Deuteronomy 1

¹These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain opposite Suph between Paran and between Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab.

²It is eleven days from Horeb by 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, that Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that YHWH had commanded him concerning them,

⁴after he had killed Sihon king of the Amorite, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei.

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

⁶YHWH our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: “You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.

⁷Turn and set out for yourselves, and go to the mountains of the Amorite and to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the hill country, and in the Shephelah, and in the Negev, and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanite, and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates.

⁸See, I have set before you the land. Go in and possess the land that YHWH swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them.”

⁹And I spoke to you at that time, saying, “I am not able to bear you alone.

¹⁰YHWH your God has multiplied you, and behold, today you are as the stars of the heavens in multitude.

¹¹May YHWH, God of your fathers, add to you as a thousand times, and bless you as He has promised to you.

¹²How can I bear alone your troubles and your burdens and your disputes?

¹³Choose for yourselves men, wise and understanding and knowledgeable, from among your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.”

¹⁴And you answered me and said, “Good is the thing that you have told us to do.”

¹⁵And I took the heads of your tribes, men wise and knowledgeable, and I appointed them heads over you—leaders of thousands, and leaders of hundreds, and leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes.

¹⁶And I commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Listen between your brothers and judge righteously between a man and between his brother or the sojourner who is with him.

¹⁷You shall not discern faces in judgment; the small as well as the great you shall hear. You shall not be afraid of the face of any man, for the judgment, it is unto God. And the case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.”

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

¹⁹And we departed from Horeb and went through all that great and fearful wilderness, which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorite, as YHWH our God had commanded us. And we came to Kadesh-barnea,

²⁰and I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorite, which YHWH our God is giving to us.

²¹See, YHWH your God has set before you the land. Go up, possess it, as YHWH, God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not be afraid or be discouraged.”

²²And you all came near to me and said, “Let us send men before us, and let them search out for us the land, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up into it, and of the cities into which we shall come.”

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

²⁴And they departed and went up into the mountains and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out.

²⁵And they took in their hands of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and they brought back to us word and said, “Good is the land that YHWH our God is giving to us.”

²⁶And you would not go up, and you rebelled against the mouth of YHWH your God,

²⁷and you murmured in your tents and said, “Because YHWH hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorite, to destroy us.

²⁸Where can we go up? Our brothers have discouraged our hearts, saying, ‘The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to the heavens. And moreover, we have seen the sons of Anak there.’”

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

³⁰YHWH your God goes before you. He will fight for you according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

³¹and in the wilderness, where you saw how YHWH your God carried you as a man carries his son in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.”

³²And in this thing you did not believe YHWH your God,

³³who went before you on the way to search out for you a place to pitch your tents in the fire by night, and to show you the way in which you should go in the cloud by day.

³⁴And YHWH heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and swore, saying,

³⁵“Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land of which I swore to give to your fathers—

³⁶except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him I am giving the land that he walked in, and to his sons, on account of that he has been fully after YHWH.”

³⁷Also YHWH was angry with me for your sakes, saying, “Even you shall not go in there.

³⁸Joshua son of Nun who stands before you, he shall go in there; strengthen him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

³⁹And your little ones, whom you said would be for plunder, and your sons, who have no knowledge today of good and evil, they shall go in there, and to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.

⁴⁰And as for you, turn and set out for yourselves into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.”

⁴¹And you answered and said to me, “We have sinned against YHWH. We will go up and fight, according to all that YHWH our God commanded us.” And you had girded on, every man, of his weapons of war, and you were ready to go up into the mountain.

⁴²And YHWH said to me, “Tell them: Do not go up, nor fight, for I am not among you, lest you be stricken before the faces of your enemies.”

⁴³And I spoke to you and you would not listen, and you rebelled against the mouth of YHWH and proudly went up into the mountain.

⁴⁴And the Amorite who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you like the bees do, and drove you back from Seir to Hormah.

⁴⁵And you returned and you wept before the face of YHWH; YHWH would not listen to your voice, nor give ear to you.

⁴⁶And you remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you had dwelt.