Bible in 90 Days
20 Moses said to the men, ‘You must really do as you have said. You must take your weapons and go to fight for the Lord. 21 Your men must cross over the Jordan River with the other tribes. You must continue to fight until we have won against all our enemies. 22 When the Lord has power over the whole land, then you can return here. You will have done everything that the Lord wants you to do. You will have helped the whole Israelite nation in the way that you should. The Lord will give to you this land on the east side of the Jordan River.
23 But if you do not do what you have promised, that will be a sin against the Lord. And be sure that God will punish you for your sin. 24 So build towns for your families, and build safe places for your animals. But then do everything that you have promised to do.’
25 The men in the tribes of Gad and Reuben said to Moses, ‘Yes sir, we will do what you have said. 26 Our women, children and our animals will stay here in Gilead's towns. 27 But all our men who are able to fight will cross over the river. We will fight on behalf of the Lord, as you have said that we should do.’
28 Moses gave this message to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun and to the leaders of the family clans. 29 He said to them, ‘The men in Reuben's tribe and in Gad's tribe must cross over the Jordan River to fight with you on behalf of the Lord. If they do that, you must give to them the land here in Gilead. When you have won power over the whole land, then this land will belong to them. 30 If they refuse to fight together with the other tribes, they will have no land here. They must have part of the land in Canaan, like the other tribes.’
31 The men in the tribes of Reuben and Gad said, ‘We will do what the Lord has told us to do. 32 We will take our weapons and we will cross over the Jordan River to fight on behalf of the Lord in Canaan. But then we will live in our land here on this side of the river.’
33 So Moses gave to them all the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites and Og, the king of Bashan. He gave to them the land with its towns and all the land round the towns. He gave it to the descendants of Gad and of Reuben and half of the tribe of Joseph's son Manasseh.
34 The men in the tribe of Gad built up again Dibon, Ataroth and Aroer. 35 They also built up again Atroth-Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, 36 Beth-Nimrah and Beth-Haran. They built houses for their families and their animals. 37 The men in the tribe of Reuben built up again Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim. 38 Nebo, Baal-Meon and Sibmah. They gave new names to the cities that they built up again.
39 The descendants of Makir, the son of Manasseh, attacked Gilead. They sent away the people who lived there. 40 So Moses gave Gilead to the descendants of Makir who was the son of Manasseh. And they lived there. 41 Jair, who was a descendant of Manasseh, attacked some villages. He got power over them and he called them Havvoth-Jair. 42 Nobah attacked Kenath and the villages round it. He called it Nobah, like his own name.
The journey of the Israelites
33 This is the way that the Israelites travelled, after Moses and Aaron led them out of Egypt. They travelled in their family groups. 2 The Lord told Moses that he should write about the journey. These are the places where they made their camps on the way:
3 They left Rameses in Egypt on the 15th day of the first month. That was the day after the Passover meal. The Israelites marched out bravely, while all the Egyptian people watched them. 4 As they left, the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn sons, because the Lord had killed them. The Lord had shown his power over the Egyptians' gods.
5 They left Rameses and they travelled to Succoth. They made their camp there.
6 They travelled from Succoth to Etham. They made their camp there, on the edge of the desert.
7 They travelled from Etham and they turned round to go to Pi-Hahiroth, which is east of Baal-Zephon. They made their camp near Migdol.
8 They travelled from Pi-Hahiroth. They went through the middle of the sea and then went into the desert. They travelled for three days and then they made their camp at Marah, in Etham desert.
9 They travelled from Marah to Elim. At Elim, there were 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees. They made their camp there.
