Deuteronomy 1
New Living Translation
Introduction to Moses’ First Address
1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all the people of Israel while they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were camped in the Jordan Valley[a] near Suph, between Paran on one side and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab on the other.
2 Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai[b] to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir. 3 But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month,[c] Moses addressed the people of Israel, telling them everything the Lord had commanded him to say. 4 This took place after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated King Og of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth.
5 While the Israelites were in the land of Moab east of the Jordan River, Moses carefully explained the Lord’s instructions as follows.
The Command to Leave Sinai
6 “When we were at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough. 7 It is time to break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the neighboring regions—the Jordan Valley, the hill country, the western foothills,[d] the Negev, and the coastal plain. Go to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, and all the way to the great Euphrates River. 8 Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.’”
Moses Appoints Leaders from Each Tribe
9 Moses continued, “At that time I told you, ‘You are too great a burden for me to carry all by myself. 10 The Lord your God has increased your population, making you as numerous as the stars! 11 And may the Lord, the God of your ancestors, multiply you a thousand times more and bless you as he promised! 12 But you are such a heavy load to carry! How can I deal with all your problems and bickering? 13 Choose some well-respected men from each tribe who are known for their wisdom and understanding, and I will appoint them as your leaders.’
14 “Then you responded, ‘Your plan is a good one.’ 15 So I took the wise and respected men you had selected from your tribes and appointed them to serve as judges and officials over you. Some were responsible for a thousand people, some for a hundred, some for fifty, and some for ten.
16 “At that time I instructed the judges, ‘You must hear the cases of your fellow Israelites and the foreigners living among you. Be perfectly fair in your decisions 17 and impartial in your judgments. Hear the cases of those who are poor as well as those who are rich. Don’t be afraid of anyone’s anger, for the decision you make is God’s decision. Bring me any cases that are too difficult for you, and I will handle them.’
18 “At that time I gave you instructions about everything you were to do.
Scouts Explore the Land
19 “Then, just as the Lord our God commanded us, we left Mount Sinai and traveled through the great and terrifying wilderness, as you yourselves remember, and headed toward the hill country of the Amorites. When we arrived at Kadesh-barnea, 20 I said to you, ‘You have now reached the hill country of the Amorites that the Lord our God is giving us. 21 Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!’
22 “But you all came to me and said, ‘First, let’s send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and which towns we should enter.’
23 “This seemed like a good idea to me, so I chose twelve scouts, one from each of your tribes. 24 They headed for the hill country and came to the valley of Eshcol and explored it. 25 They picked some of its fruit and brought it back to us. And they reported, ‘The land the Lord our God has given us is indeed a good land.’
Israel’s Rebellion against the Lord
26 “But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to go in. 27 You complained in your tents and said, ‘The Lord must hate us. That’s why he has brought us here from Egypt—to hand us over to the Amorites to be slaughtered. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have demoralized us with their report. They tell us, “The people of the land are taller and more powerful than we are, and their towns are large, with walls rising high into the sky! We even saw giants there—the descendants of Anak!”’
29 “But I said to you, ‘Don’t be shocked or afraid of them! 30 The Lord your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt. 31 And you saw how the Lord your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. Now he has brought you to this place.’
32 “But even after all he did, you refused to trust the Lord your God, 33 who goes before you looking for the best places to camp, guiding you with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.
34 “When the Lord heard your complaining, he became very angry. So he solemnly swore, 35 ‘Not one of you from this wicked generation will live to see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, 36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see this land because he has followed the Lord completely. I will give to him and his descendants some of the very land he explored during his scouting mission.’
37 “And the Lord was also angry with me because of you. He said to me, ‘Moses, not even you will enter the Promised Land! 38 Instead, your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will lead the people into the land. Encourage him, for he will lead Israel as they take possession of it. 39 I will give the land to your little ones—your innocent children. You were afraid they would be captured, but they will be the ones who occupy it. 40 As for you, turn around now and go on back through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.[e]’
41 “Then you confessed, ‘We have sinned against the Lord! We will go into the land and fight for it, as the Lord our God has commanded us.’ So your men strapped on their weapons, thinking it would be easy to attack the hill country.
42 “But the Lord told me to tell you, ‘Do not attack, for I am not with you. If you go ahead on your own, you will be crushed by your enemies.’
43 “This is what I told you, but you would not listen. Instead, you again rebelled against the Lord’s command and arrogantly went into the hill country to fight. 44 But the Amorites who lived there came out against you like a swarm of bees. They chased and battered you all the way from Seir to Hormah. 45 Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but he refused to listen. 46 So you stayed there at Kadesh for a long time.
Footnotes
Deuteronomy 1
New King James Version
The Previous Command to Enter Canaan
1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel (A)on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the [a]plain opposite [b]Suph, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir (B)to Kadesh Barnea. 3 Now it came to pass (C)in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him as commandments to them, 4 (D)after he had killed Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth (E)in[c] Edrei.
5 On this side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying, 6 “The Lord our God spoke to us (F)in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long (G)enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the [d]plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates. 8 See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord [e]swore to your fathers—to (H)Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.’
Tribal Leaders Appointed(I)
9 “And (J)I spoke to you at that time, saying: ‘I [f]alone am not able to bear you. 10 The Lord your God has multiplied you, (K)and here you are today, as the stars of heaven in multitude. 11 (L)May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you (M)as He has promised you! 12 (N)How can I alone bear your problems and your burdens and your complaints? 13 Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them [g]heads over you.’ 14 And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have told us to do is good.’ 15 So I took (O)the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and [h]made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes.
16 “Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brethren, and (P)judge righteously between a man and his (Q)brother or the stranger who is with him. 17 (R)You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for (S)the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, (T)bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.
Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land(U)
19 “So we departed from Horeb, (V)and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorites, as the Lord our God had commanded us. Then (W)we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20 And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. 21 Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; (X)do not fear or be discouraged.’
22 “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.’
23 “The plan pleased me well; so (Y)I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe. 24 (Z)And they departed and went up into the mountains, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25 They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, ‘It is a (AA)good land which the Lord our God is giving us.’
26 (AB)“Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; 27 and you (AC)complained in your tents, and said, ‘Because the Lord (AD)hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where can we go up? Our brethren have [i]discouraged our hearts, saying, (AE)“The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the (AF)Anakim there.” ’
29 “Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, (AG)or afraid of them. 30 (AH)The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a (AI)man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ 32 Yet, for all that, (AJ)you did not believe the Lord your God, 33 (AK)who went in the way before you (AL)to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day.
The Penalty for Israel’s Rebellion(AM)
34 “And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, (AN)and took an oath, saying, 35 (AO)‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I [j]swore to give to your fathers, 36 (AP)except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because (AQ)he [k]wholly followed the Lord.’ 37 (AR)The Lord was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there. 38 (AS)Joshua the son of Nun, (AT)who stands before you, he shall go in there. (AU)Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39 (AV)‘Moreover your little ones and your children, who (AW)you say will be victims, who today (AX)have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. 40 (AY)But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.’
41 “Then you answered and said to me, (AZ)‘We have sinned against the Lord; we will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And when everyone of you had girded on his weapons of war, you were ready to go up into the mountain.
42 “And the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them, (BA)“Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies.” ’ 43 So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but (BB)rebelled against the command of the Lord, and (BC)presumptuously[l] went up into the mountain. 44 And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you (BD)as bees do, and drove you back from Seir to Hormah. 45 Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.
46 (BE)“So you remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you spent there.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 1:1 Heb. arabah
- Deuteronomy 1:1 One LXX ms., Tg., Vg. Red Sea
- Deuteronomy 1:4 LXX, Syr., Vg. and; cf. Josh. 12:4
- Deuteronomy 1:7 Heb. arabah
- Deuteronomy 1:8 promised
- Deuteronomy 1:9 am not able to bear you by myself
- Deuteronomy 1:13 rulers
- Deuteronomy 1:15 appointed
- Deuteronomy 1:28 Lit. melted
- Deuteronomy 1:35 promised
- Deuteronomy 1:36 fully
- Deuteronomy 1:43 willfully
Deuteronomy 1
The Voice
1 These are the words Moses spoke to all the people of Israel who were gathered in the wilderness in the Arabah Valley east of the Jordan River, across from Suph. They’d traveled through many places on their way here, from Paran through Tophel and on to Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
These places serve as various destinations along Israel’s wilderness route before they reach the plains of Moab, facing the Jordan River, just outside the land of Canaan.
2 It’s only an 11-day journey by the Mount Seir road from Horeb (also known as Mount Sinai), where God made a covenant with Israel, to Kadesh-barnea, where the people first tried to enter the promised land. 3-4 Now on the first day of the 11th month, 40 years after the nation left Egypt and sometime after Moses had defeated Sihon (king of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon) and Og (king of Bashan who ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei), Moses began to give to a new generation of the Israelites each word the Eternal had commanded him to tell them. 5 Beyond the Jordan River in the land of Moab, Moses tried to explain this law and its outworking for the people.
Moses now explains to the current generation of Israelites what the Lord has done for them, so the Israelites can confidently give their full allegiance to this One God, who has already proven Himself as their protector and guide. Even today it’s helpful for us to remember God’s faithfulness to earlier generations in our own families and nations. Our confidence in God is strengthened most when we recall how He has worked directly in our own lives to protect, provide for, and guide us.
Moses: 6 The Eternal, our True God, spoke to us back at Horeb. He told us, “You’ve stayed long enough at this mountain! 7 Break camp, and head up into the Amorite highlands, into the territories of all their neighbors—into the arid valley,[a] the hills, the lowlands, the southern desert,[b] and the Mediterranean seacoast. Go into the land of the Canaanites, as far north as Lebanon and all the way east to the great Euphrates River. 8 Look! I’ve brought you right to the edge of the land that I, the Eternal, swore I’d give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants after them. Go in, and take possession of it!”
9 I had to tell you at the time, “I can’t bear you as a people and deal with all of your cases by myself anymore. 10 The Eternal your God has kept increasing your numbers, and just look at you today! There are as many of you as there are stars in the sky! 11 I hope the Eternal, the God of your ancestors, makes you a thousand times more numerous and blesses you just as He said He would. 12 But how can I alone handle your problems and burdens and cases? 13 Choose some wise, perceptive, knowledgeable men from your tribes, and I’ll put them in authority over you.” 14 You told me you thought it was a great plan, 15 so I took some leaders from your tribes who were wise and well respected; I chose them as authorities over you all—of groups of thousands or hundreds or fifties or tens, and I appointed some as tribal representatives. 16 Then I gave your judges careful instructions: “Listen to the disputes between your neighbors that are brought to you, and judge them fairly regardless of who is involved—two Israelites or an Israelite and a foreigner. 17 Don’t show any favoritism when you judge; whether a person is important or unimportant, hear him out. Don’t be intimidated by anybody because it’s really God who is the judge; you are just His agents. If any case is too difficult for you, bring it to me, and I’ll handle it.” 18 At that time, I told you everything you needed to do.
19 Then we left Horeb, as the Eternal, our True God, commanded us; and we went through that awful, vast wilderness—none of us will ever forget the sight! We headed toward the Amorite highlands until we got to Kadesh-barnea. 20 I told you, “You’ve reached the Amorite highlands, and the Eternal our God is going to give them to us soon. 21 Look! The Eternal, your True God, has put this land within your grasp! Go up into these highlands, and take possession of them as the Eternal, the God of your ancestors, promised you would. Go! Don’t be afraid, and don’t be intimidated!”
