Deuteronomy 1-2 (Amplified Bible)

Deuteronomy 1

 ¹THESE ARE the words which Moses spoke to all Israel [still] on the [east] side of the Jordan [River] in the wilderness, in the Arabah [the deep valley running north and south from the eastern arm of the Red Sea to beyond the Dead Sea], over near Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

    ²It is [only] eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea [on Canaan's border; yet Israel took forty years to get beyond it].

    ³And in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the Israelites according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them,

    ⁴After He had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth [and] Edrei.

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

    ⁶The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, You have dwelt long enough on this mountain.

    ⁷Turn and take up your journey 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 South (the Negeb), and on the coast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

    ⁸Behold, I have set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their descendants after them.

    ⁹I said to you at that time, I am not able to bear you alone.

    ¹⁰The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of the heavens for multitude.

    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!

    ¹²How can I bear alone the weariness and pressure and burden of you and your strife?

    ¹³Choose wise, understanding, experienced, and respected men according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.

    ¹⁴And you answered me, The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do.

    ¹⁵So I took the heads of your tribes, wise, experienced, and respected men, and made them heads over you, commanders of thousands, and hundreds, and fifties, and tens, and officers according to your tribes.

    ¹⁶And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brethren and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger or sojourner who is with him.

    ¹⁷You shall not be partial in judgment; but 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 case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.

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

    ¹⁹And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness which 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.

    ²⁰And I said to you, You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God gives us.

    ²¹Behold, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has said to you. Fear not, neither be dismayed.

    ²²Then you all came near to me and said, Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us and bring us word again by what way we should go up and the cities into which we shall come.

    ²³The thing pleased me well, and I took twelve men of you, one for each tribe.

    ²⁴And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out.

    ²⁵And 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.

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

    ²⁷You were peevish and discontented in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us, He brought us forth out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.

    ²⁸To what are we going up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, The people are bigger and taller than we are; the cities are great and fortified to the heavens. And moreover we have seen the [giantlike] sons of the Anakim there.

    ²⁹Then I said to you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.

    ³⁰The Lord your God Who goes before you, He will fight for you just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

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

    ³²Yet in spite of this word you did not believe (trust, rely on, and remain steadfast to) the Lord your God,

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

    ³⁴And the Lord heard your words, and was angered and He swore,

    ³⁵Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land which I swore to give to your fathers,

    ³⁶Except [Joshua, of course, and] Caleb son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land upon which he has walked, because he has wholly followed the Lord.

    ³⁷The Lord was angry with me also for your sakes, and said, You also shall not enter Canaan.

    ³⁸But Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

    ³⁹Moreover, your little ones whom you said would become a prey, and your children who at this time cannot discern between good and evil, they shall enter Canaan, and to them I will give it and they shall possess it.

    ⁴⁰But as for you, turn and journey into the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.

    ⁴¹Then you said to me, We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us. And you girded on every man his battle weapons, and thought it a simple matter to go up into the hill country.

    ⁴²And the Lord said to me, Say to them, Do not go up or fight, for I am not among you--lest you be dangerously hurt by your enemies.

    ⁴³So I spoke to you, and you would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and were presumptuous 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 and struck you down in Seir as far as Hormah.

    ⁴⁵And you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not heed your voice or listen to you.

    ⁴⁶So you remained in Kadesh; many days you remained there.

   

Deuteronomy 2

 ¹THEN WE turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord directed me; and for many days we journeyed around Mount Seir.

    ²And the Lord spoke to me [Moses], saying,

    ³You have roamed around this mountain country long enough; turn northward.

    ⁴And command the Israelites, You are to pass through the territory of your kinsmen the sons of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So watch yourselves carefully.

    ⁵Do not provoke or stir them up, for I will not give you of their land, no, not enough for the sole of your foot to tread on, for I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession.

    ⁶You shall buy food from them for money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them for money, that you may drink.

    ⁷For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.

    ⁸So we passed on from our brethren the sons of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, away from the Arabah (wilderness), and from Elath and from Ezion-geber. We turned and went by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

    ⁹And the Lord said to me, Do not trouble or assault Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot for a possession.

    ¹⁰(The Emim dwelt there in times past, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim.

    ¹¹These also are known as Rephaim [of giant stature], as are the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

    ¹²The Horites also formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and dwelt in their stead, as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave to them.)

    ¹³Now rise up and go over the brook Zered. So we went over the brook Zered.

    ¹⁴And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we had come over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the whole generation of the men of war had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.

    ¹⁵Moreover the hand of the Lord was against them to exterminate them from the midst of the camp, until they were all gone.

    ¹⁶So when all the men of war had died from among the people,

    ¹⁷The Lord spoke to me [Moses], saying,

    ¹⁸You are this day to pass through Ar, the border of Moab.

    ¹⁹But when you come near the territory of the sons of Ammon, do not trouble or assault them or provoke or stir them up, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites for a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.

    ²⁰(That also is known as a land of Rephaim [of giant stature]; Rephaim dwelt there formerly, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,

    ²¹A people great and many, and tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them before [Ammon], and they dispossessed them and settled in their stead,

    ²²As He did for the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them, and they dispossessed them and settled in their stead even to this day.

    ²³As for the Avvim who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor destroyed them and dwelt in their stead.)

    ²⁴Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the Valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it and contend with him in battle.

    ²⁵This day will I begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples who are under the whole heavens, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.

    ²⁶So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,

    ²⁷Let me pass through your land. I will go only by the road, turning aside neither to the right nor to the left.

    ²⁸You shall sell me food to eat and sell me water to drink; only let me walk through,

    ²⁹As the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites, who dwell in Ar, ^[a]did for me, until I go over the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God gives us.

    ³⁰But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that He might give him into your hand, as at this day.

    ³¹And the Lord said to me [Moses], Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession, that you may succeed him and occupy his land.

    ³²Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.

    ³³And the Lord our God gave him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and all his people.

    ³⁴At the same time we took all his cities and utterly destroyed every city--men, women, and children. We left none to remain.

    ³⁵Only the cattle we took as booty for ourselves and the spoil of the cities which we had captured.

    ³⁶From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Valley, and from the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was no city too high and strong for us; the Lord our God delivered all to us.

    ³⁷Only you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, that is, to any bank of the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had forbidden us.