Deuteronomy 1
Legacy Standard Bible
Israel from Seir to Kadesh-barnea
1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel (A)across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the (B)Arabah opposite [a]Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from (C)Horeb by the way of Mount (D)Seir to (E)Kadesh-barnea. 3 Now it happened, in the (F)fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, (G)according to all that [b]Yahweh had commanded him to give to them, 4 after he had (H)struck down Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and (I)Og the king of Bashan, who lived in (J)Ashtaroth [c]and Edrei. 5 Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying,
6 “Yahweh our God (K)spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have [d]stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and set out, and go to (L)the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the [e]Shephelah and in (M)the [f]Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 See, I have given over the land before you; go in and possess the land which Yahweh (N)swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and to their seed after them.’
9 “And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘(O)I am not able to bear the burden of you alone. 10 Yahweh your God has (P)multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number. 11 May Yahweh, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are and bless you, (Q)just as He has [g]promised you! 12 How can I alone bear the load and burden of you and your strife? 13 [h](R)Choose wise and understanding and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ 14 Then you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’ 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and gave them as heads over you, leaders of thousands and [i]of hundreds, [j]of fifties and [k]of tens, and officers for your tribes.
16 “Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and (S)judge righteously between a man and his brother or the sojourner who is with him. 17 (T)You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall (U)not fear [l]man, for the judgment is God’s. (V)The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 18 (W)And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.
19 “Then we set out from (X)Horeb and went through all that (Y)great and fearsome wilderness which you saw on the way to the (Z)hill country of the Amorites, just as Yahweh our God had commanded us; and we came to (AA)Kadesh-barnea. 20 And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which Yahweh our God is about to give us. 21 See, Yahweh your God has given over the land before you; go up, take possession, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. (AB)Do not fear or be dismayed.’
22 “(AC)Then all of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter.’ 23 And the thing was good in my sight, and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe. 24 (AD)Then they turned and went up into the hill country and came to the valley of Eshcol and spied it out. 25 Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought word back to us and said, ‘It is a good land which Yahweh our God is about to give us.’
26 “(AE)Yet you were not willing to go up, but (AF)rebelled against the [m]command of Yahweh your God; 27 and (AG)you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because Yahweh hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. 28 Where can we go up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And moreover, we saw (AH)the sons of the Anakim there.”’ 29 Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread, nor fear them. 30 Yahweh your God, who goes before you, will (AI)Himself fight on your behalf, [n]just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how (AJ)Yahweh your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’ 32 But [o](AK)for all this, you did not believe Yahweh your God, 33 (AL)who goes before you on your way, (AM)to spy out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.
34 “Then Yahweh heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and (AN)swore an oath, saying, 35 ‘(AO)Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and (AP)to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed Yahweh fully.’ 37 (AQ)Yahweh was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘(AR)Not even you shall enter there. 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, (AS)he shall enter there; strengthen him, for (AT)he will cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover, (AU)your little ones who you said would become plunder, and your sons, who this day have (AV)no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, (AW)turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way to the [p]Red Sea.’
41 “(AX)Then you said to me, ‘We have sinned against Yahweh; we will indeed go up and fight, just as Yahweh our God commanded us.’ And every man of you girded on his weapons of war and regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country. 42 (AY)And Yahweh said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up and do not fight—for I am not among you—so that you are not [q]defeated before your enemies.”’ 43 So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead (AZ)you rebelled against the [r]command of Yahweh and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. 44 (BA)And the Amorites who [s]lived in that hill country came out to meet you and pursued you (BB)as bees do and crushed you from Seir to Hormah. 45 Then you returned and wept before Yahweh; but (BC)Yahweh did not listen to your voice nor give ear to you. 46 So you remained in (BD)Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained there.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 1:1 Possibly the Red Sea
- Deuteronomy 1:3 The personal covenant name of God, a form of I AM WHO I AM, cf. Ex 3:14-15
- Deuteronomy 1:4 As in ancient versions; M.T. omits and
- Deuteronomy 1:6 Lit dwelt
- Deuteronomy 1:7 Or lowland
- Deuteronomy 1:7 South country
- Deuteronomy 1:11 Lit spoken to
- Deuteronomy 1:13 Lit Give for yourselves
- Deuteronomy 1:15 Lit leaders of
- Deuteronomy 1:15 Lit leaders of
- Deuteronomy 1:15 Lit leaders of
- Deuteronomy 1:17 Lit because of man
- Deuteronomy 1:26 Lit mouth
- Deuteronomy 1:30 Lit according to all that
- Deuteronomy 1:32 Lit in this matter
- Deuteronomy 1:40 Lit Sea of Reeds
- Deuteronomy 1:42 Lit smitten
- Deuteronomy 1:43 Lit mouth
- Deuteronomy 1:44 Lit dwelt
Deuteronomy 1
Common English Bible
The first heading: Introducing Deuteronomy
1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan River, in the desert, on the plain across from Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab. (2 It is eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea along the Mount Seir route.) 3 It was in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, that Moses spoke to the Israelites precisely what the Lord had commanded him for them. (4 This was after the defeat of Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon, and Og, Bashan’s king, who ruled in Ashtaroth and[a] Edrei.) 5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this Instruction. He said the following:
Leaving Mount Horeb
6 At Horeb, the Lord our God told us: You’ve been at this mountain long enough. 7 Get going! Enter the hills of the Amorites and the surrounding areas in the desert, the highlands, the lowlands, the arid southern region, and the seacoast—the land of the Canaanites—and the Lebanon range, all the way to the great Euphrates River. 8 Look, I have laid the land before you. Go and possess the land that I[b] promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as to their descendants after them.
