Deuteronomy 1:19-46

19“Then we set out from 1Horeb, and went through all that 2great and terrible wilderness that you saw on the way to the 3hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us; and we came to 4Kadesh-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. 5Do not fear or be dismayed.’

22“6Then 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 7plan pleased me, and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe. 24Then 8they 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“9Yet you were unwilling to go up; instead you 10rebelled against the 11command of the Lord your God; 27and 12you 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 13the 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 14Himself fight for you, 15just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31and in the wilderness where you saw how 16the 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 1718in spite of all this, you did not trust the Lord your God, 3319who goes before you on your way, 20to 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 21swore an oath, saying, 35‘22Not 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 23to him I will give the land on which he has set foot, and to his sons, because he has followed the Lord fully.’ 3724The Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘25Not even you shall enter there. 38Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, 26shall himself enter there; encourage him, for 27he will give it to Israel as an inheritance. 39Moreover, 28your little ones who, you said, would become plunder, and your sons, who this day have 29no 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, 30turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way of the 31Red Sea.’

41“32Then 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. 4233But the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be 34defeated 35by your enemies.”’ 43So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead, 36you rebelled against the 37command of the Lord, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. 4438And the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you 39as bees do, and they scattered you from Seir to Hormah. 45Then you returned and wept before the Lord; but the 40Lord did not listen to your voice, nor pay attention to you. 46So you remained at 41Kadesh for many days, 42the days that you spent there.