Deuteronomy 1

¹These ben the wordis whiche Moyses spak to al Israel ouer Jordan, in the wildirnesse of the feeld, ayens the reed see, bitwix Pharan and Tophel and Laban and Asseroth, where is ful myche gold,

²by enleuene daies fro Oreb bi the weie of the hil of Seir, til to Cades Barne.

³In the fortithe yeer, in the enleuenth monethe, in the firste dai of the monethe, Moises spak to the sones of Israel alle thingis whiche the Lord commandide to hym that he schulde seie to hem,

⁴after that he smoot Seon, kyng of Ammorreis, that dwellide in Esebon, and Og, the kyng of Basan, that dwelide in Asseroth and in Edray, ouer Jordan, in the lond of Moab.

⁵And Moyses bigan to declare the lawe, and to seie,

⁶Oure Lord God spak to vs in Oreb, and seide, It suffisith to you that ye han dwellid in this hil;

⁷turne ye ayen, and come ye to the hil of Amorreis, and to othere placis that ben next it; to places of feeldis, and of hillis, and to lowere places ayens the south, and bisidis the brenke of the see, to the lond of Cananeys, and of Liban, `til to the greet flood Eufrates.

⁸Lo, `he seith, Y haue youe to you; entre ye, and `welde ye `that lond on which the Lord swoor to youre fadrys, Abraham, Ysaac, and Jacob, that he schulde yyue it to hem, and to her seed after hem.

⁹And Y seide to you in that time, Y may not aloone susteyne you, for youre Lord God hath multiplied you,

¹⁰and ye ben ful many to dai, as the sterris of heuene;

¹¹the Lord God of youre fadris adde to this noumbre many thousyndis, and blesse you, as he spak.

¹²Y may not aloone susteyne youre causis, and birthun, and stryues; yyue ye of you men wise `in dyuyn thingis,

¹³and witti `in mennus thingis worthi to be don, whose conuersacioun is preued in youre lynagis, that Y sette hem princes to you.

¹⁴Thanne ye answeriden to me, The thing is good which thou wolt do.

¹⁵And Y took of youre lynagis men wise and noble, `in vertues and kyn; and Y ordeynede hem princis, tribunes, and centuryouns, and quynquagenaries, and denys, whiche schulden teche you all thingis.

¹⁶And Y comaundide to hem, and seide, Here ye hem, and deme ye that that is iust, whether he be a citeseyn, whether a pilgrym.

¹⁷No difference schal be of persones; ye schulen here so a litil man, `that is, pore, as a greet man, nether ye schulen take the persoone of ony man, for it is the doom of God. That if ony thing semeth hard to you, telle ye to me, and Y schal here.

¹⁸And Y comaundide alle thingis whiche ye ouyten to do.

¹⁹Forsothe we yeden forth fro Oreb, and passiden bi a feerdful deseert, and grettiste wildirnesse, which ye sien, bi the weye of the hil of Ammorrey, as oure Lord God comaundide to vs. And whanne we hadden come in to Cades Barne,

²⁰Y seide to you, Ye ben comen to the hil of Ammorrey, which youre Lord God schal yyue to you;

²¹se thou the lond which thi Lord God schal yyue to thee; `stie thou, and welde it, as oure Lord God spak to thi fadris; `nyle thou drede, nether `drede thou in herte ony thing.

²²And alle ye neiyiden to me, and ye seiden, Sende we men, that schulen biholde the lond, and telle to vs bi what weye we owen stie, and to whiche citees we owen to go.

²³And whanne the word pleside to me , Y sente of you twelue men, of ech lynage oon.

²⁴And whanne thei hadden go, and hadden stied in to the hilli places, thei camen `til to the valei of Clustre; and whanne thei hadden biholde the lond,

²⁵thei token of the fruytis therof, to schewe the plentee, and brouyten `to vs, and seiden, The lond is good which oure Lord God schal yyue to vs.

²⁶And ye `nolden stie, but ye weren vnbileueful to the word of oure Lord God.