9 At that same time, I told you: I can’t handle all of you by myself. 10 The Lord your God has multiplied your number—you are now as countless as the stars in the sky. 11 May the Lord, your ancestors’ God, continue to multiply you—a thousand times more! And may God bless you, just as he promised. 12 But how can I handle all your troubles, burdens, and disputes by myself? 13 Now, for each of your tribes, choose wise, discerning, and well-regarded individuals. I will appoint them as your leaders.
14 You answered me: “What you have proposed is a good idea.”
15 So I took leading individuals from your tribes, people who were wise and well-regarded, and I set them up as your leaders. There were commanders over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, as well as officials for each of your tribes.
16 At that same time, I commanded your judges: Listen to your fellow tribe members and judge fairly, whether the dispute is between one fellow tribe member or between a tribe member and an immigrant. 17 Don’t show favoritism in a decision. Hear both sides out, whether the person is important or not. Don’t be afraid of anyone because the ruling belongs to God. Any dispute that is too difficult for you to decide, bring to me and I will take care of it.
18 So at that time, I commanded you concerning everything you were to do.
The spy disaster
19 We left Horeb and journeyed through that vast and terrifying desert you saw, on the way to the hills of the Amorites, exactly as the Lord our God commanded us. Then we arrived at Kadesh-barnea. 20 I said to you: You have come to the hills of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving to us. 21 Look! The Lord your God has laid out the land before you. Go up and take it, just as the Lord, your ancestors’ God, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be frightened!
22 Then all of you approached me, saying, “Let’s send spies ahead of us—they can check out the land for us. Then they can return with word about the route we should use and bring a report about the cities that we’ll be entering.”
23 This idea seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men, one from each tribe. 24 These set out and went up into the hills, going as far as the Cluster[c] ravine. They walked all around that area. 25 They took some of the land’s fruit and then came back down to us. They reported to us: “The land that the Lord our God is giving to us is wonderful!” 26 But you weren’t willing to go up. You rejected the Lord your God’s instruction. 27 You complained in your tents, saying things like, “The Lord hates us! That’s why he brought us out of Egypt—to hand us over to the Amorites, to destroy us! 28 What are we doing? Our brothers have made our hearts sick by saying, ‘People far stronger and much taller than we live there, and the cities are huge, with walls sky-high! Worse still, we saw the descendants of the Anakites there!’”
29 But I said to you: Don’t be terrified! Don’t be afraid of them! 30 The Lord your God is going before you. He will fight for you just as he fought for you in Egypt while you watched, 31 and as you saw him do in the desert. Throughout your entire journey, until you reached this very place, the Lord your God has carried you just as a parent carries a child.
32 But you had no faith in the Lord your God about this matter, 33 even though he went ahead of you, scouting places where you should camp, in fire by night, so you could see the road you were taking, and in cloud during the daytime.
34 The Lord heard what you said. He was angry and he swore: 35 Not even one of these people—this wicked generation!—will see the wonderful land that I promised to give to your ancestors. 36 The only exception is Caleb, Jephunneh’s son. He will see it. I will give the land he walked on to him and his children for this reason: he was completely devoted to the Lord.
(37 The Lord was even angry with me because of what you did. “You won’t enter the land either,” God said. 38 “But Nun’s son Joshua, your assistant, will enter it. Strengthen him because he’s the one who will help Israel inherit the land.”)
39 Now as for your toddlers, those you said would be taken in war, and your young children who don’t yet know right and wrong—they will enter the land. I will give it to them. They will possess it! 40 But you all must now turn around. Head back toward the wilderness along the route of the Reed Sea.[d]
41 You replied to me: “We’ve sinned against the Lord! We will go up! We will fight, just as the Lord our God commanded.” Each one of you grabbed your weapons. You thought it would be easy[e] to go up into the hills. 42 But the Lord told me: Tell them: Don’t go up! Don’t fight because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.
43 I reported this to you but you wouldn’t listen. You disobeyed the Lord’s instruction. Hotheadedly, you went up into the hills. 44 And the Amorites who lived in those hills came out to meet you in battle. They chased you like bees give chase! They gave you a beating from Seir all the way to Hormah. 45 When you came back, you cried before the Lord, but he wouldn’t respond to your tears or give you a hearing.
46 And so you stayed in Kadesh-barnea for quite some time.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 1:4 LXX, Syr, Vulg; MT lacks and.
- Deuteronomy 1:8 Sam, LXX; MT the Lord
- Deuteronomy 1:24 Heb Eshcol means bunch, a cluster (of grapes); cf Num 13:23-24; 32:9.
- Deuteronomy 1:40 Or Red Sea
- Deuteronomy 1:41 Heb uncertain
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