Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options Listen to Deuteronomy 1
Close NASB

Deuteronomy 1
New American Standard Bible

Israel’s History after the Exodus

1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel (A)across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the (B)Arabah opposite [a]Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from (C)Horeb by way of Mount (D)Seir to (E)Kadesh-barnea. 3 In the (F)fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, (G)in accordance with everything that the Lord had commanded him to declare to them, 4 after he had [b](H)defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and (I)Og the king of Bashan, who lived in (J)Ashtaroth [c]and in Edrei. 5 Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this Law, saying,

6 “The Lord our God (K)spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and set out on your journey, and go to (L)the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in (M)the [d]Negev, by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 See, I have placed the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the Lord (N)swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and their [e]descendants after them.’

9 “And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘(O)I am not able to endure you alone. 10 The Lord your God has (P)multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number. 11 May the Lord, the God of your fathers increase you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you, (Q)just as He has [f]promised you! 12 How can I alone endure the burden and weight of you and your strife? 13 (R)Obtain for yourselves men who are wise, discerning, and informed from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ 14 And 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 informed men, and [g]appointed them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, [h]hundreds, [i]fifties, and [j]tens, and officers for your tribes.

16 “Then I ordered your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen and (S)judge righteously between a person and his fellow countryman, or the stranger who is with him. 17 (T)You are not to [k]show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You are (U)not to be afraid of any person, for the judgment is God’s. (V)The case that is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 18 At that time (W)I commanded you all the things that you were to do.

19 “Then we set out from (X)Horeb, and went through all that (Y)great and terrible wilderness that you saw on the way to the (Z)hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord 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 the Lord our God is about to give us. 21 See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. (AB)Do not fear or be dismayed.’

22 “(AC)Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us, so that they may spy 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 should enter.’ 23 The [l]plan pleased me, and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe. 24 Then (AD)they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25 And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They also brought us back a report and said, ‘The land that the Lord our God is about to give us is good.’

26 “(AE)Yet you were unwilling to go up; instead you (AF)rebelled against the [m]command of the Lord your God; 27 and (AG)you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us. 28 Where can we go up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, by saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we saw (AH)the sons of the Anakim there.”’ 29 But I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, nor fear them. 30 The Lord your God, who goes before you, will (AI)Himself fight for you, [n]just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how (AJ)the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, on all of the road which you have walked until you came to this place.’ 32 Yet [o](AK)in spite of all this, you did not trust the Lord your God, 33 (AL)who goes before you on your way, (AM)to seek out a place for you to make camp, in the fire by night to show you the way by which you should go, and in the cloud by day.

34 “Then the Lord 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 I will give the land on which he has set foot, and to his sons, because he has followed the Lord fully.’ 37 (AQ)The Lord 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)shall himself enter there; encourage him, for (AT)he will give it to Israel as an inheritance. 39 Moreover, (AU)your little ones who, you said, would become plunder, and your sons, who this day have (AV)no knowledge of good and evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall take possession of it. 40 But as for you, (AW)turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way of the [p]Red Sea.’

41 “(AX)Then you replied to me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord; we ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every man of you strapped on his weapons of war, and you viewed it as easy to go up into the hill country. 42 (AY)But the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be [q]defeated [r]by your enemies.”’ 43 So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead, (AZ)you rebelled against the [s]command of the Lord, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. 44 (BA)And the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you (BB)as bees do, and they scattered you from Seir to Hormah. 45 Then you returned and wept before the Lord; but the (BC)Lord did not listen to your voice, nor pay attention to you. 46 So you remained at (BD)Kadesh for many days, [t]the days that you spent there.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 1:1 Perhaps the Red Sea
  2. Deuteronomy 1:4 Lit struck
  3. Deuteronomy 1:4 So ancient versions; MT omits and
  4. Deuteronomy 1:7 I.e., South country
  5. Deuteronomy 1:8 Lit seed
  6. Deuteronomy 1:11 Lit spoken to
  7. Deuteronomy 1:15 Lit gave them as
  8. Deuteronomy 1:15 Lit commanders of
  9. Deuteronomy 1:15 Lit commanders of
  10. Deuteronomy 1:15 Lit commanders of
  11. Deuteronomy 1:17 Lit recognize faces
  12. Deuteronomy 1:23 Lit word
  13. Deuteronomy 1:26 Lit mouth
  14. Deuteronomy 1:30 Lit according to all that
  15. Deuteronomy 1:32 Lit in this matter
  16. Deuteronomy 1:40 Lit Sea of Reeds
  17. Deuteronomy 1:42 Lit struck
  18. Deuteronomy 1:42 Lit before
  19. Deuteronomy 1:43 Lit mouth
  20. Deuteronomy 1:46 Lit as the days
Close GW

Deuteronomy 1
GOD’S WORD Translation

Moses Speaks to the People 40 Years after Leaving Egypt

1 This is the speech Moses gave in the desert east of the Jordan River, on the plains, near Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and near Laban, Hazeroth, and Di Zahab. He spoke to all the Israelites. 2 (It takes 11 days to go from Mount Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by way of Mount Seir.)

