Deuteronomy 1
Lexham English Bible
Preamble
1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel on the other side of[a] the Jordan in the desert,[b] in the desert plateau[c] opposite Suph, between Paran and between Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2 It is a journey of eleven days[d] from Herob by the way of Mount Seir[e] up to Kadesh Barnea.
3 And it was[f] in the fortieth year, on the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the Israelites[g] according to all that Yahweh had instructed him to speak to them. 4 This happened after defeating[h] Sihon king of the Amorites, who was reigning[i] in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who was reigning[j] in Ashtaroth in Edrei. 5 On the other side of [k] the Jordan in the land of Moab Moses began to explain this law,[l] saying:[m]
Historical Prologue
6 “Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying,[n] ‘You have stayed long enough[o] at this mountain. 7 Turn now and move on,[p] and go into the hill of the Amorites[q] and to all of the neighboring regions[r] in the Jordan Valley[s] in the hill country and in the Negev and in the coastal area along the sea, into the land of the Canaanites[t] and into the Lebanon, as far as the great river Euphrates. 8 Look, I have set the land before you;[u] go and take possession of the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors,[v] to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give it to them and to their offspring after them.’
9 “And I spoke to them at that time, saying,[w] ‘I am not able to bear you alone. 10 Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and look; you are today as the stars of the heaven in number.[x] 11 Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,[y] may he add to you as you are now a thousand times, and may he bless you just as he promised you.[z] 12 How can I bear you by myself,[aa] your burden and your load and your strife? 13 Choose for yourselves wise and discerning and knowledgeable men[ab] for each of your tribes, and I will appoint them as your leaders.’
14 “And you answered me, and you said, ‘The thing you have said to do is good.’ 15 And so I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and then I appointed them as leaders over you as commanders of groups of thousands and commanders of groups of hundreds and commanders of groups of fifties and commanders of groups of tens as officials for your tribes. 16 And at that time I instructed your judges, saying, ‘hear out your fellow men,[ac] and then judge fairly[ad] between a man and between his brother and between his opponent who is a resident alien.[ae] 17 You must not be partial[af] in your judgment; [ag] hear out the small person as also the great person; do not be intimidated by any person,[ah] because the judgment is God’s; and the case that is too difficult[ai] for you, bring it to me, and I will hear it out.’ 18 And so I instructed you at that time concerning all of the things that you should do.
19 “Then we set out from Horeb, and we went through the whole of that great and terrible desert that you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites[aj] as Yahweh our God had commanded us, and so we came up to Kadesh Barnea. 20 I said to you, ‘You have reached[ak] the hill country of the Amorites[al] that Yahweh our God is giving to us. 21 See, Yahweh your God has set before you the land; go up and possess it as Yahweh the God of your ancestors[am] said to you; do not fear and do not be dismayed.’
22 “Then all of you approached me, and you said, ‘Let us send men before us,[an] and let them explore the land for us, and let them bring back a report[ao] to us concerning the way that we should take[ap] and concerning the cities that we shall come to.’ 23 The plan was good in my opinion,[aq] and so I took from among you twelve men, one from each tribe.[ar] 24 And they set out[as] and went up into the hill country,[at] and they went up to the wadi[au] of Eschol, and they spied out the land. 25 They took in their hands[av] some of the fruit[aw] of the land, and they brought it down to us, and they brought to us back a report,[ax] and they said, ‘The land that Yahweh our God is giving to us is good.’ 26 But you were not willing to go up, and you rebelled against the command[ay] of Yahweh your God. 27 And you grumbled in your tents, and you said, ‘Because of the hatred of Yahweh toward us he has brought us out from the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites[az] to destroy us. 28 Where can we go up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt,[ba] saying,[bb] “The people are greater[bc] and taller than we are,[bd] and there are great fortified cities reaching up to heaven, and we saw the sons of the Anakites living there.”’
29 “And so I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, and do not fear them. 30 Yahweh your God, who is going before you,[be] will himself[bf] fight for you, just as[bg] he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and just as he did in the wilderness[bh] when[bi] you saw that[bj] Yahweh your God carried you, just as someone[bk] carries his son, all along the way that you traveled until you reached[bl] this place.’ 32 But through all of this you did not trust in Yahweh your God, 33 who goes[bm] before you[bn] on your[bo] way, seeking a place for your encampment, in fire at night and in a cloud by day, to show you the way that you should go.[bp]
34 “Then Yahweh heard the sound of your words, and he was angry, and he swore, saying,[bq] 35 ‘No one of these men[br] of this evil generation will see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors,[bs] 36 except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh; he himself[bt] shall see it, and to him I will give the land upon which he has trodden and to his sons[bu] because he followed Yahweh unreservedly.’[bv] 37 Even with me Yahweh was angry because of you, saying, ‘Not even you shall enter there. 38 Joshua, the son of Nun, your assistant,[bw] will go there; encourage him because he will cause Israel to inherit it. 39 And your little children, who you thought shall become plunder, and your sons, who do not today know good or bad, shall themselves[bx] go there, and I will give it to them, and they shall take possession of it. 40 But you turn and set out in the direction of the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.’[by]
41 “You replied and said to me, ‘We have sinned against Yahweh, and now we will go up and fight according to all that Yahweh our God commanded us’; and so each man fastened on his battle gear,[bz] and you regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country. 42 So Yahweh said to me, ‘Say to them, “You shall not go up, and you shall not fight because I am not in your midst; you will be defeated before[ca] your enemies.”’ 43 So I spoke to you, but you did not listen; you rebelled against the command of Yahweh;[cb] you behaved presumptuously, and you went up into the hill country. 44 The Amorites living in the hill country went out to oppose you[cc] and chased you as a swarm of wild honey bees do; and so they beat[cd] you down in Seir as far as Hormah. 45 So you returned and wept before Yahweh;[ce] but Yahweh did not listen to your voice and did not pay any attention to you. 46 You stayed in Kadesh many days; such were the days that you stayed there.