10 They travelled from Elim and they made their camp by the side of the Red Sea.
11 They travelled from the Red Sea. And they made their camp in the Sin desert.
12 They travelled from the Sin desert and they made their camp at Dophkah.
13 They travelled from Dophkah and they made their camp at Alush.
14 They travelled from Alush and they made their camp at Rephidim. There was no water there for the people to drink.
15 They travelled from Rephidim and they made their camp in the Sinai desert.
16 They travelled from the Sinai desert and they made their camp at Kibroth-Hattaavah.
17 They travelled from Kibroth-Hattaavah and they made their camp at Hazeroth.
18 They travelled from Hazeroth and they made their camp at Rithmah.
19 They travelled from Rithmah and they made their camp at Rimmon-Perez.
20 They travelled from Rimmon-Perez and they made their camp at Libnah.
21 They travelled from Libnah and they made their camp at Rissah.
22 They travelled from Rissah and they made their camp at Kehelathah.
23 They travelled from Kehelathah and they made their camp at Shepher mountain.
24 They travelled from Shepher mountain and they made their camp at Haradah.
25 They travelled from Haradah and they made their camp at Makheloth.
26 They travelled from Makheloth and they made their camp at Tahath.
27 They travelled from Tahath and they made their camp at Terah.
28 They travelled from Terah and they made their camp at Mithcah.
29 They travelled from Mithcah and they made their camp at Hashmonah.
30 They travelled from Hashmonah and they made their camp at Moseroth.
31 They travelled from Moseroth and they made their camp at Bene-Jaakan.
32 They travelled from Bene-Jaakan and they made their camp at Hor-Haggidgad.
33 They travelled from Hor-Haggidgad and they made their camp at Jotbathah.
34 They travelled from Jotbathah and they made their camp at Abronah.
35 They travelled from Abronah and they made their camp at Ezion-Geber.
36 They travelled from Ezion-Geber and they made their camp at Kadesh in the Zin desert.
37 They travelled from Kadesh and they made their camp at Hor mountain. It is on the border of Edom land.
38 The Lord told Aaron that he must go up Hor mountain. Aaron went up and he died there. That was in the 40th year after the Israelites had left Egypt. He died on the first day of the fifth month. 39 Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Hor mountain.
40 The king of Arad lived in the south part of the land of Canaan. People told him that the Israelites were coming.
41 The Israelites travelled from Hor mountain and they made their camp at Zalmonah.
42 They travelled from Zalmonah and they made their camp at Punon.
43 They travelled from Punon and they made their camp at Oboth.
44 They travelled from Oboth and they made their camp at Iye-Abarim, on the border of Moab land.
45 They travelled from Iye-Abarim and they made their camp at Dibon-Gad.
46 They travelled from Dibon-Gad and they made their camp at Almon-Diblathaim.
47 They travelled from Almon-Diblathaim and they made their camp in the mountains of Abarim, near Nebo.
48 They travelled from the mountains of Abarim and they made their camp in Moab beside the Jordan River. They were on the other side of the river from Jericho city.
49 They made their camp on the flat ground beside the river. Their tents covered the ground from Beth-Jeshimoth to Abel-Shittim.
50 Then the Lord spoke to Moses there in Moab beside the Jordan River. Jericho was on the other side of the river. The Lord said, 51 ‘Say to the Israelites, “You will cross over the Jordan River and you will go into the land of Canaan. 52 Then you must chase out all the people who live in that land. You must destroy all their idols that are made from wood or stone. Also destroy the altars where they worship their false gods. 53 I have given this land to you to live in. So you must win power over the people who live there now. 54 You must use lots to choose how to give part of the land to each family. You must give more land to the larger clans and you must give less land to the smaller clans. The lots will decide which piece of land belongs to each family. Each of your ancestors' tribes will get its own part of the land.
55 If any Canaanites remain in the land, they will bring trouble and pain to the Israelites. So you must chase them all away. 56 If you do not do that, I will punish you in the way that I wanted to punish them.” ’
The borders of the land
34 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell the Israelites this: These are the borders of Canaan, the land that will be yours to live in.
3 The south edge will start at the Zin desert and it will go along the border of Edom land. It will continue to the east, and it will reach the south end of the Salt Sea.[a] 4 It will go south of the place called Scorpion Hill, and it will continue to Zin. Then it will go south of Kadesh-Barnea. It will go to Hazar-Addar and then across to Azmon. 5 There the border will turn and it will go along the Stream of Egypt.[b] It will continue as far as the Mediterranean Sea.
6 The west border of your land will be the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
7 This will be the north border: From the Mediterranean Sea draw a line to Hor mountain. 8 From Hor mountain the border will go to Lebo-Hamath. Then it will go to Zedad. 9 It will continue to Ziphron and it will finish at Hazar-Enan.
10 This will be the east border: Draw a line from Hazar-Enan to Shepham. 11 Then the border will go from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain. It will go along the east shore of Lake Galilee. 12 Then it will go along the Jordan River and it will finish at the Salt Sea.
That will be your land, with its borders.’
13 Moses said to the Israelites, ‘That is the land for the Israelites to live in. You must use lots to give part of the land to each tribe. The Lord has told you to give it to the nine and a half tribes. 14 That is because the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half of Manasseh's tribe have their land already. 15 Their land is on the east side of the Jordan River. It is on the other side of the river from Jericho city.’
Officers
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 ‘Joshua, the son of Nun, and Eleazar the priest will decide which parts of the land will belong to each family. 18 One leader from each tribe must help them. 19 These are the names of those leaders:
Caleb the son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah.