3 On the first day of the eleventh month in the fortieth year ⌞after they had left Egypt⌟, Moses told the Israelites everything the Lord had commanded him to tell them. 4 This was after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth and [a] in Edrei. 5 The Israelites were east of the Jordan River in Moab when Moses began to review God’s teachings.

Moses Reminds Israel of the Events at Mount Horeb

This is what he said:

6 At Mount Horeb the Lord our God said to us, “You have stayed at this mountain long enough. 7 Break camp, and get ready! Go to the mountain region of the Amorites, and go to everyone living on the plains, in the mountains, in the foothills, in the Negev, on the whole Mediterranean coast (the land of the Canaanites), and into Lebanon as far as the Euphrates River. 8 I’m giving you this land. Enter, and take possession of the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to you, their descendants.”

9 At that time I said to you, “I’m not able to take care of you by myself. 10 The Lord your God has made your population increase so that you are now as numerous as the stars in the sky. 11 May the Lord God of your ancestors make you a thousand times more numerous, and may he bless you as he has promised. 12 How can I take care of your problems, your troubles, and your disagreements all by myself? 13 From each of your tribes, choose some men who are wise, intelligent, and experienced, and I’ll appoint them to be your leaders.”

14 You agreed that this was a good idea.

15 So I took the heads of your tribes who were wise and experienced men and made them officers for each of your tribes. I put them in charge of groups of 1,000, or 100, or 50, or 10 people. 16 Also at that time I gave these instructions to your judges: “Hear the cases that your people bring. Judge each case fairly, no matter whether it is ⌞a dispute⌟ between two Israelites or ⌞a dispute⌟ between an Israelite and a non-Israelite. 17 Be impartial in your decisions. Listen to the least important people the same way you listen to the most important people. Never be afraid of anyone, since your decisions come from God. You may bring me any case that’s too hard for you, and I will hear it.” 18 So I told you how to handle these situations.

Moses Reminds Israel of the Events at Kadesh Barnea

19 So we left Mount Horeb, as the Lord our God had commanded. We traveled through all that vast and dangerous desert you saw on the way to the mountain region of the Amorites. At last we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20 Then I said to you, “We have come to the mountain region of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. 21 The Lord your God is giving you this land. Go ahead! Take possession of it, as the Lord God of your ancestors told you. Don’t be afraid or terrified.”

22 All of you came to me and said, “Let’s send men ahead of us to gather information about the land for us. Have them report to us about the route we should take and the cities we’ll come to.”

23 It seemed like a good idea to me. So I chose 12 of your men, one from each tribe. 24 They left and went into the mountains. When they came to the Eshcol Valley, they explored it. 25 They took some of the region’s fruit with them and brought it back to us. They reported, “The land that the Lord our God is giving us is good.”

26 But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to go. 27 You complained in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us! That’s why he brought us out of Egypt. He wanted to hand us over to the Amorites so that they could destroy us! 28 Where are we going anyway? Our own men have discouraged us by saying, ‘The people there are taller and stronger than we are. The cities are big with sky-high walls! We even saw the people of Anak there.’ ”

29 Then I said to you, “Don’t tremble. Don’t be afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God, who is going ahead of you, will fight for you as you saw him fight for you in Egypt 31 and in the desert.” There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as parents carry their children. He carried you wherever you went until you came to this place.

32 In spite of this, you didn’t trust the Lord your God, 33 who went ahead of you to find places for you to camp. He appeared in a column of fire at night and in a column of smoke during the day to show you which route to take.

34 When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and took this oath: 35 “Not one of these evil people will ever see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors, 36 except Caleb, son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give the land that he set his feet on to him and his descendants, because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord.”

37 The Lord became angry with me because of you. He said, “You won’t go there either. 38 But your assistant Joshua, son of Nun, will go there. Encourage him, because he will help Israel take possession of the land. 39 Although you thought the little children would be captured in war, your children, who are still too young to know the difference between good and evil, will enter that land. I will give it to them, and they will take possession of it. 40 Turn around, go back into the desert, and follow the road that goes to the Red Sea.”

41 You responded, “We have sinned against the Lord. We’ll go and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us to do.” Each of you armed yourself for war, thinking you could easily invade the mountain region.

42 But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t go and fight, because I won’t be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’ ”

43 I told you, but you wouldn’t listen. You defied the Lord’s command and invaded the mountain region. 44 The Amorites who lived there came out and attacked you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They defeated you, chasing you from Seir all the way to Hormah. 45 When you came back, you cried to the Lord, but the Lord didn’t listen to you or hear you. 46 That’s why you stayed in Kadesh as long as you did.

Footnotes

  1. 1:4 One Hebrew manuscript, Greek, Syriac, Latin; Masoretic Text omits “and   .”
Next
Numbers 36
Deuteronomy 2
Next
dropdown
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.

New American Standard Bible is made available by The Lockman Foundation
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.