Deuteronomy 1
English Standard Version
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.’ 22 Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.’ 23 The thing seemed good to me, and (AD)I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe. 24 And (AE)they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. 25 And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.’
26 “Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. 27 And (AF)you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord (AG)hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, (AH)to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where are we going up? (AI)Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, (AJ)“The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen (AK)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 (AL)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 (AM)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 (AN)you did not believe the Lord your God, 33 (AO)who went before you in the way (AP)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 Penalty for Israel's Rebellion
34 “And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, 35 (AQ)‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, 36 (AR)except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the Lord!’ 37 Even with me (AS)the Lord was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there. 38 (AT)Joshua the son of Nun, (AU)who stands before you, he shall enter. (AV)Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 And as for (AW)your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today (AX)have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, (AY)turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’
41 “Then you answered me, (AZ)‘We have sinned against the Lord. We ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every one of you fastened on his weapons of war and thought it easy to go up into the hill country. 42 And the Lord said to me, (BA)‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, (BB)for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’ 43 So I spoke to you, and you would not listen; but you rebelled against the command of the Lord and (BC)presumptuously went up into the hill country. 44 (BD)Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you (BE)as bees do and beat you down in Seir as far as (BF)Hormah. 45 And you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to your voice or give ear to you. 46 So (BG)you remained at Kadesh many days, the days that you remained there.
Deuteronomy 1
Common English Bible
The first heading: Introducing Deuteronomy
1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan River, in the desert, on the plain across from Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab. (2 It is eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea along the Mount Seir route.) 3 It was in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, that Moses spoke to the Israelites precisely what the Lord had commanded him for them. (4 This was after the defeat of Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon, and Og, Bashan’s king, who ruled in Ashtaroth and[a] Edrei.) 5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this Instruction. He said the following:
Leaving Mount Horeb
6 At Horeb, the Lord our God told us: You’ve been at this mountain long enough. 7 Get going! Enter the hills of the Amorites and the surrounding areas in the desert, the highlands, the lowlands, the arid southern region, and the seacoast—the land of the Canaanites—and the Lebanon range, all the way to the great Euphrates River. 8 Look, I have laid the land before you. Go and possess the land that I[b] promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as to their descendants after them.
9 At that same time, I told you: I can’t handle all of you by myself. 10 The Lord your God has multiplied your number—you are now as countless as the stars in the sky. 11 May the Lord, your ancestors’ God, continue to multiply you—a thousand times more! And may God bless you, just as he promised. 12 But how can I handle all your troubles, burdens, and disputes by myself? 13 Now, for each of your tribes, choose wise, discerning, and well-regarded individuals. I will appoint them as your leaders.
14 You answered me: “What you have proposed is a good idea.”
15 So I took leading individuals from your tribes, people who were wise and well-regarded, and I set them up as your leaders. There were commanders over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, as well as officials for each of your tribes.
16 At that same time, I commanded your judges: Listen to your fellow tribe members and judge fairly, whether the dispute is between one fellow tribe member or between a tribe member and an immigrant. 17 Don’t show favoritism in a decision. Hear both sides out, whether the person is important or not. Don’t be afraid of anyone because the ruling belongs to God. Any dispute that is too difficult for you to decide, bring to me and I will take care of it.
18 So at that time, I commanded you concerning everything you were to do.
The spy disaster
19 We left Horeb and journeyed through that vast and terrifying desert you saw, on the way to the hills of the Amorites, exactly as the Lord our God commanded us. Then we arrived at Kadesh-barnea. 20 I said to you: You have come to the hills of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving to us. 21 Look! The Lord your God has laid out the land before you. Go up and take it, just as the Lord, your ancestors’ God, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be frightened!
22 Then all of you approached me, saying, “Let’s send spies ahead of us—they can check out the land for us. Then they can return with word about the route we should use and bring a report about the cities that we’ll be entering.”
23 This idea seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men, one from each tribe. 24 These set out and went up into the hills, going as far as the Cluster[c] ravine. They walked all around that area. 25 They took some of the land’s fruit and then came back down to us. They reported to us: “The land that the Lord our God is giving to us is wonderful!” 26 But you weren’t willing to go up. You rejected the Lord your God’s instruction. 27 You complained in your tents, saying things like, “The Lord hates us! That’s why he brought us out of Egypt—to hand us over to the Amorites, to destroy us! 28 What are we doing? Our brothers have made our hearts sick by saying, ‘People far stronger and much taller than we live there, and the cities are huge, with walls sky-high! Worse still, we saw the descendants of the Anakites there!’”
29 But I said to you: Don’t be terrified! Don’t be afraid of them! 30 The Lord your God is going before you. He will fight for you just as he fought for you in Egypt while you watched, 31 and as you saw him do in the desert. Throughout your entire journey, until you reached this very place, the Lord your God has carried you just as a parent carries a child.
32 But you had no faith in the Lord your God about this matter, 33 even though he went ahead of you, scouting places where you should camp, in fire by night, so you could see the road you were taking, and in cloud during the daytime.
34 The Lord heard what you said. He was angry and he swore: 35 Not even one of these people—this wicked generation!—will see the wonderful land that I promised to give to your ancestors. 36 The only exception is Caleb, Jephunneh’s son. He will see it. I will give the land he walked on to him and his children for this reason: he was completely devoted to the Lord.
(37 The Lord was even angry with me because of what you did. “You won’t enter the land either,” God said. 38 “But Nun’s son Joshua, your assistant, will enter it. Strengthen him because he’s the one who will help Israel inherit the land.”)
39 Now as for your toddlers, those you said would be taken in war, and your young children who don’t yet know right and wrong—they will enter the land. I will give it to them. They will possess it! 40 But you all must now turn around. Head back toward the wilderness along the route of the Reed Sea.[d]
41 You replied to me: “We’ve sinned against the Lord! We will go up! We will fight, just as the Lord our God commanded.” Each one of you grabbed your weapons. You thought it would be easy[e] to go up into the hills. 42 But the Lord told me: Tell them: Don’t go up! Don’t fight because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.
43 I reported this to you but you wouldn’t listen. You disobeyed the Lord’s instruction. Hotheadedly, you went up into the hills. 44 And the Amorites who lived in those hills came out to meet you in battle. They chased you like bees give chase! They gave you a beating from Seir all the way to Hormah. 45 When you came back, you cried before the Lord, but he wouldn’t respond to your tears or give you a hearing.
46 And so you stayed in Kadesh-barnea for quite some time.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 1:4 LXX, Syr, Vulg; MT lacks and.
- Deuteronomy 1:8 Sam, LXX; MT the Lord
- Deuteronomy 1:24 Heb Eshcol means bunch, a cluster (of grapes); cf Num 13:23-24; 32:9.
- Deuteronomy 1:40 Or Red Sea
- Deuteronomy 1:41 Heb uncertain
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible