The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Deuteronomy 01
1 These are the words which Moses
spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in
the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suf,
between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth,
and Dizahab.
2 Itis elevendays’ journey fromHorebby
the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.
3 In the fortieth year, in the eleventh
month, onthefirstday ofthemonth, Moses
spoke to the children of Israel according
to all that Yahweh† had given him in commandment to them,
4 after he had struck Sihonthe king ofthe
Amorites who lived in Heshbon, and Og
the king of Bashan who lived in Ashtaroth,
at Edrei.
5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab,
Moses began to declare this law, saying,
6 “Yahweh our God‡ spoke to us in Horeb,
saying, ‘You have lived long enough at this
mountain.
7 Turn, and take your journey, and go
to the hill country of the Amorites and to
all the places near there: in the Arabah,
in the hill country, in the lowland, in the
South, by the seashore, in the land of the
Canaanites, and in Lebanon as far as the
great river, the river Euphrates.
8 Behold,§ I have set the land before you.
Go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to
Isaac, and to Jacob—to give to them and to
their offspring† after them.’ ”
9 I spoke to you at that time, saying, “I am
not able to bear you myself alone.
10 Yahweh your God has multiplied you,
and behold, you are today as the stars of
the sky for multitude.
11 May Yahweh, the God of your fathers,
make you a thousand times as many as you
are and bless you, as he has promised you!
12 How can I myself alone bear your
problems, your burdens, and your strife?
13 Take wise men of understanding who
are respected among your tribes, and I will
make them heads over you.”
14 You answered me, and said, “The thing
which you have spoken is good to do.”
15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise
and respected men, and made them heads
over you, captains of thousands, captains
of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of
tens, and officers, according to your tribes.
16 I commanded your judges at that time,
saying, “Hear cases between your brothers
and judge righteously between a man and
his brother, and the foreigner who is living
with him.
17 You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the
great alike. You shall not be afraid of the
face of man, for the judgment is God’s. The
case that is too hard for you, you shall
bring to me, and I will hear it.”
18 I commanded you at that time all the
things which you should do.
19 We traveled from Horeb and went
through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by
the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as Yahweh
our God commanded us; and we came to
Kadesh Barnea.
20 I said to you, “You have come to the hill
country of the Amorites, which Yahweh
our God gives to us.
21 Behold, Yahweh your God has set the
land before you. Go up, take possession,
as Yahweh the God of your fathers has
spoken to you. Don’t be afraid, neither be
dismayed.”
22 You came near to me, everyone of you,
and said, “Let’s send men before us, that
they may search the land for us, and bring
back to us word of the way by which we
must go up, and the cities to which we shall
come.”
23 The thing pleased me well. I took
twelve of your men, one man for every
tribe.
24 They turned and went up into the hill
country, and came to the valley of Eshcol,
and spied it out.
25 They took some 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 Yahweh our God gives
to us.”
26 Yet you wouldn’t go up, but rebelled
against the commandment of Yahweh
your God.
27 You murmured in your tents, and said,
“Because Yahweh hated us, he has brought
us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us
into the hand ofthe Amorites to destroy us.
28 Where are we going up? Our brothers
have made our heart melt, saying, ‘The
people are greater and taller than we. The
cities are great and fortified up to the sky.
Moreover we have seen the sons of the
Anakim there!’ ”
29 Then I said to you, “Don’t be terrified.
Don’t be afraid of them.
30 Yahweh your God, who goes before
you, he will 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 that Yahweh your God carried
you, as a man carries his son, in all the
way that you went, until you came to this
place.”
32 Yet in this thing you didn’t believe
Yahweh your God,
33 who went before you on the way, to
seek out a place for you to pitch your tents
in: in fire by night, to show you by what
way you should go, and in the cloud by day.
34 Yahweh heard the voice of your words
and was angry, and swore, saying,
35 “Surely not one of these men of this
evil generation shall see the good land
which I swore to give to your fathers,
36 except Caleb the son ofJephunneh. He
shall see it. I will give the land that he
has trodden on to him and to his children,
because he has wholly followed Yahweh.”
37 Also Yahweh 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, shall go in there. Encourage
him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39 Moreover your little ones, whom you
said would be captured or killed, your
children, who today have no knowledge of
good or evil, shall go in there. I will give it
to them, and they shall possess it.
40 But as for you, turn, and take your
journey into the wilderness by the way to
the Red Sea.”
41 Then you answered and said to me,
“We have sinned against Yahweh. We will
go up and fight, according to all that Yahweh our God commanded us.” Every man
of you put on his weapons of war, and
presumed to go up into the hill country.
42 Yahweh said to me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t
go up and don’t fight; for I am not among
you, lest you be struck before your enemies.’ ”
43 So I spoke to you, and you didn’t listen;
but you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh, and were presumptuous,
and went up into the hill country.
44 The Amorites, who lived in that hill
country, came out against you and chased
you as bees do, and beat you down in Seir,
even to Hormah.
45 You returned and wept before Yahweh, but Yahweh didn’t listen to your
voice, nor turn his ear to you.
46 So you stayed in Kadesh many days,
according to the days that you remained.