20 Shemuel the son of Ammihud from the tribe of Simeon.
21 Elidad the son of Kislon from the tribe of Benjamin.
22 Bukki the son of Jogli from the tribe of Dan.
23 These will be the two leaders from the descendants of Joseph:
Hanniel the son of Ephod from the tribe of Manasseh.
24 Kemuel the son of Shiphtan from the tribe of Ephraim.
25 Then there will be Elizaphan the son of Parnach from the tribe of Zebulun.
26 Paltiel the son of Azzan from the tribe of Issachar.
27 Ahihud the son of Shelomi from the tribe of Asher.
28 Pedahel the son of Ammihud from the tribe of Naphtali.’
29 Those were the men that the Lord chose to decide about the land for the Israelite families.
Towns for the Levites
35 The Lord spoke to Moses in Moab, beside the Jordan River. Jericho was on the other side of the river. 2 The Lord said, ‘Tell the people this. They must give some of their land to the Levites. Then the Levites can build towns to live in. They will also have the land round the towns for their animals.
3 The Levites must have towns to live in and land for their cows and all their animals. 4 The fields that you give to them for their animals must reach 500 metres from the walls of each town. 5 You must also measure 1,000 metres outside the town on each side, the east side, the south side, the west side and the north side. So the town will be in the centre. Those fields of grass will belong to them for each of their towns.
The safe cities
6 Six of the Levites' towns must be safe places. If anyone kills another person, he can run there to be safe. The Levites must also have another 42 towns. 7 In that way, the Levites will have 48 towns and land for their animals. 8 Each of the Israelite tribes must give to the Levites towns from their own land. The larger tribes will give more towns. The smaller tribes will give fewer towns. That is because the larger tribes have received more land than the smaller tribes.’
9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 ‘Tell the Israelites to do this when they cross the Jordan River and they go into Canaan. 11 They must choose some towns to be safe places. If anyone kills another person but he did not mean to, he can run there to be safe. 12 Those towns will be places where the killer can be safe from the dead person's relative.[c] The killer will not die before the people in the town have judged him. 13 You must choose six towns to be safe places. 14 Three towns must be in Canaan and three towns must be on the other side of the Jordan River. 15 Those six towns will be safe places for Israelites and for foreign people who live among them. Anyone who has killed another person may run to one of these towns and be safe there. But they will only be safe if they did not mean to kill the other person.
16 Murderers are different. You must kill a murderer. Maybe someone hits another person with a heavy iron tool. If the person dies, the murderer must also die. 17 Someone might hit another person with a big stone. If the person dies, the man is a murderer. He must die. 18 A man might hit a person with a dangerous weapon made from wood. If the person dies, the man is a murderer. He must die. 19 The dead person's relative himself must kill the murderer when he meets him.
20 These are other examples of murder: A man might push another person hard because he hates him. A man might throw something at another person to hurt him. 21 Or a man might hit someone with his hand because he hates him. If the person dies as a result, you must kill the murderer. The dead person's relative must kill the murderer when he meets him.
22 But when a man kills another person, it might be a mistake. For example, he might push someone very hard, or he might throw something at another person. If he did not hate the other person, then it might be a mistake. 23 Or he might drop a heavy stone on someone when he had not seen them. If he did not hate the other person, perhaps he did not mean to hurt him. 24 If that happens, the people must judge who is right. They must choose between the killer and the dead person's relative. They must use those rules to decide if the man is a murderer. 25 If the man is a killer but not a murderer, the people must keep him safe from the dead person's relative. They must send him back to the safe city that he ran to. He will live there safely until the death of the leader of God's priests.
26 But one day, the killer might go outside the border of the safe city that he ran to. 27 If he does that, the dead person's relative might find him outside the safe city. Then, if the dead person's relative kills him, the relative will not be guilty of murder. 28 That is because the killer should have stayed in his safe city until the death of the leader of the priests. But after the leader of the priests dies, the killer may return to his own home.
29 Wherever you and your descendants live, these are the rules that you must obey for all future time.
30 Before you kill a murderer, people must agree that they saw him kill someone. But if only one person saw what happened, that is not enough for you to kill him.
31 You must not accept money to pay for the life of a murderer. If he is guilty of murder, you must kill him.
32 Also, you must not accept money from a killer who has run to a safe city. You must not let him return to his own home until the leader of the priests has died.
33 Murder causes the land where you live to become unclean. You have to make it clean again. You must kill anyone who murders another person. That is the only way to make the land clean again. 34 You must not make the land where you live become unclean. It is the land where I also live. That is because I, the Lord, live among the Israelites.’
