Deuteronomy 1
1 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.
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] a journey of eleven days from Choreb to mount Seir as far as Cades Barne.
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 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:
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 struck Seon king of the Amorites who lived in Esebon, and Og the king of Basan who lived in Astaroth and in Edrain;
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 beyond Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare 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 your God spoke to us in Choreb, saying, Let it suffice you to have lived [so long] 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 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.
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 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.
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 And I spoke to you at that time, saying, I shall not be able by myself to bear you.
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 multiplied you, and, behold, you are today as the stars of heaven for multitude.
Yahweh our God has caused us Israelis to now become as numerous as the stars in the sky.
11 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.
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 shall I alone be able to bear your labor, and your burden, and your gainsayings?
But I certainly cannot [RHQ] (solve/deal with) all of your complaints/problems.
13 Take to yourselves wise and understanding and prudent men for your tribes, and I will set your leaders 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 answered me and said, The thing which you have told us [is] good to do.
Your ancestors replied, ‘What you have suggested is good for us to do.’
15 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.
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 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.
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 You shall not have respect to persons in judgment, you shall judge small and great equally; you shall not shrink from before the person of a man, for the judgment is God's; and whatever matter shall be too hard for you, you shall bring it to me, and I will hear it.
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 I charged upon you at that time all the commands which you shall perform.
At that time I also told you other things that you should do.”
19 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.
“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 as far as the mountain of the Amorite, which the Lord our God gives to you:
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 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.
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 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.
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 the saying pleased me: and I took of you twelve men, one man of a tribe.
I thought that it would be good to do that, so I chose twelve men, one man from each tribe.
24 And they turned and went up to the mountain, and they came as far as the valley of the cluster, and surveyed it.
They went up into the hilly area as far as Eshcol Valley, and they explored all that area.
25 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.
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 Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the words of the Lord our God.
“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 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.
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 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.
(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 And I said to you, Fear not, neither be you afraid 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 your face, he shall fight against them together with you effectually, according to all that he wrought for you in the land of Egypt;
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 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.
and in the desert. You saw how he brought you safely here, like a man would carry his son. [SIM]’
32 And in this matter you believed not the Lord our 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 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 heard the voice of your words, and being greatly provoked he sware, saying,
Yahweh heard what they said, and he became angry. He solemnly declared,
35 Not one of these men shall see this good land, which I sware to their 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 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 the Lord was angry with me for your sake, saying, Neither shall you by any means enter therein.
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 Naue, who stands by you, he shall enter in there; do you strengthen him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
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 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.
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 And you turned and marched into the wilderness, in the way by the Red Sea.
But as for you, turn around and go back into the desert, toward the (Red Sea/Gulf of Aqaba).’
41 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.
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, 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.
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 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.
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 Amorite who lived in that mountain came out to meet you, and pursued you as bees do, and wounded you from Seir to Herma.
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 sat down and wept before the Lord our God, and the Lord listened not to your voice, neither did he take heed 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 And you lived in Cades many days, as many days as you lived [there].
So we stayed there at Kadesh-Barnea for a long time.”
