Deuteronomy 1

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

2. Eleven days from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.

3. And it came to pass, 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 he had smitten Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth in Edrei,

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

6. “The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have had enough of dwelling in this mountain.

7. Turn and take your journey, and enter the hill country of the Amorites, and to all its neighboring places, in the Arabah in the hill country, and in the low country, and in the south, and in the shore of the sea, the land of the Canaanites and of Lebanon, to the great river, the river Euphrates.

8. Behold, I have set before you the land. Go in and possess the land which the LORD has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them.’

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

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

11. May the LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you as He has promised you!

12. How can I by myself bear the weight of your problems and your burden and your strife?

13. Choose wise and understanding men, and those known to your tribes, and I will appoint them leaders over you.’

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

15. And I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and made them leaders over you, leaders over thousands, and leaders over hundreds, and leaders over fifties, and leaders over tens, and officers among your tribes.

16. And I commanded your judges at that time saying, ‘Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the stranger with him.

17. You shall not respect persons in judgment. You shall hear the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God’s. And the cause that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’

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

19. And when we set out from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us. And we came to Kadesh Barnea.

20. And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountain of the Amorites which the LORD our God has given unto us.

21. Behold, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it, even as the LORD God of your fathers has said to you. Do not fear, neither be discouraged.’

22. And you came near to me, every one of you, and said, ‘We will send men before us, and they shall search out the land and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.’

23. And the saying pleased me very much. And I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe.

24. And they turned and went up into the mountain and came to the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.

25. And they took 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 us.’

26. Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God.

27. And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.

28. Where shall we go? Our brethren have broken our hearts, saying, “We have seen there a people greater and taller than we are. The cities are great and walled up to heaven, also the sons of the giants are there.” ’

29. Then I said to you, ‘Do not dread them nor be afraid of them.

30. The LORD your God Who goes before you shall fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

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

32. Yet in this thing you did not believe the LORD your God,

33. Who went in the way before you to search you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in a cloud by day.

34. And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was angry and swore, saying,

35. ‘Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land which I swore to give to your fathers,

36. Except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him I will give the land that he has trodden upon, and to his sons because he has fully followed the LORD.’

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

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

39. And your little ones, who you said would be a prey, and your children who in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in there. And I will give it to them, and they shall possess it.

40. But you turn and take your journey back into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’

41. And 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.’ And when each one of you had buckled on his weapons of war, you were ready to go up into the hill.

42. But the LORD said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up, nor fight, for I am not among you, you will be beaten by your enemies.” ’

43. So I spoke to you. And you would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.

44. And the Amorites who lived in that mountain came out against you and chased you, even as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, to Hormah.

45. And you returned and wept before the LORD. But the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear to you.

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