Deuteronomy 1

1 These [are] the words which Moses hath spoken unto all Israel, beyond the Jordan, in the wilderness, in the plain over-against Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-Zahab;

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 eleven days' from Horeb, the way of mount Seir, unto 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 And it cometh to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month hath Moses spoken unto the sons of Israel according to all that Jehovah hath commanded him concerning 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 his smiting Sihon king of the Amorite who is dwelling in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan who is dwelling in Ashtaroth in 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 beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, hath Moses begun to explain 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 'Jehovah our God hath spoken unto us in Horeb, saying, Enough to you — of dwelling in this mount;

“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 ye and journey for you, and enter the mount of the Amorite, and unto all its neighbouring places, in the plain, in the hill-country, and in the low country, and in the south, and in the haven of the sea, the land of the Canaanite, and of Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Phrat;

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, I have set before you the land; go in and possess the land which Jehovah hath sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give 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 speak unto you at that time, saying, I am not 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 Jehovah your God hath multiplied you, and lo, ye [are] to-day as the stars of the heavens for multitude;

Yahweh our God has caused us Israelis to now become as numerous as the stars in the sky.

11 Jehovah, God of your fathers, is adding to you, as ye [are], a thousand times, and doth bless you as He hath 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 do I bear by myself your pressure, and your burden, and your strife?

But I certainly cannot [RHQ] (solve/deal with) all of your complaints/problems.

13 Give for yourselves men, wise and intelligent, and known to your tribes, and I set them for your heads;

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 ye answer me and say, Good [is] the thing which thou hast spoken — to do.

Your ancestors replied, ‘What you have suggested is good for us to do.’

15 'And I take the heads of your tribes, men, wise and known, and I appoint them heads over you, princes of thousands, and princes of hundreds, and princes of fifties, and princes of tens, and authorities, for 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 I command your judges at that time, saying, Hearkening between your brethren — then ye have judged righteousness between a man, and his brother, and his sojourner;

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 ye do not discern faces in judgment; as the little so the great ye do hear; ye are not afraid of the face of any, for the judgment is God's, and the thing which is too hard for you, ye bring near unto me, and I have heard 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 command you, at that time, all the things which ye do.

At that time I also told you other things that you should do.”

19 'And we journey from Horeb, and go [through] all that great and fearful wilderness which ye have seen — the way of the hill-country of the Amorite, as Jehovah our God hath commanded us, and we come in unto 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 say unto you, Ye have come in unto the hill-country of the Amorite, which Jehovah our God is giving to 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, Jehovah thy God hath set before thee the land; go up, possess, as Jehovah, God of thy fathers, hath spoken to thee; fear not, nor be affrighted.

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 ye come near unto me, all of you, and say, Let us send men before us, and they search for us the land, and they bring us back word [concerning] the way in which we go up into it, and the cities unto which we come in;

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 thing is good in mine eyes, and I take of you twelve men, one man for 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 turn and go up to the hill-country, and come in unto the valley of Eshcol, and spy it,

They went up into the hilly area as far as Eshcol Valley, and they explored all that area.

25 and they take with their hand of the fruit of the land, and bring down unto us, and bring us back word, and say, Good is the land which Jehovah our God is giving to 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 'And ye have not been willing to go up, and ye provoke the mouth of Jehovah your 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 murmur in your tents, and say, In Jehovah's hating us He hath brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorite — 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 are we going up? our brethren have melted our heart, saying, A people greater and taller than we, cities great and fenced to heaven, and also sons of Anakim — we have seen 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 'And I say unto you, Be not terrified, nor be afraid of them;

Then I said to your ancestors, ‘Do not be afraid (at all/even a little bit) [DOU] of those people!

30 Jehovah your God, who is going before you — He doth fight for you, according to all that He hath done with 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 wilderness, where thou hast seen that Jehovah thy God hath borne thee as a man beareth his son, in all the way which ye have gone, till your coming in unto 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 thing ye are not stedfast in Jehovah 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 is going before you in the way to search out to you a place for your encamping, in fire by night, to shew you in the way in which ye go, and in a cloud by day.

34 'And Jehovah heareth the voice of your words, and is wroth, and sweareth, saying,

Yahweh heard what they said, and he became angry. He solemnly declared,

35 Not one of these men of this evil generation doth see the good land which I have sworn to 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 save Caleb son of Jephunneh — he doth see it, and to him I give the land on which he hath trodden, and to his sons, because that he hath been fully after Jehovah.

37 'Also with me hath Jehovah been angry for your sake, saying, Also, thou dost not go in thither;

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 son of Nun, who is standing before thee, he goeth in thither; him strengthen thou; for he doth cause Israel to inherit.

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 infants, of whom ye have said, For a prey they are, and your sons who have not known to-day good and evil, they go in thither, and to them I give it, and they possess 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 ye, turn for yourselves, and journey toward the wilderness, 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 'And ye answer and say unto me, We have sinned against Jehovah; we — we go up, and we have fought, according to all that which Jehovah our God hath commanded us; and ye gird on each his weapons of war, and ye are ready to go up 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 Jehovah saith unto me, Say to them, Ye do not go up, nor fight, for I am not in your midst, and ye are not smitten 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 speak unto you, and ye have not hearkened, and provoke the mouth of Jehovah, and act proudly, and go 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 Amorite who is dwelling in that hill-country cometh out to meet you, and they pursue you as the bees do, and smite you in Seir — unto 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 ye turn back and weep before Jehovah, and Jehovah hath not hearkened to your voice, nor hath he given ear unto 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 ye dwell in Kadesh many days, according to the days which ye had dwelt.

So we stayed there at Kadesh-Barnea for a long time.”