Deuteronomy 1

1 These ben the wordis whiche Moyses spak to al Israel ouer Jordan, in the wildirnesse of the feeld, ayens the reed see, bitwix Pharan and Tophel and Laban and Asseroth, where is ful myche gold,

These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suf, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

2 by enleuene daies fro Oreb bi the weie of the hil of Seir, til to Cades Barne.

It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.

3 In the fortithe yeer, in the enleuenth monethe, in the firste dai of the monethe, Moises spak to the sones of Israel alle thingis whiche the Lord commandide to hym that he schulde seie to hem,

In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him in commandment to them,

4 after that he smoot Seon, kyng of Ammorreis, that dwellide in Esebon, and Og, the kyng of Basan, that dwelide in Asseroth and in Edray, ouer Jordan, in the lond of Moab.

after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.

5 And Moyses bigan to declare the lawe, and to seie,

Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law, saying,

6 Oure Lord God spak to vs in Oreb, and seide, It suffisith to you that ye han dwellid in this hil;

“The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have lived long enough at this mountain.

7 turne ye ayen, and come ye to the hil of Amorreis, and to othere placis that ben next it; to places of feeldis, and of hillis, and to lowere places ayens the south, and bisidis the brenke of the see, to the lond of Cananeys, and of Liban, `til to the greet flood Eufrates.

Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the places near there: in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the South, by the seashore, in the land of the Canaanites, and in Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

8 Lo, `he seith, Y haue youe to you; entre ye, and `welde ye `that lond on which the Lord swoor to youre fadrys, Abraham, Ysaac, and Jacob, that he schulde yyue it to hem, and to her seed after hem.

Behold, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give to them and to their offspring after them.’”

9 And Y seide to you in that time, Y may not aloone susteyne you, for youre Lord God hath multiplied you,

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

10 and ye ben ful many to dai, as the sterris of heuene;

The LORD your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the sky for multitude.

11 the Lord God of youre fadris adde to this noumbre many thousyndis, and blesse you, as he spak.

May the LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you!

12 Y may not aloone susteyne youre causis, and birthun, and stryues; yyue ye of you men wise `in dyuyn thingis,

How can I myself alone bear your problems, your burdens, and your strife?

13 and witti `in mennus thingis worthi to be don, whose conuersacioun is preued in youre lynagis, that Y sette hem princes to you.

Take wise men of understanding who are respected amongst your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.”

14 Thanne ye answeriden to me, The thing is good which thou wolt do.

You answered me, and said, “The thing which you have spoken is good to do.”

15 And Y took of youre lynagis men wise and noble, `in vertues and kyn; and Y ordeynede hem princis, tribunes, and centuryouns, and quynquagenaries, and denys, whiche schulden teche you all thingis.

So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and respected men, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes.

16 And Y comaundide to hem, and seide, Here ye hem, and deme ye that that is iust, whether he be a citeseyn, whether a pilgrym.

I commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Hear cases between your brothers and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him.

17 No difference schal be of persones; ye schulen here so a litil man, `that is, pore, as a greet man, nether ye schulen take the persoone of ony man, for it is the doom of God. That if ony thing semeth hard to you, telle ye to me, and Y schal here.

You shall not show partiality in judgement; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgement is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.”

18 And Y comaundide alle thingis whiche ye ouyten to do.

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

19 Forsothe we yeden forth fro Oreb, and passiden bi a feerdful deseert, and grettiste wildirnesse, which ye sien, bi the weye of the hil of Ammorrey, as oure Lord God comaundide to vs. And whanne we hadden come in to Cades Barne,

We travelled from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea.

20 Y seide to you, Ye ben comen to the hil of Ammorrey, which youre Lord God schal yyue to you;

I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God gives to us.

21 se thou the lond which thi Lord God schal yyue to thee; `stie thou, and welde it, as oure Lord God spak to thi fadris; `nyle thou drede, nether `drede thou in herte ony thing.

Behold, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the LORD the God of your fathers has spoken to you. Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed.”

22 And alle ye neiyiden to me, and ye seiden, Sende we men, that schulen biholde the lond, and telle to vs bi what weye we owen stie, and to whiche citees we owen to go.

You came near to me, everyone of you, and said, “Let’s send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we shall come.”

23 And whanne the word pleside to me, Y sente of you twelue men, of ech lynage oon.

The thing pleased me well. I took twelve of your men, one man for every tribe.

24 And whanne thei hadden go, and hadden stied in to the hilli places, thei camen `til to the valei of Clustre; and whanne thei hadden biholde the lond,

They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.

