Now it happened, in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that Yahweh had commanded him to give to them,

“Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

See, I have given over the land before you; go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and to their seed after them.’

Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number.

May Yahweh, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are and bless you, just as He has promised you!

“Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and fearsome wilderness which you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as Yahweh our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.

And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which Yahweh our God is about to give us.

See, Yahweh your God has given over the land before you; go up, take possession, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’

Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought word back to us and said, ‘It is a good land which Yahweh our God is about to give us.’

“Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of Yahweh your God;

and you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because Yahweh hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.

Yahweh your God, who goes before you, will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

and in the wilderness where you saw how Yahweh your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’

But for all this, you did not believe Yahweh your God,

“Then Yahweh heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and swore an oath, saying,

except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed Yahweh fully.’

Yahweh was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘Not even you shall enter there.

“Then you said to me, ‘We have sinned against Yahweh; we will indeed go up and fight, just as Yahweh our God commanded us.’ And every man of you girded on his weapons of war and regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country.

And Yahweh said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up and do not fight—for I am not among you—so that you are not defeated before your enemies.”’

So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead you rebelled against the command of Yahweh and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country.

Then you returned and wept before Yahweh; but Yahweh did not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

Wanderings in the Wilderness

“Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Yahweh spoke to me, and circled Mount Seir for many days.

And Yahweh spoke to me, saying,

For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.”’

Then Yahweh said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.’