Deuteronomy 1:19-33
New Living Translation
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.
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Deuteronomy 1:19-33
New English Translation
19 Then we left Horeb and passed through all that immense, forbidding wilderness that you saw on the way to the Amorite hill country as the Lord our God had commanded us to do, finally arriving at Kadesh Barnea. 20 Then I said to you, “You have come to the Amorite hill country, which the Lord our God is about to give[a] us. 21 Look, he[b] has placed the land in front of you![c] Go up, take possession of it, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to do. Do not be afraid or discouraged!” 22 So all of you approached me and said, “Let’s send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there.” 23 I thought this was a good idea,[d] so I sent[e] twelve men from among you, one from each tribe. 24 They left and went up to the hill country, coming to the Eshcol Valley,[f] which they scouted out. 25 Then they took[g] some of the produce of the land and carried it back down to us. They also brought a report to us, saying, “The land that the Lord our God is about to give us is good.”
Disobedience at Kadesh Barnea
26 You were not willing to go up, however, but instead rebelled against the Lord your God.[h] 27 You complained among yourselves privately[i] and said, “Because the Lord hates us he brought us from Egypt to deliver us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us! 28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage[j] by describing people who are more numerous[k] and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven[l] itself! Moreover, they said they saw[m] Anakites[n] there.” 29 So I responded to you, “Do not be terrified[o] of them! 30 The Lord your God is about to go[p] ahead of you; he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt[q] 31 and in the wilderness, where you saw him[r] carrying you along like a man carries his son. This he did everywhere you went until you came to this very place.” 32 However, through all this you did not have confidence in the Lord your God, 33 who would go before you on the way to find places for you to camp, appearing in a fire at night and in a cloud by day to show you the way you ought to go.
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- Deuteronomy 1:20 tn The Hebrew participle has an imminent future sense here, although many English versions treat it as a present tense (“is giving us,” NAB, NIV, NRSV) or a predictive future (“will give us,” NCV).
- Deuteronomy 1:21 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun (“he”) has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid repetition.
- Deuteronomy 1:21 tn Or “has given you the land” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV).
- Deuteronomy 1:23 tn Heb “the thing was good in my eyes.”
- Deuteronomy 1:23 tn Or “selected” (so NIV, NRSV, TEV); Heb “took.”
- Deuteronomy 1:24 tn Or “the Wadi Eshcol” (so NAB).sn The Eshcol Valley is a verdant valley near Hebron, still famous for its viticulture (cf. Num 13:22-23). The Hebrew name “Eshcol” means “trestle,” that is, the frame on which grape vines grow.
- Deuteronomy 1:25 tn The Hebrew text includes “in their hand,” which is unnecessary and somewhat redundant in English style.
- Deuteronomy 1:26 tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God.” To include “the mouth” would make for odd English style. The mouth stands by metonymy for the Lord’s command, which in turn represents the Lord himself.
- Deuteronomy 1:27 tn Heb “in your tents,” that is, privately.
- Deuteronomy 1:28 tn Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”
- Deuteronomy 1:28 tn Heb “greater.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “stronger,” NAB, NIV, NRSV; “bigger,” NASB).
- Deuteronomy 1:28 tn Or “as the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
- Deuteronomy 1:28 tn Heb “we have seen.”
- Deuteronomy 1:28 tn Heb “the sons of the Anakim.”sn Anakites were giant people (Num 13:33; Deut 2:10, 21; 9:2) descended from a certain Anak whose own forefather Arba founded the city of Kiriath Arba, i.e., Hebron (Josh 21:11).
- Deuteronomy 1:29 tn Heb “do not tremble and do not be afraid.” Two synonymous commands are combined for emphasis.
- Deuteronomy 1:30 tn The Hebrew participle indicates imminent future action here, though some English versions treat it as a predictive future (“will go ahead of you,” NCV; cf. also TEV, CEV).
- Deuteronomy 1:30 tn Heb “according to all which he did for you in Egypt before your eyes.”
- Deuteronomy 1:31 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun (“him”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.
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