My Rock and My Fortress

Of David.

The Command to Leave Horeb

1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in ^(A)the Arabah opposite ^(B)Suph, between ^(C)Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. ² It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to ^(D)Kadesh-barnea. ^3 (E)In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them, ⁴ after ^(F)he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and ^(G)Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in ^(H)Edrei. ⁵ Beyond the Jordan, ^(I)in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying, ⁶ “The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ^(J)‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Turn and take your journey, and go to ^(K)the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in ^(L)the Arabah, ^(M)in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and ^(N)by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, ^(O)to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’

Leaders Appointed

⁹ “At that time ^(P)I said to you, ‘I am not able to bear you by myself. ¹⁰ The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, ^(Q)you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven. ^11 (R)May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, ^(S)as he has promised you! ^12 (T)How can I bear by myself the weight and burden of you and your strife? ^13 (U)Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ ¹⁴ And you answered me, ‘The thing that you have spoken is good for us to do.’ ¹⁵ So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, ^(V)and set them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers, throughout your tribes. ¹⁶ And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and ^(W)judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him. ^17 (X)You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for ^(Y)the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall ^(Z)bring to me, and I will hear it.’ ¹⁸ And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.

Israel's Refusal to Enter the Land

¹⁹ “Then we set out from Horeb and ^(AA)went through all that great and terrifying wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us. And ^(AB)we came to Kadesh-barnea. ²⁰ And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. ²¹ See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. ^(AC)Do not fear or be dismayed.’

²⁶ “Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. ²⁷ And ^(A)you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord ^(B)hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, ^(C)to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. ²⁸ Where are we going up? ^(D)Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, ^(E)“The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen ^(F)the sons of the Anakim there.”’ ²⁹ Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. ³⁰ The Lord your God who goes before you ^(G)will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, ³¹ and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God ^(H)carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ ³² Yet in spite of this word ^(I)you did not believe the Lord your God, ^33 (J)who went before you in the way ^(K)to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

2 In those days ^(A)a decree went out from ^(B)Caesar Augustus that all the world should be ^(C)registered. ² This was the first ^(D)registration when^[a] Quirinius ^(E)was governor of Syria. ³ And all went to be registered, each to his own town. ⁴ And Joseph also went up ^(F)from Galilee, from the town of ^(G)Nazareth, to Judea, to ^(H)the city of David, which is called ^(I)Bethlehem, ^(J)because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed,^[b] who was with child. ⁶ And ^(K)while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and ^(L)wrapped him in swaddling cloths and ^(M)laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in ^(N)the inn.^[c]

The Shepherds and the Angels

⁸ And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord ^(O)appeared to them, and ^(P)the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all ^(Q)the people. ¹¹ For ^(R)unto you is born this day in ^(S)the city of David ^(T)a Savior, who is ^(U)Christ ^(V)the Lord. ¹² And ^(W)this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby ^(X)wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel ^(Y)a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁵ When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby ^(AE)lying in a manger. ¹⁷ And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. ¹⁸ And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹ But ^(AF)Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰ And the shepherds returned, ^(AG)glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

²¹ And ^(AH)at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, ^(AI)he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.