Deuteronomy 1

1These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan, in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

2It is eleven days from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.

3And it happened in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that Yahweh had commanded him to them.

4after he had struck down Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth at Edrei.

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

6Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, “You have stayed at this mountain long enough.”

7Turn and set out for yourselves, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Negev, and on the coast of the sea—the land of the Canaanites—and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates River.

8See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that Yahweh swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give to them and to their offspring after them.

9And I said to you at that time, saying, ‘I am not able to bear you by myself.’

10Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and behold, today you are as numerous as the stars of the heavens.

11May Yahweh, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, just as he has promised you.

12How can I alone bear your trouble, your burden, and your disputes?

13Choose for yourselves wise, discerning, and well-known men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.

14And you answered me and said, ‘The thing that you have spoken is good for us to do.’

15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and appointed them as heads over you: commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers for your tribes.

16And at that time I commanded your judges, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the resident foreigner with him.’

17You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by any man, for the judgment belongs to God. And the matter that is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.

18And at that time I commanded you all the things that you should do.

19Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and fearsome wilderness that you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as Yahweh our God commanded us, and we came as far as Kadesh-barnea.

20And I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which Yahweh our God is giving us.”

21See, Yahweh your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, just as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

22Then all of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us back word of the way by which we should go up into it, and of the cities into which we shall come.’

23And the matter seemed good in my eyes, so I took from among you twelve men, one man for each tribe.

24So they turned and went up into the hill country, and came as far as the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.

25And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and they brought us back word and said, “The land that Yahweh our God is giving to us is good.”

26But you were not willing to go up, and you rebelled against the command of Yahweh your God.

27And you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because Yahweh hates us, he brought us out of the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.’

28Where are we going up? Our brothers have melted our hearts, saying, ‘The people are greater and taller than we are; the cities are great and fortified up to the heavens; and besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there.’

29Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified of them, and do not fear them.’

30Yahweh your God, who goes before you, will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes.

31and in the wilderness, where you saw that Yahweh your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, all along the way that you traveled until you came to this place.

32Yet in this matter you did not believe in Yahweh your God.

33who went before you on the way to search out a place for you to camp, in fire by night to show you the way in which you should go, and in the cloud by day.

34And Yahweh heard the sound of your words, and he was angry and swore, saying,

35Not one man among these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers—

36except Caleb son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him I will give the land on which he has walked, and to his sons, because he has fully followed Yahweh.

37Yahweh was angry with me also because of you, saying, 'You also shall not enter there.'

38Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you—he will go in there. Strengthen him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it.

39And your little ones, whom you said would become plunder, and your children, who today do not know good or evil—they shall go in there, and I will give it to them, and they shall possess it.

40But as for you, turn yourselves around and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

41Then you answered and said to me, ‘We have sinned against Yahweh. We ourselves will go up and fight, according to all that Yahweh our God commanded us.’ Then each man strapped on his weapons of war, and you presumptuously set out to go up into the hill country.

42And Yahweh said to me, ‘Tell them: Do not go up or fight, for I am not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies.’

43So I spoke to you, but you did not listen; you rebelled against the mouth of Yahweh, acted presumptuously, and went up into the hill country.

44Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out to meet you and pursued you as bees do, and they struck you down in Seir as far as Hormah.

45Then you returned and wept before Yahweh, but Yahweh did not listen to your voice or pay attention to you.

46So you remained at Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained there.