²⁷ They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!^(A) Here is its fruit.^(B)

⁸ So I have come down^(A) to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land,^(B) a land flowing with milk and honey^(C)—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites^(D) and Jebusites.^(E)

¹⁷ And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt^(A) into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’^(B)

⁵ When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites,^(A) Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites^(B)—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey^(C)—you are to observe this ceremony^(D) in this month:

²⁰ When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors,^(A) and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods^(B) and worship them,^(C) rejecting me and breaking my covenant.^(D)

²⁵ Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported,^(A) “It is a good land^(B) that the Lord our God is giving us.”^(C)

Rebellion Against the Lord

²⁶ But you were unwilling to go up;^(D) you rebelled^(E) against the command of the Lord your God. ²⁷ You grumbled^(F) in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. ²⁸ Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller^(G) than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites^(H) there.’”

²⁹ Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid^(I) of them.^{(J) 30} The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight^(K) for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, ³¹ and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried^(L) you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”^(M)

³² In spite of this,^(N) you did not trust^(O) in the Lord your God, ³³ who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day,^(P) to search^(Q) out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

³ Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey.^(A) But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked^(B) people and I might destroy^(C) you on the way.”

³ Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey,^(A) just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

¹¹ Then you and the Levites^(A) and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice^(B) in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.

¹² When you have finished setting aside a tenth^(C) of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe,^(D) you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. ¹³ Then say to the Lord your God: “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them.^{(E) 14} I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean,^(F) nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done everything you commanded me. ¹⁵ Look down from heaven,^(G) your holy dwelling place, and bless^(H) your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”