A family's land may belong to women
36 The leaders of the families in Gilead's clan went to Moses and to the other leaders of the Israelites' clans. (Gilead was the descendant of Makir, who was the descendant of Manasseh. Manasseh was Joseph's son.) 2 [d] They said, ‘The Lord told you, sir, that you should decide which parts of the land to give to each Israelite family. You used special stones to do that. The Lord told you to give Zelophehad's land to his daughters. Zelophehad was in our clan. 3 But if his daughters marry, the land will then belong to their husbands. If they marry men from other tribes, the land will no longer belong to us, the tribe of Manasseh. 4 Even when the Jubilee year comes, the land will not return to our tribe. It will belong to the tribes of the men that Zelophehad's daughters have married.’
5 The Lord gave Moses his answer. So Moses gave this command to the Israelites: ‘What Joseph's descendants are saying is right. 6 This is what the Lord has commanded about the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry men that they want to marry. But they must marry men from the clans of their father's tribe. 7 If they do that, each tribe will keep the land that has been given to their ancestors. None of their land will go to another tribe. 8 Any young woman who receives land when her father dies must marry a man from her father's tribe. All the Israelite tribes must obey that rule. Then every Israelite person will keep the land that belonged to his ancestors. 9 No land that belongs to any tribe will become the land of another tribe. So each tribe will keep the land that their ancestors had.’
10 The daughters of Zelophehad did what the Lord had commanded Moses. 11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married sons of their father's brothers. 12 They married men from the clans of the descendants of Joseph's son, Manasseh. Because of that, their land remained with the tribe of their father's clan.
13 Those are the rules that the Lord gave to the Israelites at that time. The Lord told Moses what he should say to the people. That happened when they were beside the Jordan River in Moab, on the flat ground on the other side of the river from Jericho city.
Moses speaks to the people
1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all the Israelites.[e] They were together in the desert on the east side of the Jordan River. This is in the Jordan Valley near Suph. It is between the towns called Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2 (It is a journey of 11 days from Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea, along the road past Mount Seir.)[f] 3 Moses spoke to the Israelites on the first day of the 11th month, in the 40th year of their journey. He told the Israelites the message that the Lord had commanded him to speak.[g]
4 This happened after Moses and the Israelites had won against Sihon, king of the Amorites.[h] Sihon ruled in Heshbon. They had also won against Og, the king of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth. The Israelites fought against him at Edrei. 5 Moses began to speak the Lord's message on the east side of the Jordan River, in Moab's country. This is what he said:
6 The Lord our God said to us at Sinai, ‘You have stayed for a long time near this mountain. 7 Now you must continue your journey. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the regions near there. Go to the Jordan Valley and the mountains and the low hills in the west. Go to the Negev in the south, and to the Mediterranean coast. Go to the land of Canaan and to Lebanon, even as far as the great Euphrates river. 8 Look! I have given you all this land. Go there and take it for yourselves. I, the Lord, promised to give this land to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to their descendants.’
Moses chooses leaders
9 At that time I, Moses, said this to you: ‘I cannot lead you and help you by myself. It is too difficult for me to do alone. 10 The Lord your God has caused you to become very many people. You are as many as the stars in the sky! 11 I pray that the Lord, your ancestors' God, will cause you to become a thousand times as many people. That is how he has promised to bless you. 12 But I cannot help you with your troubles and arguments all by myself. 13 You must choose some wise men who understand what is right. Choose people that you know, from each of your tribes. Then I will give them authority as your leaders.’
14 You answered me, ‘That is a good idea!’
15 So I chose men that you knew were wise to be the leaders in your tribes. I gave them authority to rule over you. Some were leaders of groups of 1,000 men. Some led groups of 100 men, or 50 men, or ten men. I also chose other officers for each tribe.
16 At that time, I said to your leaders, ‘Listen to the arguments between the Israelites that you lead. Decide what is right. Do that when the argument is between two Israelites. Do the same thing when the argument is between an Israelite and a foreign person who lives among you. 17 When you judge them, do not make any difference between important people and poor people. Listen to all of them in a careful way. Do not be afraid of anyone. God is the one who decides what is right. If it is too difficult for you to decide who is right, bring it to me. I will listen and then I will decide what is right.’
