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In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.
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The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain.
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See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”
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The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.
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May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised!
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Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.”
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So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials.
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Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.”
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Spies Sent Out
Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful wilderness that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.
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Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.
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See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
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The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe.
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Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, “It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.”
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Rebellion Against the Lord
But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.
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Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them.
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The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,
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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.”
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In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God,
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except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.”
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And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.
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Then you replied, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.
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But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’”
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And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there.
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Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own.
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You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”