Notas al pie
- Deuteronomy 1:1 Literally “in the beyond of”
- Deuteronomy 1:1 Or “the wilderness”
- Deuteronomy 1:1 Or “desert plain”; others render this as a named location, “Arabah”
- Deuteronomy 1:2 Literally “one and ten days”
- Deuteronomy 1:2 Literally “by the mountain of Seir”
- Deuteronomy 1:3 Literally “and it happened” or “and then”
- Deuteronomy 1:3 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Deuteronomy 1:4 Literally “after he had struck down”
- Deuteronomy 1:4 Or “dwelling,” and in this context “reigning”
- Deuteronomy 1:4 Or “dwelling,” and in this context “reigning”
- Deuteronomy 1:5 Literally “in the beyond of”
- Deuteronomy 1:5 Hebrew torah
- Deuteronomy 1:5 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 1:6 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 1:6 Literally “much time”
- Deuteronomy 1:7 Literally “journey on with respect to yourselves” or “move yourselves out”
- Deuteronomy 1:7 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Deuteronomy 1:7 Or “peoples”
- Deuteronomy 1:7 Literally “Arabah,” arid stretches of land.
- Deuteronomy 1:7 Hebrew “Canaanite”
- Deuteronomy 1:8 Literally “before your face”
- Deuteronomy 1:8 Or “fathers”
- Deuteronomy 1:9 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 1:10 Literally “with respect to multitude/abundance”
- Deuteronomy 1:11 Or “fathers”
- Deuteronomy 1:11 Literally “spoke to you”
- Deuteronomy 1:12 Literally “to me alone”
- Deuteronomy 1:13 Literally “men wise and discerning and knowledgeable”
- Deuteronomy 1:16 Literally “hear between your brothers,” with the idea of listening carefully in this context
- Deuteronomy 1:16 Or “righteously”
- Deuteronomy 1:16 Literally “between his resident alien/non-Israelite who dwells temporarily among Israel”
- Deuteronomy 1:17 Literally “recognize faces”
- Deuteronomy 1:17 Literally “in the process of rendering a judgment”
- Deuteronomy 1:17 Literally “do not fear before the faces of any man”
- Deuteronomy 1:17 Or “hard”
- Deuteronomy 1:19 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Deuteronomy 1:20 Literally “You have come up to”
- Deuteronomy 1:20 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Deuteronomy 1:21 Or “fathers”
- Deuteronomy 1:22 Literally “before our faces” or “ahead of us”
- Deuteronomy 1:22 Literally “a word”
- Deuteronomy 1:22 Literally “we should go up by it”
- Deuteronomy 1:23 Literally “in my eyes”
- Deuteronomy 1:23 Literally “man one from the tribe”
- Deuteronomy 1:24 Literally “turned”
- Deuteronomy 1:24 Literally “went up toward the hill country mountain”
- Deuteronomy 1:24 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
- Deuteronomy 1:25 Hebrew “hand”
- Deuteronomy 1:25 Literally “from the fruit”
- Deuteronomy 1:25 Literally “a word”
- Deuteronomy 1:26 Literally “mouth”
- Deuteronomy 1:27 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Deuteronomy 1:28 Literally “caused to melt our hearts”
- Deuteronomy 1:28 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 1:28 Or “bigger”
- Deuteronomy 1:28 Hebrew “than us”
- Deuteronomy 1:30 Literally “to your faces”
- Deuteronomy 1:30 The Hebrew pronoun indicates emphasis
- Deuteronomy 1:30 Literally “like all that”
- Deuteronomy 1:31 Or “desert”
- Deuteronomy 1:31 Or “where”
- Deuteronomy 1:31 Or “how”
- Deuteronomy 1:31 Or “a man”
- Deuteronomy 1:31 Literally “you came”
- Deuteronomy 1:33 Literally “is the one going”
- Deuteronomy 1:33 Literally “before your faces”
- Deuteronomy 1:33 Hebrew “the”
- Deuteronomy 1:33 Literally “you should go in it”
- Deuteronomy 1:34 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 1:35 The beginning of an oath in Hebrew; the text emphatically denies anyone of that evil generation the privilege of seeing the promised land
- Deuteronomy 1:35 Or “fathers”
- Deuteronomy 1:36 Emphatic use of the pronoun
- Deuteronomy 1:36 Or “descendants”
- Deuteronomy 1:36 Literally “he filled his hands after Yahweh”
- Deuteronomy 1:38 Literally “the one standing before you”
- Deuteronomy 1:39 The Hebrew pronoun is used for emphasis
- Deuteronomy 1:40 Literally “sea of reeds”
- Deuteronomy 1:41 Literally “his vessels of battle”
- Deuteronomy 1:42 Literally “in the faces of your enemies”
- Deuteronomy 1:43 Literally “mouth of Yahweh”
- Deuteronomy 1:44 Literally “to meet you”
- Deuteronomy 1:44 Literally “cut”
- Deuteronomy 1:45 Literally “before the faces of Yahweh”
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.
Notas al pie
- 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
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