Deuteronomy

¹These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan, in the Arabah across from Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

²(It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.)

³In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the Israelites everything the LORD had commanded him to tell them.

⁴This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei.

⁵East of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:

⁶The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb and said, 'You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

⁷Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites, and into all the neighboring regions — the Arabah, the hill country, the western foothills, the Negev, and the coast, all the way to Lebanon and the great river, the Euphrates.

⁸I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of it, the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors — to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — and to their descendants after them.'

⁹At that time I told you, 'I cannot carry you alone.

¹⁰The LORD your God has multiplied your numbers until today you are as many as the stars in the sky.

¹¹May the LORD, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times more and bless you just as he promised.

¹²But how can I bear the burden of your problems, your troubles, and your disputes all by myself?

¹³Choose wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will appoint them as your leaders.'

¹⁴You answered me, 'What you propose is good.'

¹⁵So I took the wise and respected leaders you had chosen from your tribes and appointed them to lead you — commanders over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for each tribe.

¹⁶At that time I instructed your judges: 'Hear the disputes between your people and judge fairly, whether the case involves fellow Israelites or foreigners among you.

¹⁷Do not show favoritism in judging — hear both the small and the great alike. Don't be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring any case that is too difficult for you to me, and I will hear it.'

¹⁸I told you at that time everything you should do.

¹⁹Then we set out from Horeb and traveled through that vast and frightening wilderness you saw, heading for the hill country of the Amorites, just as the LORD our God commanded. We reached Kadesh-barnea.

²⁰Then I said to you, 'You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us.

²¹Look — the LORD your God has placed this land before you. Go and take it. Don't be afraid or discouraged.'

²²But all of you came to me and said, 'Let's send men ahead to scout the land and bring back a report about the route we should take and the towns we will encounter.'

²³The idea seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men, one from each tribe.

²⁴They went up into the hill country and came to the Valley of Eshcol and scouted it out.

²⁵They brought back some of the fruit of the land and gave us a report: 'It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.'

²⁶But you were unwilling to go up. You rebelled against the command of the LORD your God.

²⁷You grumbled in your tents and said, 'The LORD hates us — that's why he brought us out of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites and destroy us.

²⁸Where can we go? Our brothers have discouraged us with reports of people stronger and taller than we are, with great cities that have walls reaching to the sky — and they even saw the Anakites there.'

²⁹I said to you, 'Don't be terrified or afraid of them.

³⁰The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, just as he did in Egypt, right before your eyes,

³¹and in the wilderness, where you saw how the LORD your God carried you the whole way, as a father carries his son, all the way to this place.'

³²But even after all this, you did not trust the LORD your God,

³³who went ahead of you on the journey to scout out a place for you to camp — in fire at night and in a cloud by day, to show you which route to take.

³⁴The LORD heard your words and was angry, and he made this oath:

³⁵'Not one of these people — this evil generation — will ever see the good land I swore to give your ancestors,

³⁶except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he explored, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.'

³⁷Because of you the LORD was also angry with me and said, 'You will not enter it either.

³⁸Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it.

³⁹And your little ones whom you said would be taken captive, and your children who don't yet know right from wrong — they will enter the land. I will give it to them, and they will possess it.

⁴⁰But as for you, turn around and head back toward the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.'

⁴¹Then you answered me, 'We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight, exactly as the LORD our God commanded.' And each of you put on your weapons, thinking it would be easy to go up into the hill country.

⁴²But the LORD said to me, 'Tell them: Do not go up and fight, because I am not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.'

⁴³I told you, but you wouldn't listen. You rebelled against the LORD's command and boldly marched up into the hill country.

⁴⁴The Amorites who lived there came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees, striking you down from Seir all the way to Hormah.

⁴⁵You came back and wept before the LORD, but he paid no attention to you and would not listen.

⁴⁶So you stayed at Kadesh for a long time.