am not able to bear you myself alone:

¹⁰The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of the sky for multitude.

¹¹The Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!

¹²How can I myself alone bear your encumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?

¹³Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you."

¹⁴You answered me, and said, "The thing which you have spoken is good to do."

¹⁵So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes.

¹⁶I commanded your judges at that time, saying, "Hear cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him.

¹⁷You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it."

¹⁸I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.

¹⁹We traveled from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea.

²⁰I said to you, "You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God gives to us.

²¹Behold, the Lord your God has set the land before you: go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you; do not be afraid, neither be dismayed."

²²You came near to me everyone of you, and said, "Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we shall come."

²³The thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe:

²⁴and they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.

²⁵They took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, "It is a good land which the Lord our God gives to us."

²⁶Yet you wouldn't go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God:

²⁷and you murmured in your tents, and said, "Because the Lord hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

²⁸Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart to melt, saying, 'The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to the sky; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.'"

²⁹Then I said to you, "Do not dread, neither be afraid of them.

³⁰The Lord your God who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

³¹and in the wilderness, where you have seen how that the Lord your God bore you, as a man does bear his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place."

³²Yet in this thing you did not believe the Lord your God,

³³who went before you in the way, to seek you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day.

³⁴The Lord heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying,

³⁵"Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land, which I swore to give to your fathers,

³⁶except Caleb the son of Jephunneh: he shall see it; and to him will I give the land that he has trodden on, and to his children, because he has wholly followed the Lord."

³⁷Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, "You also shall not go in there:

³⁸Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there: encourage you him; for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

³⁹Moreover your little ones, whom you said should be a prey, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

⁴⁰But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea."

⁴¹Then you answered and said to me, "We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us." Every man of you put on his weapons of war, and presumed to go up into the hill country.

⁴²The Lord said to me, "Tell them, 'Do not go up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest you be struck before your enemies.'"

⁴³So I spoke to you, and you did not listen; but you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill country.

⁴⁴The Amorites, who lived in that hill country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to Hormah.

⁴⁵You returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord did not listen to your voice, nor gave ear to you.

⁴⁶So you stayed in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained.