1These are the words Moses spoke to all the Israelites. At that time, they were in the desert east of the River Jordan. It’s in the Arabah Valley opposite Suph. The people were between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab.2It takes 11 days to go from Mount Horeb to Kadesh Barnea if you travel on the Mount Seir road.3It was the 40th year since the Israelites had left Egypt. On the first day of the 11th month, Moses spoke to them. He told them everything the LORD had commanded him to tell them.4They had already won the battle over Sihon. Sihon was the king of the Amorites. He had ruled in Heshbon. Israel had also won the battle over Og at Edrei. Og was the king of Bashan. He had ruled in Ashtaroth.5The people were east of the River Jordan in the territory of Moab. There Moses began to explain the law. Here is what he said.6The LORD our God spoke to us at Mount Horeb. He said, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.7Take your tents down. Go into the hill country of the Amorites. Go to all the people who are their neighbours. Go to the people who live in the Arabah Valley. Travel to the mountains and the western hills. Go to the people in the Negev Desert and along the coast. Travel to the land of Canaan and to Lebanon. Go as far as the great River Euphrates.8I have given you all this land. Go in and take it as your own. The LORD promised he would give the land to your fathers. He promised it to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He also said he would give it to their children after them.’
Some officials are chosen to help Moses
9At that time I spoke to you. I said, ‘You are too heavy a load for me to carry alone.10The LORD your God has caused there to be many of you. Today you are as many as the stars in the sky.11The LORD is the God of your people. May he cause there to be a thousand times more of you. May he bless you, just as he promised he would.12But I can’t handle your problems and troubles all by myself. I can’t settle your arguments.13So choose some wise men from each of your tribes. They must understand how to give good advice. The people must have respect for them. I will appoint those men to have authority over you.’14You answered me, ‘Your suggestion is good.’15So I chose the leading men of your tribes who were wise and respected. I appointed them to have authority over you. I made them commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. I appointed them to be officials over the tribes.16Here is what I commanded your judges at that time. I said, ‘Listen to your people’s cases when they argue with one another. Judge them fairly. It doesn’t matter whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and an outsider living among you.17When you judge them, treat everyone the same. Listen to those who are important and those who are not. Don’t be afraid of anyone. God is the highest judge. Bring me any case that is too hard for you. I’ll listen to it.’18At that time I told you everything you should do.
Twelve men check out the land of Canaan
19The LORD our God commanded us to start out from Mount Horeb. So we did. We went towards the hill country of the Amorites. We travelled all through the huge and terrible desert you saw. Finally, we reached Kadesh Barnea.20Then I said to you, ‘You have reached the hill country of the Amorites. The LORD our God is giving it to us.21The LORD your God has given you the land. Go up and take it. Do what the LORD says. He’s the God of your people. Don’t be afraid. Don’t lose hope.’22Then all of you came to me. You said, ‘Let’s send some men ahead of us. They can check out the land for us and bring back a report. They can suggest to us which way to go. They can tell us about the towns we’ll come to.’23That seemed like a good idea to me. So I chose 12 of you. I picked one man from each tribe.24They left and went up into the hill country. There they came to the Valley of Eshkol. They checked it out.25They got some of the fruit of that land. Then they brought it down to us and gave us their report. They said, ‘The LORD our God is giving us a good land.’
Israel refuses to obey the Lord
26But you wouldn’t go up. You refused to obey the command of the LORD your God.27You spoke against him in your tents. You said, ‘The LORD hates us. That’s why he brought us out of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites. He wanted to destroy us.28Where can we go? The men who checked out the land have made us afraid. They say, “The people are stronger and taller than we are. The cities are large. They have walls that reach up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.” ’29Then I said to you, ‘Don’t be terrified. Don’t be afraid of them.30The LORD your God will go ahead of you. He will fight for you. With your own eyes you saw how he fought for you in Egypt.31You also saw how the LORD your God brought you through the desert. He carried you everywhere you went, just as a father carries his son. And now you have arrived here.’32In spite of that, you didn’t trust in the LORD your God.33He went ahead of you on your journey. He was in the fire at night and in the cloud during the day. He found places for you to camp. He showed you the way you should go.34The LORD heard what you said. So he became angry. He made a promise. He said,35‘I promised to give this good land to your people of long ago. But no one alive today will see it.36Only Caleb will see the land. He is the son of Jephunneh. I will give him and his children after him the land he walked on. He followed me with his whole heart.’37Because of you, the LORD became angry with me also. He said, ‘You will not enter the land either.38But Joshua, the son of Nun, is your helper. Joshua will enter the land. Help him to be brave. Give him hope. He will lead Israel to take the land as their own.39You said your little ones would be taken prisoner. But they will enter the land. They do not yet know right from wrong. But I will give them the land. They will take it as their own.40As for you, turn round. Start out towards the desert. Go along the road that leads to the Red Sea.’41Then you replied, ‘We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight. We’ll do just as the LORD our God has commanded us.’ So all of you got your swords and put them on. You thought it would be easy to go up into the hill country.42But the LORD spoke to me. He said, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up and fight. I will not be with you. Your enemies will win the battle over you.” ’43So I told you what the LORD said. But you wouldn’t listen. You refused to obey his command. You were so filled with pride that you marched up into the hill country.44The Amorites who lived in those hills came out and attacked you. Like large numbers of bees they chased you. They beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah.45You came back and wept in front of the LORD. But he didn’t pay any attention to your weeping. He wouldn’t listen to you.46So you stayed in Kadesh for many years. You spent a long time in that area.
