Deuteronomy 1
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Introduction
1 These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness,(A) in the Arabah opposite Suph,[a] between Paran(B) and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth,(C) and Di-zahab. 2 It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir. 3 In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, Moses told the Israelites everything the Lord had commanded him to say to them. 4 This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.(D) 5 Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:
Departure from Horeb
6 “The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb: ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough. 7 Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites and their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the Judean foothills,[b] the Negev and the sea coast—to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon as far as the Euphrates River.[c] 8 See, I have set the land before you. Enter and take possession of the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers(E) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their future descendants.’(F)
Leaders for the Tribes
9 “I said to you at that time: I can’t bear the responsibility for you on my own. 10 The Lord your God has so multiplied you that today you are as numerous as the stars of the sky.(G) 11 May Yahweh, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times more, and bless you as He promised you. 12 But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes by myself? 13 Appoint for yourselves wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will make them your leaders.
14 “You replied to me, ‘What you propose to do is good.’
15 “So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and set them over you as leaders: officials for thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for your tribes. 16 I commanded your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge rightly between a man and his brother or a foreign resident. 17 Do not show partiality when deciding a case;(H) listen to small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God.(I) Bring me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it. 18 At that time I commanded you about all the things you were to do.(J)
Israel’s Disobedience at Kadesh-barnea
19 “We then set out from Horeb and went across all the great and terrible wilderness you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-barnea, 20 I said to you: You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. 21 See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.
22 “Then(K) all of you approached me and said, ‘Let’s send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us back a report about the route we should go up and the cities we will come to.’ 23 The plan seemed good to me, so I selected 12 men from among you, one man for each tribe. 24 They left and went up into the hill country and came to the Valley of Eshcol, scouting the land. 25 They took some of the fruit from the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us back a report: ‘The land the Lord our God is giving us is good.’(L)
26 “But you were not willing to go up, rebelling against the command of the Lord your God. 27 You grumbled in your tents(M) and said, ‘The Lord brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites so they would destroy us, because He hated us. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have discouraged us,(N) saying: The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, fortified to the heavens.(O) We also saw the descendants of the Anakim(P) there.’
29 “So I said to you: Don’t be terrified or afraid of them!(Q) 30 The Lord your God who goes before you(R) will fight for you,(S) just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt. 31 And you saw in the wilderness how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place. 32 But in spite of this you did not trust the Lord your God, 33 who went before you on the journey to seek out a place for you to camp. He went in the fire by night and in the cloud by day to guide you on the road you were to travel.
34 “When the Lord heard your[d] words, He grew angry and swore an oath: 35 ‘None of these men in this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give your fathers,(T) 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he followed the Lord completely.’
37 “The Lord was angry with me also because of you and said: ‘You will not enter there either.(U) 38 Joshua son of Nun, who attends you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will enable Israel to inherit it.(V) 39 Your little children, whom you said would be plunder, your sons who[e] don’t know good from evil, will enter there. I will give them the land, and they will take possession of it. 40 But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.’(W)
41 “You answered me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ Then each of you put on his weapons of war and thought it would be easy to go up into the hill country.
42 “But the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them: Don’t go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from being defeated by your enemies.’(X) 43 So I spoke to you, but you didn’t listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and defiantly went up into the hill country. 44 Then the Amorites who lived there came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir as far as Hormah.(Y) 45 When you returned, you wept before the Lord, but He didn’t listen to your requests or pay attention to you. 46 For this reason you stayed in Kadesh as long as you did.[f]
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 1:1 LXX, Tg, Vg read the Red Sea
- Deuteronomy 1:7 Or the Shephelah
- Deuteronomy 1:7 Lit the great river, the river Euphrates
- Deuteronomy 1:34 Lit the sound of your
- Deuteronomy 1:39 Lit who today
- Deuteronomy 1:46 Lit Kadesh for many days, according to the days you stayed
Deuteronomy 1
International Standard Version
The Setting of the Covenant
1 These are the words that Moses spoke to the assembly of[a] Israel east[b] of the Jordan River,[c] in the Arabah desert, opposite Suph between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab. 2 It takes eleven days to travel[d] from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea via Mount Seir.[e] 3 On the first day of the eleventh month,[f] in the fortieth year, Moses spoke to the Israelis about everything that the Lord had commanded him concerning them. 4 This took place[g] after he defeated Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon and Og, king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth at Edrei.
Moses Reviews God’s Instructions
5 East of the Jordan River, in the land of Moab, Moses began to expound this Law: 6 “The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb. He said, ‘You have been at this mountain long enough. 7 Break camp,[h] get going, and proceed to the hill country of the Amorites and all the nearby places in the Arabah desert, the highlands, the foothills, the Negev,[i] the coastal plains, all of the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon as far as the great river, the Euphrates. 8 Look! I’ve given you the land that lies ahead. Go in and possess the land that I, the Lord, promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as to their descendants.’”
