Introduction to Moses’ First Address

These are the words that Moses spoke to all the people of Israel while they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were camped in the Jordan Valley near Suph, between Paran on one side and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab on the other.

It is time to break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the neighboring regions—the Jordan Valley, the hill country, the western foothills, the Negev, and the coastal plain. Go to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, and all the way to the great Euphrates River.

Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.’”

Moses Appoints Leaders from Each Tribe

Moses continued, “At that time I told you, ‘You are too great a burden for me to carry all by myself.

But you are such a heavy load to carry! How can I deal with all your problems and bickering?

“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.’

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.’

“But even after all he did, you refused to trust the Lord your God,

But the Amorites who lived there came out against you like a swarm of bees. They chased and battered you all the way from Seir to Hormah.

Do not bother them, for I have given them all the hill country around Mount Seir as their property, and I will not give you even one square foot of their land.

“Thirty-eight years passed from the time we first left Kadesh-barnea until we finally crossed the Zered Brook! By then, all the men old enough to fight in battle had died in the wilderness, as the Lord had vowed would happen.

The Lord struck them down until they had all been eliminated from the community.

“When all the men of fighting age had died,

Sell us food to eat and water to drink, and we will pay for it. All we want is permission to pass through your land.

The descendants of Esau who live in Seir allowed us to go through their country, and so did the Moabites, who live in Ar. Let us pass through until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’

“But King Sihon of Heshbon refused to allow us to pass through, because the Lord your God made Sihon stubborn and defiant so he could help you defeat him, as he has now done.

But the Lord our God handed him over to us, and we crushed him, his sons, and all his people.

We conquered all his towns and completely destroyed everyone—men, women, and children. Not a single person was spared.

We took all the livestock as plunder for ourselves, along with anything of value from the towns we ransacked.

However, we avoided the land of the Ammonites all along the Jabbok River and the towns in the hill country—all the places the Lord our God had commanded us to leave alone.

But the Lord told me, ‘Do not be afraid of him, for I have given you victory over Og and his entire army, and I will give you all his land. Treat him just as you treated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.’

“So the Lord our God handed King Og and all his people over to us, and we killed them all. Not a single person survived.

We conquered all sixty of his towns—the entire Argob region in his kingdom of Bashan. Not a single town escaped our conquest.

These towns were all fortified with high walls and barred gates. We also took many unwalled villages at the same time.

We completely destroyed the kingdom of Bashan, just as we had destroyed King Sihon of Heshbon. We destroyed all the people in every town we conquered—men, women, and children alike.