²⁷And ye grutchiden in youre tabernaclis, and ye seiden, The Lord hatith vs, and herfor he ledde vs out of the lond of Egipt, that he schulde bitake vs in the hond of Ammorey, and schulde do awei vs.

²⁸Whidur schulen we stie? the messangeris maden aferd oure herte, and seiden, A grettiste multitude is, and largere in stature than we; the citees ben greete, and wallid `til to the heuene; we sien there the sones of Enachym, that is, giauntis.

²⁹And Y seide to you, `Nyle ye drede `with ynne, nether `drede withoutforth; the Lord God hym silf,

³⁰which is youre ledere, schal fiyte for you, as he dide in Egipt, while alle men sien.

³¹And ye sien in the wildirnesse, thi Lord God bar thee, as a man is wont to bere his litil sone, in al the weie bi which ye yeden til ye camen to this place.

³²And sotheli nether so ye bileueden to youre Lord God, that yede bifor you in the weie,

³³and mesuride the place in which ye ouyten to sette tentis, and schewide in nyyt the weie to you bi fier, and in dai bi a piler of cloude.

³⁴And whanne the Lord hadde herd the vois of youre wordis, he was wrooth,

³⁵and swoor, and seide, Noon of the men of this werste generacioun schal se the good lond, which Y bihiyte vndur an ooth to youre fadris,

³⁶outakun Caleph , the sone of Jephone; for he schal se it, and Y schal yyue to hym the lond on which he trad, and to hise sones, for he suede the Lord.

³⁷Nether the indignacioun ayens the puple is wondirful, sithen the Lord was wrooth also to me for you, and seide,

³⁸Nether thou schalt entre thidur, but Josue, the sone of Nun, thi mynystre, he schal entre for thee; excyte and strengthe thou him, and he schal departe the lond bi lot to Israel.

³⁹Youre litle children, of whiche ye seiden, that thei schulden be led prisoneris, and the sones that kunnen not to dai the diuersite of good and of yuel, thei schulen entre; and Y schal yyue to hem the lond, and thei schulen welde it.

⁴⁰Sotheli turne ye ayen, and go ye in to the wildirnesse, bi the weie of the Reed See.

⁴¹And ye answeriden to me, We synneden to the Lord; we schulen stie, and we schulen fiyte, as oure Lord God comaundide. And whanne ye weren arayed with armeris, and yeden `into the hil, the Lord seide to me,

⁴²Seie thou to hem, `Nyle ye stye, nether fiyte ye, for Y am not with you, lest ye fallen bifor youre enemyes.

⁴³Y spak, and ye herden not; but ye `weren aduersaries to the comaundement of the Lord, and bolnden with prijde, and stieden in to the hil.

⁴⁴Therfor Ammorrey yede out, that dwellide in the hillis, and he cam ayens you, and pursuede you, as bees ben wont to pursue, and killide fro Seir til Horma. And whanne ye turneden ayen,

⁴⁵and wepten bifor the Lord, he herde not you, nether wolde asente to youre vois;

⁴⁶therfor ye saten in Cades Barne bi myche tyme.

Deuteronomy 1

¹These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

²(There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh–barnea.)

³And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them;

⁴After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:

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

⁶The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:

⁷Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.

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

⁹And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:

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

¹¹(The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)

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

¹³Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.

¹⁴And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.

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

¹⁶And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.

¹⁷Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

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

¹⁹And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh–barnea.

²⁰And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us.

²¹Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.

²²And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.

²³And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:

²⁴And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.

²⁵And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us.

²⁶Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God:

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

²⁸Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.

²⁹Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.

³⁰The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;

³¹And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.

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

³³Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.

³⁴And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,

³⁵Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers,

³⁶Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord.

³⁷Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.

³⁸But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

³⁹Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

⁴⁰But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.

⁴¹Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.

⁴²And the Lord said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.

⁴³So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and went presumptuously up into the hill.

⁴⁴And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.

⁴⁵And ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.

⁴⁶So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.