Beginning

1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel, on this side of Jordan, in the wilderness, on the plain, next to the Red Sea, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

² There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea, by way of Mount Seir.

³ And it happened that on the first day of the eleventh month, in the fortieth year, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him in Commandment to them,

⁴ after he had killed Sihon, the king of the Amorites (who dwelt in Heshbon), and Og, king of Bashan (who dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei).

⁵ On this side of Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this Law, saying,

⁶ “The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have dwelt long enough on this mountain.

⁷ ‘Turn and depart, and go to the mountain of the Amorites, and to all places on the plain that are near it—on the mountain or in the valley, southward and to the seaside, to the land of the Canaanites, and to Lebanon—all the way to the great river, the river Perah.

⁸ ‘Behold, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess that land which the LORD swore to your fathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and to their seed after them.’

⁹ “And I spoke to you at the same time, saying, ‘I am not able to bear you myself alone.

¹⁰ ‘The LORD your God has multiplied you. And behold, you are this day as the stars of Heaven in number.

¹¹ ‘The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you, as He has promised you.

¹² ‘How can I alone bear your problems and your burdens and your strife?

¹³ ‘Bring men of wisdom and of understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.

¹⁴ ‘Then you answered me and said, “The thing that you have commanded to do is good.”

¹⁵ “So I took the chief of your tribes, wise and known men, and made them rulers over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifty, and captains over ten, and officers among your tribes.

¹⁶ “And I charged your Judges at that same time, saying, ‘Hear the controversies between your brothers and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.

¹⁷ ‘You shall have no respect of person in judgment, but shall hear the small as well as the great. You shall not fear the face of man, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’

¹⁸ “Also I commanded you at the same time all the things which you should do.”

¹⁹ “Then we departed from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness (as you have seen) by way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God Commanded us. And we came to Kadesh Barnea.

²⁰ “And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God gives us.

²¹ ‘Behold, the LORD your God has laid the land before you. Go up, possess it, as the LORD the God of your fathers has said to you. Do not fear or be discouraged.’

²² “Then everyone came to me, and said, ‘We will send men before us, to search out the land, and to bring us word again, what way we must go, and to what cities we shall come.’

²³ “So the saying pleased me well and I took twelve men from you, one from every tribe,

²⁴ “who departed and went up into the mountain, and came to the river Eshcol, and searched out the land.

²⁵ “And they took the fruit of the land in their hand and brought it to us, and brought us word again, and said, ‘It is a good land which the LORD our God gives us.’

²⁶ “Notwithstanding, you would not go up, but were disobedient to the Commandment of the LORD your God,

²⁷ “and murmured in your tents, and said, ‘Because the LORD hated us, therefore He has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, and to destroy us.

²⁸ ‘Where shall we go up? Our brothers have discouraged our hearts, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we, the cities great and walled up to heaven. And, moreover, we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.”’

²⁹ “But I said to you, ‘Do not dread or be afraid of them.

³⁰ ‘The LORD your God —Who goes before you —He shall fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes

³¹ ‘and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God bore you, as a man bears his son, all the way in which you have gone until you came to this place.’

³² “Yet for all this you did not believe the LORD your God,

³³ “Who went in the way before you, to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, in fire by night (so that you might see what way to go) and in a cloud by day.”

³⁴ “Then the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying,

³⁵ ‘Surely, not one of these men of this froward generation shall see that good land which I swore to give to your fathers,

³⁶ ‘except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him I will give the land that he has walked upon, and to his children, because he has constantly followed the LORD.’

³⁷ “Also the LORD was angry with me because of you, saying, ‘You also shall not go in there,

³⁸ ‘But Joshua, the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him. For he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

³⁹ ‘Moreover, your children (whom you said would be a prey) and your sons (who, in those days, had no knowledge between good and evil), they shall go in there. And to them I will give it. And they shall possess it.

⁴⁰ ‘But as for you, turn back and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.’

⁴¹ “Then you answered and said to Me, ‘We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God has Commanded us.’ And you armed every man for war and were ready to go up into the mountain.

⁴² “But the LORD said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up and fight, for I am not among you, lest you fall before your enemies.’

⁴³ “And when I told you, you would not hear, but rebelled against the Commandment of the LORD, and were presumptuous, and went up into the mountain.

⁴⁴ “Then the Amorites, who dwelt in that mountain, came out against you and chased you (as bees used to do) and destroyed you from Seir to Hormah.