25 thei token of the fruytis therof, to schewe the plentee, and brouyten `to vs, and seiden, The lond is good which oure Lord God schal yyue to vs.

They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, “It is a good land which the LORD our God gives to us.”

26 And ye `nolden stie, but ye weren vnbileueful to the word of oure Lord God.

Yet you wouldn’t go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God.

27 And ye grutchiden in youre tabernaclis, and ye seiden, The Lord hatith vs, and herfor he ledde vs out of the lond of Egipt, that he schulde bitake vs in the hond of Ammorey, and schulde do awei vs.

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 hand of the Amorites to destroy us.

28 Whidur schulen we stie? the messangeris maden aferd oure herte, and seiden, A grettiste multitude is, and largere in stature than we; the citees ben greete, and wallid `til to the heuene; we sien there the sones of Enachym, that is, giauntis.

Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart melt, saying, ‘The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to the sky. Moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there!’”

29 And Y seide to you, `Nyle ye drede `with ynne, nether `drede withoutforth; the Lord God hym silf,

Then I said to you, “Don’t be terrified. Don’t be afraid of them.

30 which is youre ledere, schal fiyte for you, as he dide in Egipt, while alle men sien.

The LORD your God, who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

31 And ye sien in the wildirnesse, thi Lord God bar thee, as a man is wont to bere his litil sone, in al the weie bi which ye yeden til ye camen to this place.

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

32 And sotheli nether so ye bileueden to youre Lord God, that yede bifor you in the weie,

Yet in this thing you didn’t believe the LORD your God,

33 and mesuride the place in which ye ouyten to sette tentis, and schewide in nyyt the weie to you bi fier, and in dai bi a piler of cloude.

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

34 And whanne the Lord hadde herd the vois of youre wordis, he was wrooth,

The LORD heard the voice of your words and was angry, and swore, saying,

35 and swoor, and seide, Noon of the men of this werste generacioun schal se the good lond, which Y bihiyte vndur an ooth to youre fadris,

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

36 outakun Caleph, the sone of Jephone; for he schal se it, and Y schal yyue to hym the lond on which he trad, and to hise sones, for he suede the Lord.

except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it. I will give the land that he has trodden on to him and to his children, because he has wholly followed the LORD.”

37 Nether the indignacioun ayens the puple is wondirful, sithen the Lord was wrooth also to me for you, and seide,

Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, “You also shall not go in there.

38 Nether thou schalt entre thidur, but Josue, the sone of Nun, thi mynystre, he schal entre for thee; excyte and strengthe thou him, and he schal departe the lond bi lot to Israel.

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

39 Youre litle children, of whiche ye seiden, that thei schulden be led prisoneris, and the sones that kunnen not to dai the diuersite of good and of yuel, thei schulen entre; and Y schal yyue to hem the lond, and thei schulen welde it.

Moreover your little ones, whom you said would be captured or killed, your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, shall go in there. I will give it to them, and they shall possess it.

40 Sotheli turne ye ayen, and go ye in to the wildirnesse, bi the weie of the Reed See.

But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Sea of Suf.”

41 And ye answeriden to me, We synneden to the Lord; we schulen stie, and we schulen fiyte, as oure Lord God comaundide. And whanne ye weren arayed with armeris, and yeden `into the hil, the Lord seide to me,

Then you answered and said to me, “We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us.” Every man of you put on his weapons of war, and presumed to go up into the hill country.

42 Seie thou to hem, `Nyle ye stye, nether fiyte ye, for Y am not with you, lest ye fallen bifor youre enemyes.

The LORD said to me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t go up and don’t fight; for I am not amongst you, lest you be struck before your enemies.’”

43 Y spak, and ye herden not; but ye `weren aduersaries to the comaundement of the Lord, and bolnden with prijde, and stieden in to the hil.

So I spoke to you, and you didn’t listen; but you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill country.

44 Therfor Ammorrey yede out, that dwellide in the hillis, and he cam ayens you, and pursuede you, as bees ben wont to pursue, and killide fro Seir til Horma. And whanne ye turneden ayen,

The Amorites, who lived in that hill country, came out against you and chased you as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to Hormah.

45 and wepten bifor the Lord, he herde not you, nether wolde asente to youre vois;

You returned and wept before the LORD, but the LORD didn’t listen to your voice, nor turn his ear to you.

46 therfor ye saten in Cades Barne bi myche tyme.

So you stayed in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained.