Deuteronomy 1:34-2:25

New King James Version

The Penalty for Israel’s Rebellion^(A)

³⁴“And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, ^(B)and took an oath, saying, ³⁵^(C)‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I ^[a]swore to give to your fathers, ³⁶^(D)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 ^(E)he ^[b]wholly followed the Lord.’ ³⁷^(F)The Lord was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there. ³⁸^(G)Joshua the son of Nun, ^(H)who stands before you, he shall go in there. ^(I)Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

³⁹^(J)‘Moreover your little ones and your children, who ^(K)you say will be victims, who today ^(L)have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. ⁴⁰^(M)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, ^(N)‘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, ^(O)“Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies.” ’ ⁴³So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but ^(P)rebelled against the command of the Lord, and ^(Q)presumptuously^[c] went up into the mountain. ⁴⁴And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you ^(R)as bees do, and drove you back from Seir to Hormah. ⁴⁵Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

⁴⁶^(S)“So you remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you spent there.

The Desert Years

2 “Then we turned and ^(T)journeyed into the wilderness of the Way of the Red Sea, ^(U)as the Lord spoke to me, and we ^[d]skirted Mount Seir for many days.

²“And the Lord spoke to me, saying: ³‘You have skirted this mountain ^(V)long enough; turn northward. ⁴And command the people, saying, ^(W)“You are about to pass through the territory of ^(X)your brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully. ⁵Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, ^(Y)because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.

⁷“For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your ^[e]trudging through this great wilderness. ^(Z)These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’

⁸“And when we passed beyond our brethren, the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the road of the plain, away from ^(AA)Elath and Ezion Geber, we ^(AB)turned and passed by way of the Wilderness of Moab. ⁹Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given ^(AC)Ar to ^(AD)the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”

¹⁰^(AE)(The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as ^(AF)the Anakim. ¹¹They were also regarded as ^[f]giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ¹²^(AG)The Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their ^[g]place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave them.)

¹³“ ‘Now rise and cross over ^(AH)the ^[h]Valley of the Zered.’ So we crossed over the Valley of the Zered. ¹⁴And the time we took to come ^(AI)from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years, ^(AJ)until all the generation of the men of war ^[i]was consumed from the midst of the camp, ^(AK)just as the Lord had sworn to them. ¹⁵For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp until they ^[j]were consumed.

¹⁶“So it was, when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, ¹⁷that the Lord spoke to me, saying: ¹⁸‘This day you are to cross over at Ar, the boundary of Moab. ¹⁹And when you come near the people of Ammon, do not harass them or meddle with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to ^(AL)the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”

²⁰(That was also regarded as a land of ^[k]giants; giants formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them ^(AM)Zamzummim, ²¹^(AN)a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, ²²just as He had done for the descendants of Esau, ^(AO)who dwelt in Seir, when He destroyed ^(AP)the Horites from before them. They dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, even to this day. ²³And ^(AQ)the Avim, who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza—^(AR)the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and dwelt in their place.)

²⁴“ ‘Rise, take your journey, and ^(AS)cross over the River Arnon. Look, I have given into your hand ^(AT)Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin ^[l]to possess it, and engage him in battle. ²⁵^(AU)This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the nations ^[m]under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall ^(AV)tremble and be in anguish because of you.’