Deuteronomy 1
1 These are the words which Moses said to all Israel on the far side of Jordan, in the waste land in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran on the one side, and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab on the other.
In this book is written what Moses/I said to the Israeli people. He/I told them these things when they/we were in the desert, on the east side of the Jordan [River]. They/We had set up our tents near [a place named] Suph, between Paran [town on the one side of the river] and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab [towns on the other side of the river].
2 It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.
To walk from Sinai [Mountain] to the Kadesh-Barnea [oasis], people usually travel for only eleven days, going by way of the hilly area named Edom.
3 Now in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses gave to the children of Israel all the orders which the Lord had given him for them;
Forty years after (the Israelis/we) left Egypt, in the middle of January, Moses/I told the Israeli people everything that Yahweh had commanded him/me to tell them.
4 After he had overcome Sihon, king of the Amorites, ruling in Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, ruling in Ashtaroth, at Edrei:
This was after they/we had defeated Sihon, the king of the Amor people-group, who lived in Heshbon [city], and Og, the king of the Bashan [region] who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei [towns].
5 On the far side of Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses gave the people this law, saying,
Moses/I told them these things while the people were in the Moab region, on the east side of the Jordan [River]. He/I (explained to them/enabled them to understand) God’s laws. This is what he/I said to them:
6 The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, You have been long enough in this mountain:
“Yahweh our God said to us when we were at Sinai [Mountain], ‘You have stayed for a very long time at [the bottom of] this mountain.
7 Make a move now, and go on your way into the hill-country of the Amorites and the places near it, in the Arabah and the hill-country and in the lowlands and in the South and by the seaside, all the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
So now continue traveling. Go to the hilly area where the Amor people-group lives and to the nearby areas—to the Jordan [River] Valley, to the hilly region, to the western (foothills/hills at the bottom of the mountains), to the desert area to the south, to the [Mediterranean] Seacoast, to all of Canaan land, to the Lebanon [Mountains], and [northeast] to the great Euphrates River.
8 See, all the land is before you: go in and take for yourselves the land which the Lord gave by an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their seed after them.
Note that I will give that land to you. I, Yahweh, promised to your ancestors Abraham and Isaac and Jacob that I would give it to them and to their descendants. So now go and occupy it.’”
9 At that time I said to you, I am not able to undertake the care of you by myself;
Moses/I also said to the people, “When [we were still at Sinai Mountain], I told your ancestors ‘It is a very big burden/responsibility for me to govern all of you. So I cannot do it by myself.
10 The Lord your God has given you increase, and now you are like the stars of heaven in number.
Yahweh our God has caused us Israelis to now become as numerous as the stars in the sky.
11 May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times greater in number than you are, and give you his blessing as he has said!
And I hope/desire that Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors [worshiped], will cause us to become 1,000 times as numerous as we are now and that he will bless us just like he promised to do.
12 How is it possible for me by myself to be responsible for you, and undertake the weight of all your troubles and your arguments?
But I certainly cannot [RHQ] (solve/deal with) all of your complaints/problems.
13 Take for yourselves men who are wise, far-seeing, and respected among you, from your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.
So choose some men from your tribes who are wise and who have good sense and who are respected. Then I will appoint them to be your leaders.’
14 And you made answer and said to me, It is good for us to do as you say.
Your ancestors replied, ‘What you have suggested is good for us to do.’
15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men and respected, and made them rulers over you, captains of thousands and captains of hundreds and captains of fifties and captains of tens, and overseers of your tribes.
So I took the wise and respected men [that your ancestors chose] from your tribes, and I appointed them to be your leaders. I appointed some to (rule/have authority) over 1,000 people, some to have authority over 100 people, some to have authority over 50 people, and some to have authority over ten people. I also appointed other officers from throughout your tribes.
16 And at that time I gave orders to your judges, saying, Let all questions between your brothers come before you for hearing, and give decisions uprightly between a man and his brother or one from another nation who is with him.
I instructed/told your leaders, ‘Listen to the disputes that occur among your people. Judge each dispute, including disputes between close relatives and quarrels between your people and people from other countries who live among you.
17 In judging, do not let a man's position have any weight with you; give hearing equally to small and great; have no fear of any man, for it is God who is judge: and any cause in which you are not able to give a decision, you are to put before me and I will give it a hearing.
You must (be impartial/not favor one person more than another); you must treat poor people and important people equally. You must not worry about what anyone will think [about how you decide matters], because you will decide matters as God [wants you to]. If any quarrel/dispute is very difficult and you are unable to decide it, bring it to me, and I will decide.’
18 And at that time I gave you all the orders which you were to do.
At that time I also told you other things that you should do.”
19 Then we went on from Horeb, through all that great and cruel waste which you saw, on our way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as the Lord gave us orders; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.
“Then, just like Yahweh our God commanded us, we left Sinai [Mountain] and went through that huge desert that was very (dangerous/difficult to travel through), on the road to the hilly area where the Amor people-group live. We arrived at Kadesh-Barnea.
20 And I said to you, You have come to the hill-country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.
I said to your ancestors, ‘We have now come to the hilly area where the Amor people-group live. This is part of the area that Yahweh our God, the one whom our ancestors [worshiped], is giving to us.
21 See now, the Lord your God has put the land into your hands: go up and take it, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has said to you; have no fear and do not be troubled.
Note that Yahweh our God is giving this land to us. So go and occupy it as he commanded. Do not be (at all/even a little bit) afraid.’
22 And you came near to me, every one of you, and said, Let us send men before us to go through the land with care and give us an account of the way we are to go and the towns to which we will come.
But all of your ancestors came to me and said, ‘Before we go, we should [first] send some men there to explore the land, in order that they can return and tell us which will be the best road to go there and what kind of towns are there.’
