Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’”

and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”

And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there.

(The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites.

(That too was considered a land of the Rephaites, who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites.

At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them—the whole region of Argob, Og’s kingdom in Bashan.

All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages.

Moses Forbidden to Cross the Jordan

At that time I commanded Joshua: “You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going.

“Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do?

Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.

Idolatry Forbidden

You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully,

I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed.

There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.

Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.

Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the Lord commanded me, and they are there now.

(The Israelites traveled from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest.

From there they traveled to Gudgodah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.

Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.