18 So, at that time, I told you about everything that you should do.
Moses sends out men to explore
19 Then we left Sinai, as the Lord our God had commanded us to do. We travelled through the desert towards the hill country of the Amorites. You saw that the desert was very big and it made you very afraid. Finally, we arrived at Kadesh-Barnea. 20 Then I said to you, ‘You have reached the hill country of the Amorites. The Lord our God is giving this land to us. 21 Look at the land! It is now in front of you! The Lord your God has given it to you. Go in and take it for yourselves. The Lord, your ancestors' God, has told you to do this. So do not be afraid. Be brave!’
22 Then all of you came to me and you said, ‘Let us send some men into the land first, before we all go in. They can explore the land. Then they can bring a report to us. They can tell us the best way for us to go in there. They can tell us about the towns that we will come to.’
23 I thought that this was a good idea. I chose 12 men, one from each of your tribes. 24 They left and went up into the hill country. They came to Eshcol valley and they explored it. 25 They picked some of the fruit that they found there and they brought it back to us. They told us, ‘The land that the Lord our God is giving to us is a very good land.’
The people refuse to obey the Lord
26 But you refused to go into the land. You turned against the Lord your God.[i] 27 You complained to each other in your tents. You said, ‘The Lord hates us. That is why he brought us out of Egypt. He wanted to give us to the Amorites, so that they would kill us. 28 We do not know what will happen to us now. Our brothers who explored the land have made us afraid. They say, “Those people in Canaan are taller and stronger than we are. Their cities are big and strong. They have walls around them that reach up to the sky. We even saw some men there who are descendants of Anak.” ’
29 Then I said to you, ‘Do not be so frightened of those people. 30 The Lord your God will go in front of you. He will fight to help you, as he fought for you in Egypt. You saw him do it. 31 He was also with you in the desert. He helped you when you were weak, as a father carries his son. You saw how he helped you all the way on your journey. He brought you safely here to this place.’
32 But you did not trust the Lord your God to help you. 33 He was the one who went in front of you on your journey. He was there in a fire during the night and in a cloud during the day. He found good places for you to put up your tents. He showed you the way that you should go.
34 When the Lord heard that you were complaining, he was angry. He made this serious promise: 35 ‘You people who are now alive are wicked. None of you will see the good land that I promised to give to your ancestors. 36 Only Jephunneh's son Caleb will see it. He has obeyed me faithfully. So I will give to him and to his descendants the land that he walked on.’
37 As for me, the Lord became angry with me also, because of you. He said to me, ‘You also will not go into the land.[j] 38 But your servant Joshua, the son of Nun, will go in there. You must tell him to be brave. He will lead the Israelites into the land. It will become their land. 39 You thought that enemies would catch your small children. But they are the people who will go into the land. Your children who are still too young to know the difference between good and bad will also go in there. I will give the land to them and it will become their land. 40 But now you must all turn back towards the desert. Travel along the road to the Red Sea.’
41 Then you answered me. You said, ‘Yes, we have done wrong things against the Lord. We will now go and fight those people. We will do what the Lord our God has told us to do.’ So then each one of you picked up his weapons. You thought that it would be easy to go up into the hill country.
42 But the Lord told me, ‘Do not let them go up there to fight. I will not be with you to help you. Your enemies will win against you.’
43 So I told you what the Lord had said, but you would not agree. Instead, you turned against the Lord. You were so proud that you marched up into the hill country. 44 The Amorite people who lived in those hills came out to attack you. You ran away from them, as if they were a crowd of bees. They attacked you as you ran down into the country of Edom, all the way to Hormah.
45 Then you came back to Kadesh-Barnea. You wept to show the Lord that you were very sorry. But he would not listen to your prayers. 46 So you stayed in Kadesh for a long time, until it was time to leave.
40 years in the desert
2 Then we turned back to travel towards the desert. We went along the road to the Red Sea, as the Lord had told me. For many days, we walked around the region of Mount Seir.[k]
2 Then the Lord said to me, 3 ‘You have walked round this mountain for a long time. Now turn to the north. 4 Give this message to the Israelites: “You will soon go through the country that belongs to Esau's descendants. They have the same ancestors that you have. They live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful.[l] 5 Do not attack them at all. I will not give any of their land to you, not even enough ground to put your foot on. I have given the hills around Mount Seir to Esau, for his descendants to live there. 6 When you eat their food and you drink their water, you must pay them for it. 7 I, the Lord your God, have blessed you in everything that you have done. I have taken care of you as you travelled through this great desert. I have been with you for 40 years. You have received everything that you needed.” ’
8 So we went on. We passed the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They have the same ancestors that we have. We left the road through the Jordan Valley that goes from Elath and Ezion-Geber. Instead, we travelled on the road through the Moab desert.