Deuteronomy 1
English Standard Version
The Command to Leave Horeb
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 Dizahab. (Nu 21:14; De 3:17; 1Sa 25:1)2It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. (Nu 13:26; Nu 32:8; Nu 34:4; De 2:14; De 9:23)3In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them, (Nu 33:38)4after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei. (Nu 21:21; Nu 21:33; De 3:1; De 3:10; Jos 12:4; Jos 13:12)5Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying, (De 29:1)6“The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. (Ex 19:1; Nu 10:11; De 2:3)7Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. (Nu 13:29; De 1:1; Jos 9:1)8See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’ (Ge 12:7; Ge 13:14; Ge 15:18; Ge 17:7; Ge 26:3; Ge 28:13; Ge 50:24)
Leaders Appointed
9“At that time I said to you, ‘I am not able to bear you by myself. (Ex 18:18; Nu 11:14)10The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven. (Ge 15:5; De 10:22; De 28:62)11May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you! (Ge 12:2; Ge 22:17; Ge 26:3; Ge 26:24; 2Sa 24:3)12How can I bear by myself the weight and burden of you and your strife? (1Ki 3:8)13Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ (Ex 18:21; Nu 11:16)14And you answered me, ‘The thing that you have spoken is good for us to do.’15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and set them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers, throughout your tribes. (Ex 18:25)16And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him. (De 16:18; Joh 7:24)17You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ (Ex 18:22; Ex 18:26; Ex 21:6; Ex 23:2; Le 19:15; De 16:19; 2Ch 19:6; 2Ch 19:7; Pr 24:23; Pr 28:21; Mal 2:9; Jas 2:1; Jas 2:9)18And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.
Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land
19“Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrifying wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us. And we came to Kadesh-barnea. (Nu 10:12; De 1:2; De 8:15; De 32:10; Jer 2:6)20And I 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, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’ (De 31:8; Jos 1:9)22Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.’23The thing seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe. (Nu 13:3)24And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. (Nu 13:22)25And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.’26“Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.27And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. (Nu 14:1; De 9:28; Jos 7:7; Ps 106:25)28Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’ (Nu 13:22; Nu 13:28; De 9:1; Jos 14:8)29Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them.30The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, (Ex 14:14; Ex 14:25; De 3:22; Jos 10:14; Jos 10:42; Jos 23:3; Jos 23:10; Ne 4:20)31and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ (Ex 19:4; De 32:11; Isa 46:3; Isa 63:9; Ho 11:3)32Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God, (Ps 106:24; Jud 1:5)33who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go. (Ex 13:21; Nu 10:33)
The Penalty for Israel’s Rebellion
34“And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore,35‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, (Nu 14:20; De 2:15)36except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the Lord!’ (Nu 14:30; Jos 14:9)37Even with me the Lord was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there. (Nu 20:12; Nu 27:13; De 4:21; De 32:51; De 34:4; Ps 106:32)38Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. (Ex 24:13; Nu 27:18; De 31:3; De 31:7; De 31:23; 1Sa 16:22)39And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. (Nu 14:3; Nu 14:31; Isa 7:15)40But as for you, turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’ (Nu 14:25; De 2:1)41“Then you answered me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord. We ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every one of you fastened on his weapons of war and thought it easy to go up into the hill country. (Nu 14:40)42And the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’ (Nu 14:42; De 31:17)43So I spoke to you, and you would not listen; but you rebelled against the command of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the hill country. (Nu 14:44)44Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do and beat you down in Seir as far as Hormah. (Nu 14:45; Nu 21:3; Ps 118:12; Isa 7:18)45And you 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, the days that you remained there. (Nu 20:1; Nu 20:22; Jud 11:17)