Deuteronomy 1

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

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

³And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.

⁴After his defeating Sihon king of the Amorite, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who dwelt in Ashtaroth at Edrei.

⁵Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this instruction, saying:

⁶The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, Long enough is the dwelling of you all at this mountain.

⁷Turn and set out on your way, and enter the hill country of the Amorites and all their neighboring regions -- the Arabah, the hill country, the Shephelah, the Negeb, and the seacoast -- the land of the Canaanites and the Lebanon, as far as the great River, the river Euphrates.

⁸See, I have set the land before you. Enter and take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.

⁹And I said to you at that time, saying, I am not able by myself to bear you.

¹⁰The LORD God of you all has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the heavens in abundance.

¹¹The Lord, the God of the fathers of you all, may he multiply you a thousandfold and bless you, just as he has spoken to you.

¹²How can I bear by myself your burden and your load and your strife?

¹³Bring for yourselves men wise and discerning and reputed from the tribes of you all, and I will appoint them as heads over you all.

¹⁴And you answered me and said, 'The thing that you have spoken is good to do.'

¹⁵So I took the heads of your tribes, men who were wise and discerning, and I appointed them as heads over you all -- commanders of thousands, and commanders of hundreds, and commanders of fifties, and commanders of tens, and officers for your tribes.

¹⁶And I commanded your judges at that time, saying, Hear between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother and his sojourner.

¹⁷You shall not show partiality in judgment; as the small, so the great you shall hear. You shall not fear any man, for the judgment belongs to God. And the case that is too hard for you, bring it near to me, and I will hear it.

¹⁸And I commanded you at that time all the things that you were to do.

¹⁹And we set out from Horeb and walked through all that great and awesome wilderness, which you saw, by the way of the hill country of the Amorite, as the LORD our God commanded us, and we came to Kadesh Barnea.

²⁰And I said to you: You have come as far as the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is about to give us.

²¹See, 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 fear and do not be dismayed.

²²Then all of you came near to me and said, 'Let us send men before us to spy out the land for us and bring back to us a report about the route by which we should go up and the cities we should enter.'

²³And the thing was good in my eyes, and I took twelve men from among you, one man per tribe.

²⁴And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came as far as the Wadi Eshcol, and spied it out.

²⁵And they took in their hand from the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and they reported back to us a word, and said, Good is the land that the LORD our God is giving to us.

²⁶But you were not willing to go up; you rebelled against the mouth of the Lord, the God of you all.

²⁷And you grumbled in your tents and said, 'Out of the hatred of the LORD for us he brought us out from the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorite, to destroy us.'

²⁸Where can we go up? Our brothers have caused our hearts to melt, saying: A people greater and taller than we are, cities great and fortified up to the heavens, and moreover the sons of the Anakites we have seen there.

²⁹And I said to you, Do not tremble and do not be afraid of them.

³⁰The Lord, the God of you all, who is going before you all -- he himself will fight for you, just as he did with you in Egypt before the eyes of you all.

³¹And in the wilderness, which you saw, where the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.

³²Yet in this matter you are not trusting the LORD, the God of you all.

³³who went before you all in the way to scout out for you a resting place for the encampment of you all, in fire by night, to show you all the way in which you should go, and in a cloud by day.

³⁴And the Lord heard the sound of your words and was angry, and he swore, saying:

³⁵Surely not one among these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers.

³⁶Except for Caleb son of Jephunneh -- he shall see it, and to him I will give the land upon which he trod, and to his sons, because he fully followed the LORD.

³⁷Also with me the LORD became angry because of you, saying, You also shall not go in there.

³⁸Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you -- he shall enter there. Strengthen him, for he it is who shall give Israel possession of it.

³⁹And your little ones, whom you said would become plunder, and your sons who do not know today good from bad -- they shall go there, and to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.

⁴⁰But as for you, turn yourselves and journey into the wilderness by way of the Reed Sea.

⁴¹Then you answered and said to me, We have sinned against the LORD; we ourselves will go up and fight according to all that the LORD our God commanded us, and every man of you girded on his weapons of war, and you ventured to go up into the hill country.

⁴²And the Lord said to me, 'Say to them: Do not go up and do not fight, for I am not among you, lest you be defeated before your enemies.'

⁴³So I spoke to you, but you did not listen, and you rebelled against the mouth of the LORD, and you acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country.

⁴⁴And the Amorite dwelling in that hill country came out against you and pursued you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir as far as Hormah.

⁴⁵And you returned and wept before the LORD, but the LORD did not hear your voice and did not give ear to you.

⁴⁶And you stayed at Kadesh for many days, as long as you had lived there.