9 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not make the people of Moab angry. Do not start a fight against them. I will not give any part of their land to you. I have given Ar to Lot's descendants to be their city.’[m]
10 (Some people called the Emites once lived there. There were many of them and they were as strong and tall as the Anakites. 11 Some people called the Emites and the Anakites, ‘Rephaites’. But the people from Moab called them ‘Emites’. 12 Before this time, the Horites lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau chased them away. They destroyed the Horites and they lived in their country. The Israelites did the same thing to the people who had lived in the land that the Lord gave to them.)
13 Then the Lord said, ‘Get up now and cross the Zered valley.’ So we went across the stream.
14 38 years had passed since we left Kadesh-Barnea. By the time we crossed the Zered valley, all the men who had been old enough to fight had now died. The Lord had said that this would happen.[n] 15 The Lord himself removed them so that they all died, one by one.
16 Finally, the last one of these men died and no longer lived among the people. 17 Then the Lord said to me, 18 ‘Today you will cross the border of Moab at Ar. 19 You will go into the land of the Ammonites. Do not make them angry so that they fight against you. I will not give any of their land to you. I have already given it to Lot's descendants so that they can live there.’
20 (People also call this region the land of the Rephaites, who had once lived there. The Ammonites called them Zamzummites. 21 There were many Zamzummites and they were as tall and strong as the Anakites. The Lord destroyed the Rephaites when the Ammonites moved in. Then the Ammonites lived there instead of the Rephaites. 22 The Lord had done the same thing for Esau's descendants who lived in Seir. The Lord destroyed the Horites when Esau's descendants moved in and chased them out. Esau's descendants still live in their country today. 23 The same thing happened to the Avvites.[o] They had lived in villages as far west as Gaza. But Philistines came from Crete island and they killed the Avvites. The Philistines lived there instead.)
24 Then God said, ‘Now go across Arnon valley. Look, I have given you the land of King Sihon, the Amorite. He is the king of Heshbon. You must go and fight against him. Attack him and take his land for yourselves. 25 Today I will begin to make all the people in the world afraid of you. They will hear reports about you. That will cause them to be very frightened. They will shake with fear!’
Sihon, king of Heshbon
26 When we were in Kedemoth desert, I sent a message to Sihon, king of Heshbon. We wanted to agree that we would not fight against each other. 27 I said to him, ‘Please let us go through your country. We will only travel along the road. We will not turn away from the road, to the right side or to the left side. 28 Please sell us food to eat and water to drink. We will pay you with silver coins. We only want to walk through your country. 29 The descendants of Esau who live in Seir let us do this. So did the descendants of Moab who live in Ar. We will go through your country and then we will cross the Jordan River. We will go into the land that the Lord our God is giving to us.’
30 But Sihon, the king of Heshbon, refused to let us travel through his country. He was too proud to agree with us. The Lord our God had caused him to be like that. He wanted to put King Sihon under your power and give his land to you. You still live in his land today.
31 The Lord said to me, ‘Look! I have begun to give King Sihon and his country to you. Now you must begin to fight against him and take his land for yourselves.’
32 Then Sihon and all his army came out to fight a battle against us at Jahaz. 33 The Lord our God put him under our power. We won the battle against him. We killed King Sihon and his sons and all his soldiers. 34 At that time we took all his towns and we gave everything as a gift to the Lord. We killed the men, women and children. We left no one alive. 35 But we kept the farm animals and other valuable things in the cities for ourselves. 36 The Lord our God gave us all their towns. That included Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon valley, the city in the valley and other towns all the way to Gilead. No town was too strong for us to take.
37 But we did not go into the Ammonites' country. We did not go into the Jabbok valley. We did not go near the towns in the hill country. The Lord our God had commanded us not to attack those places.
Og, king of Bashan
3 Then we turned and we went along the road towards Bashan. Og, king of Bashan, marched out with his whole army to attack us at Edrei. 2 But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not be afraid of him. I have given him to you with his whole army and his land. You must do the same thing to Og as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.’
3 So the Lord our God put Og, king of Bashan, under our power, as well as his whole army. We killed them all so that we left no one alive. 4 Then we took all of his cities. We took power over all the cities in the region of Argob where King Og of Bashan ruled. There were 60 cities. 5 All the cities had high walls around them, with gates that the people locked. There were also very many villages which did not have walls around them. 6 We destroyed them completely as a gift to the Lord. We had done the same thing to the cities of Sihon, king of Heshbon. We destroyed every city and we killed all the men, women and children. 7 But we kept all the animals and the valuable things from the cities for ourselves.
