Deuteronomy 1

Israel’s History after the Exodus

1These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel 1across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the 2Arabah opposite 3Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2It is eleven days’ journey from 4Horeb by way of Mount 5Seir to 6Kadesh-barnea. 3In the 7fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, 8in accordance with everything that the Lord had commanded him to declare to them, 4after he had 910defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and 11Og the king of Bashan, who lived in 12Ashtaroth 13and in Edrei. 5Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this Law, saying,

6“The Lord our God 14spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7Turn and set out on your journey, and go to 15the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in 16the 17Negev, by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8See, I have placed the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the Lord 18swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and their 19descendants after them.’

9“And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘20I am not able to endure you alone. 10The Lord your God has 21multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number. 11May the Lord, the God of your fathers increase you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you, 22just as He has 23promised you! 12How can I alone endure the burden and weight of you and your strife? 1324Obtain for yourselves men who are wise, discerning, and informed from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ 14And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’ 15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and informed men, and 25appointed them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, 26hundreds, 27fifties, and 28tens, and officers for your tribes.

16“Then I ordered your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen and 29judge righteously between a person and his fellow countryman, or the stranger who is with him. 1730You are not to 31show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You are 32not to be afraid of any person, for the judgment is God’s. 33The case that is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 18At that time 34I commanded you all the things that you were to do.

19“Then we set out from 35Horeb, and went through all that 36great and terrible wilderness that you saw on the way to the 37hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us; and we came to 38Kadesh-barnea. 20And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is about to give us. 21See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. 39Do not fear or be dismayed.’

22“40Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us, so that they may spy out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up, and the cities which we should enter.’ 23The 41plan pleased me, and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe. 24Then 42they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They also brought us back a report and said, ‘The land that the Lord our God is about to give us is good.’

26“43Yet you were unwilling to go up; instead you 44rebelled against the 45command of the Lord your God; 27and 46you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us. 28Where can we go up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, by saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we saw 47the sons of the Anakim there.”’ 29But I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, nor fear them. 30The Lord your God, who goes before you, will 48Himself fight for you, 49just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31and in the wilderness where you saw how 50the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, on all of the road which you have walked until you came to this place.’ 32Yet 5152in spite of all this, you did not trust the Lord your God, 3353who goes before you on your way, 54to seek out a place for you to make camp, in the fire by night to show you the way by which you should go, and in the cloud by day.

34“Then the Lord heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and 55swore an oath, saying, 35‘56Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, 36except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and 57to him I will give the land on which he has set foot, and to his sons, because he has followed the Lord fully.’ 3758The Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘59Not even you shall enter there. 38Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, 60shall himself enter there; encourage him, for 61he will give it to Israel as an inheritance. 39Moreover, 62your little ones who, you said, would become plunder, and your sons, who this day have 63no knowledge of good and evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall take possession of it. 40But as for you, 64turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way of the 65Red Sea.’

41“66Then you replied to me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord; we ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every man of you strapped on his weapons of war, and you viewed it as easy to go up into the hill country. 4267But the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be 68defeated 69by your enemies.”’ 43So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead, 70you rebelled against the 71command of the Lord, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. 4472And the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you 73as bees do, and they scattered you from Seir to Hormah. 45Then you returned and wept before the Lord; but the 74Lord did not listen to your voice, nor pay attention to you. 46So you remained at 75Kadesh for many days, 76the days that you spent there.