⁴⁵ “And when you came back, you wept before the LORD. But the LORD would not hear your voice, nor incline His Ears to you.

⁴⁶ “So you stayed in Kadesh a long time, for all the time that you were there.”

2 “Then we turned and took our journey into the wilderness, by way of the Red Sea, as the LORD spoke to me. And we encircled Mount Seir a long time.

² “And the LORD spoke to me, saying,

³ ‘You have encircled this mountain long enough. Turn northward

⁴ ‘and warn the people, saying, “You shall go through the coast of your brothers, the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir.” And they shall be afraid of you. Be very careful, therefore.

⁵ ‘You shall not provoke them. For I will not give you so much as a footstep of their land, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession.

⁶ ‘You shall buy meat from them, for money to eat. And you shall also procure water from them, for money to drink.

⁷ ‘For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the works of your hand. He knows your comings and goings through this great wilderness. And the LORD your God has been with you these forty years. You have lacked nothing.’

⁸ “And when we had departed from our brothers, the children of Esau (who dwelt in Seir, by way of the plain, from Elath and from Ezion Geber) we turned and went by way of the wilderness of Moab.

⁹ “Then the LORD said to me, ‘You shall not besiege Moab or provoke them to battle. For I will not give you their land for a possession because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.

¹⁰ ‘The Emims — a people great and many, and tall — dwelt there in times past, as the Anakims did.

¹¹ ‘Those whom the Moabites call Emims were also called “giants”, as the Anakims were.

¹² ‘The Horites also dwelt in Seir before time. The children of Esau chased them out and destroyed them from before them and dwelt in their place, as Israel shall do to the land of its possession (which the LORD has given them).

¹³ ‘Now rise up and get over the river Zered.’ And we went over the river Zered.

¹⁴ “And the time it took to go from Kadesh Barnea until we had come over the river Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from among the army, as the LORD swore to them.

¹⁵ “For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the army, until they were consumed.

¹⁶ “So, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,

¹⁷ “then the LORD spoke to me, saying,

¹⁸ ‘You shall go through Ar (the coast of Moab) this day.

¹⁹ ‘And you shall come near the children of Ammon, but shall not lay siege to them, nor move war against them. For I will not give you possession of the land of the children of Ammon. For I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession,

²⁰ ‘that also was taken for a land of giants. Giants dwelt there previously, whom the Ammonites called Zamzummims,

²¹ ‘a great people, and many, and tall as the Anakims.’ But the LORD destroyed them before them. And they succeeded them in their inheritance and dwelt in their place.

²² ‘He also did so to the children of Esau (who dwell in Seir) when he destroyed the Horites before them. And they dispossessed them and have dwelt in their place until this day,

²³ ‘And the Avim (who dwelt from Hazarim to Azzah) and the Caphtorims (who came out of Caphtor) destroyed them and dwelt in their place.

²⁴ ‘Rise up! Take your journey and pass over the river Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it and provoke him to battle.

²⁵ ‘This day I will begin to send your fear and your dread upon all people under the whole heaven, who shall hear your fame and shall tremble and quake before you.

²⁶ ‘Then I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,

²⁷ “Let me pass through your land. I will go by the highway. I will not turn to the right or to the left.

²⁸ “You shall sell me meat for money (so that I may eat) and shall give me water for money (so that I may drink). Only, I will go through on foot,

²⁹ “as the children of Esau (who dwell in Seir) and the Moabites (who dwell in Ar) did to me until I had come over Jordan, into the land which the LORD our God gave us.”’

³⁰ “But Sihon, the King of Heshbon, would not let us pass by him. For the LORD your God had hardened His Spirit, and made his heart obstinate, because he would deliver him into your hand, as it is this day.

³¹ “And the LORD said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before you. Begin to possess and inherit his land.’

³² “Then Sihon came out to meet us (himself with all his people) to fight at Jahaz.

³³ “But the LORD our God delivered him into our power. And we struck him and his sons and all his people.

³⁴ “And we took all his cities at the same time and destroyed every city—men and women and children. We let nothing remain.

³⁵ “We only took the cattle for ourselves, plus the spoil of the cities which we took,

³⁶ “from Aroer (which is by the bank of the river of Arnon) to the city that is upon the river, all the way to Gilead. There was not one city that escaped us. The LORD our God delivered them all up before us.

³⁷ “Only to the land of the children of Ammon did you not come, nor to any place on the river Jabbok, nor to the cities in the mountains, nor to whatever the LORD our God forbade us.”