8 So, at that time, we took power over all the land that the two Amorite kings, Og and Bashan, had ruled. Their land was east of the Jordan River, from the Arnon valley to Mount Hermon. 9 (The people from Sidon call Mount Hermon ‘Sirion’. The Amorites call it ‘Senir’.) 10 We took all their cities in the high, flat land and cities in the whole of Gilead and in Bashan. We went as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities that belonged to the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11 Og, king of Bashan, was the only descendant of the Rephaites who had still been alive. He had an iron bed that is still in the Ammonites' town, Rabbah. It was 4 metres long and 2 metres wide.
Moses gives land to three tribes
12 When we had taken power over all that land, I gave some of it to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. I gave them the land north of Aroer near the Arnon valley. I also gave them half of the hill country of Gilead and the cities there. 13 I gave the other part of Gilead to one half of the tribe of Manasseh. I also gave Og's kingdom, Bashan, to them.[p] People called all the region of Argob in Bashan the land of the Rephaites.
14 Jair belonged to the tribe of Manasseh. He took power over all the region of Argob. He went as far as the borders of Geshur and Maakah. Then he gave his own name to that land. To this day, Bashan has the name ‘Jair's towns’. 15 I gave Gilead to Makir, who also belonged to the tribe of Manasseh.
16 As for the tribes of Reuben and Gad, I gave them land from Gilead to the Arnon valley. The middle of the valley was the border of their land. Their land went as far as the Jabbok valley, which is the border of the Ammonites' land. 17 The valley of the Jordan River was also a border of their land. It went from Lake Galilee as far as the Salt Sea, with Mount Pisgah to the east.[q]
18 At that time I commanded you, ‘The Lord your God has given this land to you, for you to live in it. But all your soldiers must take their weapons and they must cross the Jordan River. You must go in front of the other Israelite tribes across the river. 19 But your wives, your children and your animals may stay here in the towns that I have given to you. I know that you have many animals. 20 Your men must fight to help the other Israelites until the Lord gives them a safe place to live. He has already given you a safe place to live. Now you must help the other Israelites to take the land which the Lord your God is giving to them. That land is on the other side of the Jordan River. When they take the land for themselves, you may return here to the land that I have given to you.’
Moses will not cross the Jordan River
21 At that time, I commanded Joshua, ‘You have seen everything that the Lord your God has done to those two kings, Sihon and Og. He will do the same thing to the kingdoms where you are going. 22 So do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God himself will fight to help you.’
23 At that time, I asked the Lord many times, 24 ‘Almighty Lord, I am your servant. You are showing me how great and how strong you are. There is no other god in heaven or on earth that can do the great things that you do. 25 Please let me go across the Jordan River! I want to see the good land over there. I want to see the beautiful hills and the mountains in Lebanon.’
26 But the Lord was angry with me, because of you. He would not answer my prayer. He said, ‘You have said enough! Do not speak to me about that any more. 27 Go up to the top of Mount Pisgah. Stand there and look all around, to the west, north, south and east. Look carefully at the land, because you will not go across the Jordan River. 28 Now you must tell Joshua what to do. Tell him to be brave and strong. He will lead my people across the river into the land that you see. He will help them to take the land for themselves.’
29 After that, we stayed in the valley near Beth-Peor.
God's covenant with his people
4 Israel's people, listen to the rules and laws that I will now teach you. If you obey them, you will live. You will go into the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving to you. The land will belong to you, for you to live in. 2 Do not add anything to these rules. Do not remove anything from them. You must obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving to you.
3 You saw for yourselves what the Lord your God did at Baal-Peor. He killed every person among you who worshipped Baal there.[r] 4 But each of you who continued to trust the Lord your God is still alive today.
5 Look! I have taught you rules and laws, as the Lord my God told me to do. Now you must obey them when you go into the land where you will live. 6 Obey them carefully. That will show people of other nations that you are wise. They will hear about all your laws. Then they will say, ‘The people of this great nation are very wise and clever!’
7 No other nation has a god who is near to them like the Lord our God. Even great nations have no god like that. But when we pray to the Lord our God, he listens! 8 And no other great nation has rules and laws that are as fair as ours. That is God's Law that I am giving to you today.
9 But be very careful! Never forget the things that you yourselves have seen. Remember these things for as long as you live. Tell your children and your grandchildren about all the things that God has done.
