Deuteronomy 1

These Are the Words Moses Spoke

1These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan, in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-Zahab. 2It is eleven days from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-Barnea. 3In 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 commanded him concerning them. 4This was after he had struck 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 instruction, saying:

The LORD Commanded Israel to Leave Horeb

6“The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7Turn and set out. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the foothills, the Negev, and the seacoast, 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 possess the land that the LORD swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’

Moses Appoints Leaders

9“At that time I said to you, ‘I am not able to carry you by myself. 10The LORD your God has multiplied you, and look, today you are as numerous as the stars of the heavens. 11May the LORD, the God of your ancestors, add to you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has spoken concerning you. 12How can I carry by myself your burden, your load, and your disputes? 13Choose for yourselves wise, understanding, and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ 14You answered me and said, ‘The thing you have spoken is good for us to do.’ 15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and appointed them as heads over you: leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes. 16I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the resident alien who is with him. 17You shall not show partiality in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear the face of any man, for the judgment belongs to God. The case that is too difficult for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 18I commanded you at that time all the things that you were to do.

The Spies Are Sent from Kadesh-Barnea

19“Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and fearsome wilderness that you saw, by the way of the hill country of the Amorites, as the LORD our God had commanded us, and we came to Kadesh-Barnea. 20I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. 21See, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up, possess it, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’ 22Then all of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring back word concerning the way by which we should go up and the cities into which we will come.’ 23The matter was good in my eyes, so I took twelve men from among you, one man for each tribe. 24They turned and went up into the hill country, came to the Valley of Eshcol, and explored it. 25They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They brought us back word and said, ‘The land that the LORD our God is giving us is good.’

Israel Refuses to Go Up

26“Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the mouth of the LORD your God. 27You murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hates us, he brought us out from the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. 28Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we are; the cities are great and fortified to the heavens. Moreover, we saw the children of the Anakim there.”’ 29Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified and do not fear them. 30The LORD your God, who goes before you, he himself will fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31and in the wilderness, where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place. 32Yet in this matter you did not trust the LORD your God, 33who went before you on the way to seek out a place for you to camp, in fire by night to show you the way you should go, and in the cloud by day.

The LORD Swears against the Generation

34“The LORD heard the sound of your words and became angry and swore, saying, 35‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors, 36except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has walked, because he fully followed the LORD.’ 37The LORD was angry with me also because of you, saying, ‘You also shall not enter there. 38Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter there. Strengthen him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39And your little children, whom you said would become plunder, and your children who today do not know good or evil, they shall enter there. To them I will give it, and they shall possess it. 40But as for you, turn and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds.’

Israel Tries to Go Up without the LORD

41“Then you answered and said to me, ‘We have sinned against the LORD. We ourselves will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us.’ So each man strapped on his weapons of war, and you thought it easy to go up into the hill country. 42But the LORD said to me, ‘Say to them: Do not go up and do not fight, for I am not in your midst, lest you be struck down before your enemies.’ 43So I spoke to you, but you did not listen. You rebelled against the mouth of the LORD and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. 44Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do. They struck you down in Seir as far as Hormah. 45You returned and wept before the LORD, but the LORD did not listen to your voice or give ear to you. 46So you remained at Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained there.