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, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

2It is eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by the Mount Seir road.

3In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the Israelites, telling them everything that Yahweh had commanded him to tell them.

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

5Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law. He said:

6“Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb: ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough.

7Turn and set out. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all its neighboring regions in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Negev, and along the seacoast—the land of the Canaanites—and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates River.

8See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give to them and to their descendants after them.’

9At that time I said to you, ‘I am not able to carry you by myself.

10Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and here you are today as numerous as the stars in the sky.

11May Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as he promised you!

12How can I bear your troubles, your burdens, and your disputes all by myself?

13Choose wise, discerning, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will make them your leaders.’

14You answered me, ‘What you have proposed to do is good.’

15So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and made them leaders over you: commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers for your tribes.

16At that time I commanded your judges, ‘Hear the cases between your fellow Israelites, and judge fairly between a man and his fellow Israelite or the foreigner who lives with him.

17Do not show partiality in judgment; hear the small and the great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Any case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’

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

19Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as Yahweh our God had commanded us, and we came to Kadesh-barnea.

20I said to you, ‘You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which Yahweh our God is giving us.

21See, Yahweh your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it, as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.’

22Then all of you came to me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us to search out the land for us and bring back word to us about the route we should take up and the cities we will come to.’

23The plan seemed good to me, so I took twelve men from among you, one man from each tribe.

24They turned and went up into the hill country, came to the Valley of Eshcol, and scouted it out.

25They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They brought back word to us and said, ‘The land that Yahweh our God is giving us is good.’

26But you were not willing to go up. You rebelled against the command of Yahweh your God.

27You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Yahweh hates us. That is why he brought us out of the land of Egypt—to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us.

28Where are we going up to? Our brothers have made our hearts melt by saying, “The people are greater and taller than we are; the cities are large and fortified up to the sky. We even saw the Anakim there.”’

29I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified or afraid of them.

30Yahweh your God, who goes before you, will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

31and in the wilderness, where you saw how Yahweh your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way you traveled until you reached this place.’

32Yet in spite of this you did not trust Yahweh your God,

33who went ahead of you on the way to look for a place for you to camp, in fire by night to show you the way you should go, and in the cloud by day.

34When Yahweh heard what you said, he was angry, and he swore:

35‘Not one of these men, this evil generation, will see the good land that I swore to give your ancestors,

36except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his children the land he has walked on, because he followed Yahweh wholeheartedly.’

37Because of you Yahweh was angry with me too, and he said, ‘You also will not go in there.

38Joshua son of Nun, who serves you, will go in there. Encourage him, for he will lead Israel to inherit it.

39And your little ones, who you said would become plunder, and your children, who today do not know good from bad—they will go in there. I will give it to them, and they will take possession of it.

40But as for you, turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.’

41Then you answered me, ‘We have sinned against Yahweh. We will go up and fight, just as Yahweh our God commanded us.’ Each of you put on his weapons of war, and you thought it easy to go up into the hill country.

42But Yahweh said to me, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up and do not fight, for I am not among you. Otherwise you will be defeated by your enemies.”’

43So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against Yahweh’s command, and in your arrogance you went up into the hill country.

44The Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do. They struck you down in Seir as far as Hormah.

45You came back and wept before Yahweh, but Yahweh did not listen to your voice or pay attention to you.

46So you stayed in Kadesh many days, all the time that you stayed there.