The Book of Deuteronomy, even as it follows a covenant-treaty form, has almost a cinematic quality to it. Much of the action takes place in flashbacks as Moses recalls events and describes them to the Israelites in a drama. As we’ve been seeing in this opening historical section of the book, sometimes there are even layers of voices. At one point, Moses speaks in the voice of the people as they speak in the voice of the spies. Shortly we’ll see Moses speaking in the voice of the Lord as He speaks in Moses’ own voice! It begins by showing a storyteller and then shifts locations repeatedly in space and time to depict the various episodes he’s describing, with his voice providing continuity throughout. Deuteronomy has a timeless, ancient-modern feel because the story of God’s work on earth really is written and told by people as they struggle, with varying degrees of success, to understand God’s purposes and to join with those people of God who have gone before us.
22 But you approached me with ideas of your own: “Couldn’t we send a few people in to investigate first? They could explore the land, come back, and tell us what route we should take and what cities we’d come to along the way.” 23 I agreed this was a good idea, so I chose 12 of you to go, one from each tribe. 24 They went up into the highlands. They explored the Eshcol Valley 25 and picked some of the enormous fruit growing there. Then they came back down to us with the fruit and a report: “This is a wonderful land that the Eternal our God is going to give to us!”
26 But even after all this encouragement, you still weren’t willing to go up and fight. You rebelled against what the Eternal your God told you to do. 27 In your homes, you complained to each other, “The Eternal hates us! That’s why He brought us out of the land of Egypt—so He could hand us over to the Amorites. They’re going to destroy us! 28 He tells us, ‘Go up,’ but go up where? The report of the rest of those we sent out was terrifying: ‘The people there are bigger and taller than we are. Their cities are huge, with walls as high as the sky! We even saw giants there—descendants of the Anakim.’”
29 So I told you, “Don’t be scared! Don’t be afraid of them! 30 You won’t have to fight this battle yourselves; the Eternal your God, who always goes ahead of you, will fight for you just as He did in Egypt—you saw Him do it! 31 And here in this wilderness, all along the route you’ve traveled until you reached this place, haven’t you seen the Eternal, your True God, carrying you the way a parent carries a child? 32 But you still don’t trust the Eternal your God, 33 even though He always goes ahead of you as you travel and finds places for you to camp. In a pillar of fire by night and in a cloud by day, He always shows you the right way to go.”
34 When the Eternal heard your untrusting words, He angrily swore an oath: 35 “Not a single person in this wicked generation will see the good land I swore to give to your ancestors! 36 There’ll be only one exception: Caleb (Jephunneh’s son). He will see it. I’ll give the very land he walked through when he spied it out to him and his descendants because he remained completely loyal to the Eternal.” 37 And He was angry with me, too, because of the way you acted. He told me, “Not even you will go into the land! 38 It will be Joshua (Nun’s son), a man you’ve already entrusted with important responsibilities, who will enter it instead. Encourage him, because he will lead the people into the land and give it to Israel as their possession. 39 You said that if you fought, all your soldiers would be killed and your little ones would become plunder for your enemies. But it will be those children under age 20, who don’t know right from wrong yet, who will enter the land. I’ll give it to them, and it will belong to them. 40 But as for you, head back into the wilderness, toward the Red Sea.”[c]
41 After God’s judgment you responded, “We’ve sinned against the Eternal! We’ll go up and fight now, just as the Eternal, our True God, commanded us.” So each of you strapped on your weapons and prepared to fight. You thought it would be easy to get up into the highlands. 42 The Eternal tried to warn you that it was too late by telling me, “Tell them not to go up and not to fight! I am not with them. They’ll be crushed by their enemies.” 43 I told you everything, but you wouldn’t listen. You rebelled against the Eternal’s command, and you went up arrogantly into the highlands. 44 The Amorites who lived there came out and attacked you, and you ran away from them as if they were a swarm of bees! They crushed more and more of your soldiers all the way from Seir to Hormah, until they gave up the chase. 45 You came back and wept before the Eternal. But He wouldn’t listen to a word you said. 46 So you just stayed in Kadesh and didn’t leave for a long time.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.