Moses Reviews the Selected Officials
9 “I also told you at that time that I won’t be able to sustain you on my own. 10 The Lord your God greatly multiplied your numbers, and today you are like the stars in the sky. 11 May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase your numbers a thousand times more, and may he bless you, as he promised you. 12 How can I bear the burden of you and your bickering all by myself? 13 Choose for yourselves wise and discerning men, known to your tribes, and appoint them as your leaders. 14 You answered by saying that this plan is a good thing. 15 So I chose leaders from your tribes, wise and respected men, and I appointed them over you—commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 16 I charged your judges at that time, ‘When you hold a hearing between brothers, judge fairly between a man and his brother or between foreigners. 17 When you hold a hearing, don’t be partial[j] in judgment toward the least important or toward the great. Never fear men, because judgment belongs to God. If the matter is difficult for you, bring it to me for a hearing.’ 18 I charged you at that time that you must do all of these things.”
Moses Reviews the Sending of the Scouts(A)
19 “Then we set out from Horeb and walked through that vast and dreadful desert, where you observed the road to the Amorite hill country. Just as the Lord our God ordained for us, we finally arrived at Kadesh-barnea. 20 I told you at that time, ‘You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is about to give us. 21 Look! The Lord your God has given the land that lies[k] before you. Go and possess it, just as the Lord God of your ancestors commanded you. Don’t be afraid or discouraged.’
22 “Then all of you approached me and said: ‘Let’s send out men in advance of us so they can survey the land and bring back a report to us on how we’ll go up to their cities.’ 23 Because this suggestion[l] seemed good to me, I chose twelve men from among you, one from each tribe. 24 Then these men set out,[m] went up to the hill county, reached the Eshcol Valley, and surveyed it. 25 They hand-picked some of the fruit of the land, brought it down to us, and gave a report that said, ‘The land which the Lord is about to give us is good.’”
Israel Rebels
26 “However, your ancestors didn’t go up. Instead, they rebelled against the command[n] of the Lord your God. 27 You murmured in your tents, ‘The Lord hates us. He brought us out of the land of Egypt in order to deliver us to[o] the Amorites so he could destroy us. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers discouraged us when they said that the people are bigger and taller than we are. Their cities are tall and fortified to the sky, and we also saw the Anakim[p] there.’
29 “Then I told you, ‘Don’t be terrified or afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God is the One who will be going ahead of you. He’ll fight for you just as he did in Egypt before your eyes. 31 In the desert you saw that the Lord carried you like a man carries his son, on every road you traveled until you reached this place.’ 32 But despite this, you didn’t trust in the Lord your God, 33 who walked ahead of you along the way to scout a place for you to pitch camp—by fire at night and cloud by day—to lead you on the way you should go.”
Entrance is Denied
34 “When the Lord heard your complaints, he became angry and declared, 35 ‘I swear that not one man of this evil generation will see the good land that I promised to give to your ancestors, 36 except Jephunneh’s son Caleb. He will see it and I will give to him and to his descendants the land on which he has walked because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord.’
37 “The Lord was also furious with me because of you. He said: ‘You will not enter the land.[q] 38 However, Nun’s son Joshua, your assistant, will go there. Encourage him, for he will cause Israel to take possession of it. 39 Your little ones—whom you said would be taken captive—and your children who do not yet[r] know right from wrong will enter the land.[s] I will give it to them and they themselves will possess it. 40 But as for you, prepare to set out for the desert on the way to the Reed[t] Sea.’
41 “You responded to me and said, ‘We have sinned against the Lord. We will now go up and fight according to what the Lord our God commanded.’ So each man put on his weapon for battle and recklessly started out for the hill country.”
The Amorites Defeat Israel
42 “Then the Lord told me: ‘Tell them not to go up and fight because I will not be in their midst, or else you will be defeated before your enemies.’
43 “I spoke to you but you didn’t listen. Instead you rebelled against the command[u] of the Lord and went up to the hill country. 44 The Amorites who lived in the hill country came out to engage you in battle. They pursued you like bees do and crushed you from Seir to Hormah. 45 You returned and cried out in the Lord’s presence, but the Lord didn’t hear your voice or listen to you. 46 You remained in Kadesh for many days. It was a long time, indeed.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 1:1 Lit. to all
- Deuteronomy 1:1 Lit. Israel on the other side; and so throughout the book
- Deuteronomy 1:1 The Heb. lacks River; and so throughout the book
- Deuteronomy 1:2 The Heb. lacks to travel
- Deuteronomy 1:2 This mountain, the modern Jebel esh-sherá, is located in the mountain range that extends south of the Dead Sea toward the Gulf of Aqaba, and is bordered by the Arabah Valley to the west.
- Deuteronomy 1:3 I.e. the month of Shebat in the Hebrew calendar
- Deuteronomy 1:4 The Heb. lacks This took place
- Deuteronomy 1:7 Lit. Turn
- Deuteronomy 1:7 I.e. the southern region of Israel; cf. Josh 10:40
- Deuteronomy 1:17 Lit. don’t recognize faces
- Deuteronomy 1:21 The Heb. lacks that lies
- Deuteronomy 1:23 Lit. word
- Deuteronomy 1:24 Lit. Then they turned
- Deuteronomy 1:26 Lit. mouth
- Deuteronomy 1:27 Lit. to give us into the hands of
- Deuteronomy 1:28 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33; Deut 9:2
- Deuteronomy 1:37 Lit. land there
- Deuteronomy 1:39 Lit. this day
- Deuteronomy 1:39 Lit. land there
- Deuteronomy 1:40 So MT; LXX reads Red
- Deuteronomy 1:43 Lit. mouth
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