< 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.
These [are] the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side Jordan in the desert towards the west near the Red Sea, between Pharan Tophol, and Lobon, and Aulon, and the gold works.
2 It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.
[It is] a journey of eleven days from Choreb to mount Seir as far as Cades Barne.
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;
And it came to pass in the forties year, in the eleventh month, on the first [day] of the month, Moses spoke to all the children of Israel, according to all things which the Lord commanded him for them:
4 After he had overcome Sihon, king of the Amorites, ruling in Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, ruling in Ashtaroth, at Edrei:
after he had struck Seon king of the Amorites who lived in Esebon, and Og the king of Basan who lived in Astaroth and in Edrain;
5 On the far side of Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses gave the people this law, saying,
beyond Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law, saying,
6 The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, You have been long enough in this mountain:
The Lord your God spoke to us in Choreb, saying, Let it suffice you to have lived [so long] in 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.
Turn you and depart and enter into the mountain of the Amorites, and [go] to all that dwell near about Araba, to the mountain and the plain and to the south, and the land of the Chananites near the sea, and Antilibanus, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
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.
Behold, [God] has delivered the land before you; go in and inherit the land, which I sware to your fathers, Abraam, and Isaac, and Jacob, to give it to them and to their seed after them.
9 At that time I said to you, I am not able to undertake the care of you by myself;
And I spoke to you at that time, saying, I shall not be able by myself to bear you.
10 The Lord your God has given you increase, and now you are like the stars of heaven in number.
The Lord your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you are today as the stars of heaven for multitude.
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!
The Lord God of your fathers add to you a thousand-fold more than you are, and bless you as he has spoken to you.
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?
How shall I alone be able to bear your labour, and your burden, and your gainsayings?
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.
Take to yourselves wise and understanding and prudent men for your tribes, and I will set your leaders over you.
14 And you made answer and said to me, It is good for us to do as you say.
And you answered me and said, The thing which you have told us [is] good 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 of you wise and understanding and prudent men, and I set them to rule over you as rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, and officers to your judges.
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.
And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear [causes] between your brethren, and judge rightly between a man and [his] brother, and the stranger that is with him.
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 shall not have respect to persons in judgement, you shall judge small and great equally; you shall not shrink from before the person of a man, for the judgement is God's; and whatever matter shall be too hard for you, you shall bring it to me, and I will hear it.
18 And at that time I gave you all the orders which you were to do.
And I charged upon you at that time all the commands which you shall perform.
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.
And we departed from Choreb, and went through all that great wilderness and terrible, which you saw, by the way of the mountain of the Amorite, as the Lord our God charged us, and we came as far as Cades Barne.
20 And I said to you, You have come to the hill-country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.
And I said to you, You have come as far as the mountain of the Amorite, which the Lord our God gives to you:
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.
behold, the Lord your God has delivered to us the land before you: go up and inherit it as the Lord God of your fathers said to you; fear not, neither be 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.
And you all came to me, and said, Let us send men before us, and let them go up to the land for us; and let them bring back to us a report of the way by which we shall go up, and of the cities into which we shall enter.
23 And what you said seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from among you, one from every tribe;
And the saying pleased me: and I took of you twelve men, one man of a tribe.
24 And they went up into the hill-country and came to the valley of Eshcol, and saw what was there.
And they turned and went up to the mountain, and they came as far as the valley of the cluster, and surveyed it.
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.
And they took in their hands of the fruit of the land, and brought it to you, and said, The land is good which the Lord our God gives us.
26 But going against the order of the Lord your God, you would not go up:
Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the words of the Lord our God.
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.
And you murmured in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, 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.
Whither do we go up? and your brethren drew away your heart, saying, [It is a] great nation and populous, and mightier than we; and [there are] cities great and walled up to heaven: moreover we saw there the sons of the giants.
29 Then I said to you, Have no fear of them.
And I said to you, Fear not, neither be you afraid of them;
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;
the Lord your God who goes before your face, he shall fight against them together with you effectually, according to all that he wrought for you in the land of 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 this wilderness which you saw, by the way of the mountain of the Amorite; how the Lord your God will bear you as a nursling, as if any man should nurse his child, through all the way which you have gone until you came to this place.
32 But for all this, you had no faith in the Lord your God,
And in this matter you believed not the Lord 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.
who goes before you in the way to choose you a place, guiding you in fire by night, showing you the way by which you go, and a cloud by day.
34 And the Lord, hearing your words, was angry, and said with an oath,
And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and being greatly provoked he sware, saying,
35 Truly, not one of this evil generation will see that good land which I said I would give to your fathers,
Not one of these men shall see this good land, which I sware to their fathers,
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.
except Chaleb the son of Jephonne, he shall see it; and to him I will give the land on which he went up, and to his sons, because he attended to the things of the Lord.
37 And, in addition, the Lord was angry with me because of you, saying, You yourself will not go into it:
And the Lord was angry with me for your sake, saying, Neither shall you by any means enter therein.
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 Naue, who stands by you, he shall enter in there; do you strengthen him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
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.
And every young child who this day knows not good or evil, —they shall enter therein, and to them I will give it, and they shall inherit it.
40 But as for you, go back, journeying into the waste land by the way of the Red Sea.
And you turned and marched into the wilderness, in the way by the Red Sea.
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.
And you answered and said, We have sinned before the Lord our God; we will go up and fight according to all that the Lord our God has commanded us: and having taken every one his weapons of war, and being gathered together, you went up to the mountain.
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.
And the Lord said to me, Tell them, You shall not go up, neither shall you fight, for I am not with you; thus shall you not be destroyed before your enemies.
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.
And I spoke to you, and you did not listen to me; and you transgressed the commandment of the Lord; and you forced your way and went up into the mountain.
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.
And the Amorite who lived in that mountain came out to meet you, and pursued you as bees do, and wounded you from Seir to Herma.
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.
And you sat down and wept before the Lord our God, and the Lord listened not to your voice, neither did he take heed to you.
46 So you were kept waiting in Kadesh for a long time.
And you lived in Cades many days, as many days as you lived [there].

< Deuteronomy 1 >