23 And what you said seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from among you, one from every tribe;
I thought that it would be good to do that, so I chose twelve men, one man from each tribe.
24 And they went up into the hill-country and came to the valley of Eshcol, and saw what was there.
They went up into the hilly area as far as Eshcol Valley, and they explored all that area.
25 And taking in their hands some of the fruit of the land, they came down again to us, and gave us their account, saying, It is a good land which the Lord our God is giving us.
They picked some of the fruit that they found there and brought it to us. They reported that the land that Yahweh our God was giving to us is very good/fertile.”
26 But going against the order of the Lord your God, you would not go up:
“But your ancestors refused to go [and conquer that land]. They rebelled against what Yahweh our God had commanded them to do, and they would not go into that land.
27 And you made an angry outcry in your tents, and said, In his hate for us the Lord has taken us out of the land of Egypt, to give us up into the hands of the Amorites for our destruction.
Your ancestors [stayed] in their tents and complained saying ‘Yahweh hates us. So he has brought us here from Egypt just to allow the Amor people-group to destroy us.
28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts feeble with fear by saying, The people are greater and taller than we are, and the towns are great and walled up to heaven; and more than this, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.
(Why should we go there?/We do not want to go there.) [RHQ] The men whom we sent there have caused us to become very discouraged/afraid. They have told us that the people there are much stronger and taller than we are and that there are extremely high [HYP] walls around their towns. Also they reported that they saw [giants there that are] descendants of Anak.’
29 Then I said to you, Have no fear of them.
Then I said to your ancestors, ‘Do not be afraid (at all/even a little bit) [DOU] of those people!
30 The Lord your God who goes before you will be fighting for you, and will do such wonders as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;
Yahweh our God will go ahead of you, and he will fight for you, just like you saw him do for you in Egypt
31 And in the waste land, where you have seen how the Lord was supporting you, as a man does his son, in all your journeying till you came to this place.
and in the desert. You saw how he brought you safely here, like a man would carry his son. [SIM]’
32 But for all this, you had no faith in the Lord your God,
[I reminded them that] he always went ahead of them while they traveled [in the desert]. He directed them by [a pillar of] fire during the night and a [pillar of] cloud during the day. He showed them places to set up their tents. But in spite of what I said, your ancestors would not trust Yahweh our God.
33 Who goes before you on your way, looking for a place where you may put up your tents, in fire by night, lighting up the way you are to go, and in a cloud by day.
34 And the Lord, hearing your words, was angry, and said with an oath,
Yahweh heard what they said, and he became angry. He solemnly declared,
35 Truly, not one of this evil generation will see that good land which I said I would give to your fathers,
‘Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, will enter the land. He has obeyed me completely. So I will give to him and to his descendants [some of] the land that he explored. He is the only one of all you people who will enter that land. None of these evil people will ever see that good land which I solemnly promised to give to your ancestors.’
36 But only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, he will see it; and to him and to his children I will give the land over which his feet have gone, because he has been true to the Lord with all his heart.
37 And, in addition, the Lord was angry with me because of you, saying, You yourself will not go into it:
But because of [what] your ancestors [did], Yahweh was also angry with me. He said to me, ‘You also will not enter that land.
38 Joshua, the son of Nun, your servant, he will go into the land: say to him that he is to be strong, for he will be Israel's guide into their heritage.
Joshua, the son of Nun, who is your helper, will enter it. Encourage him, because he is the one who will enable you Israeli people to occupy that land.’
39 And your little ones, who, you said, would come into strange hands, your children, who now have no knowledge of good or evil, they will go into that land, and to them I will give it and it will be theirs.
Then Yahweh said to all of us, ‘You said that your children would be captured by your enemies. Because they are very young, they do not yet know what is good and what is evil. But they are the ones to whom I will give that land, and they will enter it and occupy it.
40 But as for you, go back, journeying into the waste land by the way of the Red Sea.
But as for you, turn around and go back into the desert, toward the (Red Sea/Gulf of Aqaba).’
41 Then you said to me, We have done evil against the Lord, we will go up to the attack, as the Lord our God has given us orders. And arming yourselves every one, you made ready to go up without care into the hill-country.
Then your ancestors replied, ‘We have sinned; we have disobeyed Yahweh. So we will go and attack [the people who live in] that land, just like Yahweh our God commanded us to do.’ And each of their men put on his weapons, and they thought that it would be easy to invade the hilly region.
42 And the Lord said to me, Say to them, Do not go up to the attack; for I am not among you, and you will be overcome by those who are against you.
But Yahweh said to me, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up there and attack those people, because I will not go with you. If you go, your enemies will defeat you.”’
43 This I said to you, but you gave no attention and went against the orders of the Lord, and in your pride went up into the hill-country.
So I told that to your ancestors, but they would not heed what I said. They [again] rebelled against what Yahweh commanded them to do. Their soldiers proudly/arrogantly marched up into that hilly region.
44 And the Amorites who were in the hill-country came out against you and put you to flight, rushing after you like bees, and overcame you in Seir, driving you even as far as Hormah.
Then the men of the Amor people-group who lived in that region came out [of their towns] and attacked those soldiers. They pursued your ancestors’ soldiers like [a swarm of] bees pursues people, and they pursued them [south] from the Edom area and defeated them at Hormah [city].
45 And you came back, weeping before the Lord; but the Lord gave no attention to your cries and did not give ear to you.
So your ancestors went back [to Kadesh-Barnea] and cried out to request Yahweh [to help them], but he did not heed them. He did not pay any attention to them [DOU].
46 So you were kept waiting in Kadesh for a long time.
So we stayed there at Kadesh-Barnea for a long time.”
