Deuteronomy 1:1–46

¹These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the region of the Jordan in the wilderness, on the desert plains in front of Suph, between Pa′ran and To′phel and La′ban and Ha‧ze′roth and Di′za‧hab,²it being eleven days from Ho′reb by the way of Mount Se′ir to Ka′desh‐bar′ne‧a.³And it came about that in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that Jehovah had commanded him for them,⁴after his defeating Si′hon the king of the Am′or‧ites, who was dwelling in Hesh′bon, and Og the king of Ba′shan, who was dwelling in Ash′ta‧roth, in Ed′re‧i.⁵In the region of the Jordan in the land of Mo′ab Moses undertook to explain this law, saying:

⁶“Jehovah our God spoke to us in Ho′reb, saying, ‘YOU​ have dwelt long enough in this mountainous region.⁷Turn and set out on ​YOUR​ way and go into the mountainous region of the Am′or‧ites and to all their neighbors in the Ar′a‧bah, the mountainous region and the She‧phe′lah and the Neg′eb and the seacoast, the land of the Ca′naan‧ites, and Leb′a‧non, up to the great river, the river Eu‧phra′tes.⁸See, I do put the land before ​YOU​ people. Go in and take possession of the land about which Jehovah swore to ​YOUR​ fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give it to them and their seed after them.’

⁹“And I proceeded to say this to ​YOU​ at that particular time, ‘I am not able by myself to carry ​YOU.¹⁰Jehovah ​YOUR​ God has multiplied ​YOU, and here ​YOU​ are today like the stars of the heavens for multitude.¹¹May Jehovah the God of ​YOUR​ forefathers increase ​YOU​ a thousand times as many as ​YOU​ are, and may he bless ​YOU​ just as he has promised ​YOU.¹²How can I carry by myself the burden of ​YOU​ and the load of ​YOU​ and ​YOUR​ quarreling?¹³Get wise and discreet and experienced men of ​YOUR​ tribes, that I may set them as heads over ​YOU.’¹⁴At that ​YOU​ answered me and said, ‘The thing you have spoken for us to do is good.’¹⁵So I took the heads of ​YOUR​ tribes, men wise and experienced, and put them as heads over ​YOU, chiefs of thousands and chiefs of hundreds and chiefs of fifties and chiefs of tens and officers of ​YOUR​ tribes.

¹⁶“And I went on to command ​YOUR​ judges at that particular time, saying, ‘When having a hearing between ​YOUR​ brothers, ​YOU​ must judge with righteousness between a man and his brother or his alien resident.¹⁷YOU​ must not be partial in judgment. YOU​ should hear the little one the same as the great one. YOU​ must not become frightened because of a man, for the judgment belongs to God; and the case that is too hard for ​YOU, ​YOU​ should present to me, and I must hear it.’¹⁸And I proceeded to command ​YOU​ at that particular time all the things that ​YOU​ should do.

¹⁹“Then we pulled away from Ho′reb and went marching through all that great and fear‐inspiring wilderness, which ​YOU​ have seen, by the way of the mountainous region of the Am′or‧ites, just as Jehovah our God had commanded us; and we eventually came to Ka′desh‐bar′ne‧a.²⁰I now said to ​YOU, ‘YOU​ have come to the mountainous region of the Am′or‧ites, which Jehovah our God is giving to us.²¹See, Jehovah your God has abandoned the land to you. Go up, take possession, just as Jehovah the God of your forefathers has spoken to you. Do not be afraid, nor be terrified.’

²²“However, all of ​YOU​ came near to me and said, ‘Do let us send men ahead of us that they may search out the land for us and bring us back word concerning the way by which we should go up and the cities to which we will come.’²³Well, the thing proved to be good in my eyes, so that I took twelve men of ​YOURS, one for each tribe.²⁴Then they turned and went up into the mountainous region and got as far as the torrent valley of Esh′col and went spying on it.²⁵And they proceeded to take some of the fruitage of the land in their hand and to bring it down to us, and they came bringing us back word and saying, ‘The land that Jehovah our God is giving us is good.’²⁶But ​YOU​ did not wish to go up, and ​YOU​ began to behave rebelliously against the order of Jehovah ​YOUR​ God.²⁷And ​YOU​ kept grumbling in ​YOUR​ tents and saying, ‘It was because Jehovah hated us that he brought us out of the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Am′or‧ites, to annihilate us.²⁸Where are we going up? Our brothers have caused our heart to melt, saying: “A people greater and taller than we are, cities great and fortified to the heavens and also the sons of the An′a‧kim we saw there.”’

²⁹“So I said to ​YOU, ‘YOU​ must not suffer a shock or be afraid because of them.³⁰Jehovah ​YOUR​ God is the one going before ​YOU. He will fight for ​YOU​ according to all that he did with ​YOU​ in Egypt under ​YOUR​ own eyes,³¹and in the wilderness, where you saw how Jehovah your God carried you just as a man carries his son, in all the way that ​YOU​ walked until ​YOUR​ coming to this place.’³²But despite this word ​YOU​ were not putting faith in Jehovah ​YOUR​ God,³³who was going before ​YOU​ in the way to spy out for ​YOU​ a place for ​YOU​ to camp, by fire at night for ​YOU​ to see by what way ​YOU​ should walk and by a cloud in daytime.

³⁴“All the while Jehovah heard the voice of ​YOUR​ words. So he became indignant and swore, saying,³⁵‘Not one among these men of this evil generation will see the good land that I swore to give to ​YOUR​ fathers,³⁶except Ca′leb the son of Je‧phun′neh. He will see it, and to him and to his sons I shall give the land upon which he trod, by reason of the fact that he has followed Jehovah fully.³⁷(Even against me Jehovah got incensed on ​YOUR​ account, saying, ‘You too will not go in there.³⁸Joshua the son of Nun, who is standing before you, is the one who will go in there.’ Him he has made strong, because he will cause Israel to inherit it.)³⁹As for ​YOUR​ little ones of whom ​YOU​ said: “Plunder they will become!” and ​YOUR​ sons who today do not know good or bad, these will go in there, and to them I shall give it, and they will take possession of it.⁴⁰As for ​YOU​ yourselves, change your direction and pull away for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.’

⁴¹“At this ​YOU​ answered and said to me, ‘We have sinned against Jehovah. We—we shall go up and fight in accord with all that Jehovah our God has commanded us!’ So ​YOU​ girded on, each one, his weapons of war and regarded it as easy to go up into the mountain.⁴²But Jehovah said to me, ‘Say to them: “YOU​ must not go up and fight, because I am not in ​YOUR​ midst; that ​YOU​ may not be defeated before ​YOUR​ enemies.”’⁴³So I spoke to ​YOU, and ​YOU​ did not listen but began to behave rebelliously against Jehovah’s order and to get all heated up, and you tried to go up into the mountain.⁴⁴Then the Am′or‧ites who were dwelling in that mountain came out to meet ​YOU​ and went chasing ​YOU, just as bees do, and scattering ​YOU​ in Se′ir as far as Hor′mah.⁴⁵After that ​YOU​ returned and began to weep before Jehovah, but Jehovah did not listen to ​YOUR​ voice, neither did he give ear to ​YOU.⁴⁶So ​YOU​ kept dwelling in Ka′desh many days, as many days as ​YOU​ did dwell there.