In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, in accordance with everything that the Lord had commanded him to declare to them,

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

See, I have placed the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants after them.’

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

May the Lord, the God of your fathers increase you a thousand times 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 terrible wilderness that you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord 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 the Lord our God is about to give us.

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

And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They also brought us back a report and said, ‘The land that the Lord our God is about to give us is good.’

“Yet you were unwilling to go up; instead you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God;

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

The Lord your God, who goes before you, will Himself fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

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

Yet in spite of all this, you did not trust the Lord your God,

“Then the Lord 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 I will give the land on which he has set foot, and to his sons, because he has followed the Lord fully.’

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

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

But the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be defeated by your enemies.”’

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

Then you returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord did not listen to your voice, nor pay attention to you.

Wanderings in the Wilderness

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

And the Lord spoke to me, saying,

For the Lord your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wandering through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked anything.”’

Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not attack 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.’