10 Remember when you stood in front of the Lord your God at Sinai. He said to me, ‘Bring all the people here to me so that I can tell them my commands. Then they will learn to respect me and obey me. They will do this for as long as they live and they will teach my commands to their children.’ 11 At that time, you came and you stood at the edge of the mountain. You saw that the fire on the mountain reached up to the sky. But the sky was full of black clouds and it was dark. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you from the middle of the fire. You heard him as he spoke, but you did not see him. You only heard a voice. 13 He told you about his covenant and the ten commands that he wrote on two flat pieces of stone. He commanded you to obey them. 14 At that time, the Lord commanded me to teach you his rules and his laws. You must obey them in the land that you will now go in to live there.
Idols
15 Remember when the Lord spoke to you at Mount Horeb from the middle of the fire. You did not see him in any shape. So be very careful about everything that you do. 16 Do not make any image to be your god. That would be a sin. Do not make an image in any shape as your idol. Do not copy the shape of a man or a woman, 17 or the shape of any animal or bird. 18 Do not copy the shape of anything that moves along the ground, or any fish that swims in the deep water. 19 When you look up at the sky, you see the sun, the moon and the stars. They all shine up in the sky. But do not bend down low to them or worship them. They are there because the Lord your God has made them. He has given them to people everywhere in the world.
20 But you belong to the Lord. He brought you out of Egypt, which was like a hot oven where you had much pain. He rescued you, to be his own special people, as you are today.
21 The Lord your God became angry with me, because of you. He told me very strongly that I would not go across the Jordan River. He said that I would not go into the good land that he is now giving to you. 22 So I will die here. I will not cross the Jordan River. But you will soon cross over. That good land will belong to you as your home. 23 Be careful! Do not forget the covenant that the Lord your God has made with you. Do not make for yourselves any kind of image as your idol. That is the command that he has given to you. 24 That is because the Lord your God wants you to belong to him alone. He is like a fire that destroys all bad things.
25 One day, you will have lived in the land for a long time. You will have children and grandchildren. Remember that you still must not make any kind of image as your idol. That would be a sin. Do not do any evil things that will cause the Lord your God to become angry. 26 I am warning you today, as everyone on earth and everyone in heaven hears what I say. If you do not obey this command, you will soon die. You will not live long in the land that is your home on the other side of the Jordan River. You will die very soon. 27 The Lord will send you out of that land to live among other nations. Only a few of you will continue to be alive. 28 Among those nations, you will worship gods that men have made from wood and stone. Those gods cannot see or hear or eat or smell anything.
29 But even in those places, if you look for the Lord your God, you will find him. If you want to serve him with everything that you think and with everything that you do, you will find him. 30 When trouble happens to you in the future, you will turn back to him. When all these bad things happen to you, you will obey God again. 31 That is because the Lord your God is very kind. So he will not leave you alone. He will never destroy you. He will never forget the covenant that he made with your ancestors. That was a serious promise that he made to them.
The Lord is God
32 Find out what happened many years ago. Think about everything that has happened since God created people to live on the earth. Go to anyone in the world and ask them. You will realize that nothing as great as this has ever happened before. People have never heard of anything like this. 33 Only you, the nation of Israel, have heard the voice of God that spoke to you from the middle of the fire. Only you have heard God speak and you still live! 34 No other god has tried to rescue a nation from the power of another nation. The Lord your God did this for you when you were in Egypt. You saw how he used his great authority and strength to punish the Egyptians. He did powerful miracles. He brought war and disease that made them very afraid.
35 The Lord has shown you all these things. So you know that he is the only true God. There is no other God. 36 God spoke to you from heaven so that he could teach you. Here on earth he let you see his great fire. He spoke from that fire and you heard him. 37 He chose you as his special people because he loved your ancestors. You are their descendants so he rescued you out of Egypt. He himself showed you his great power. 38 Now he is chasing out other nations so that you can take their land to live in. They are greater and stronger nations than you are, but he has given their land to you.
39 Remember today that the Lord is God. He rules in heaven above and on the earth below. Think about that! There is no other God. 40 Obey his commands and his rules that I am giving you today. If you do that, everything will be well for you and for your descendants. You will continue to live for a long time in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. It will belong to you for ever.
Safe cities
41 Then Moses chose three special cities on the east side of the Jordan River. 42 If someone killed another person when he did not mean to do it, he could hide there safely. If he had not hated the other person as his enemy, he could run to one of these cities. Then he would be safe. 43 Moses chose these cities: For Reuben's tribe, he chose Bezer, in the high land of the desert. For Gad's tribe, he chose Ramoth, in Gilead. For Manasseh's tribe, he chose Golan, in Bashan.
Moses starts to teach God's Law to the Israelites
44 This is God's Law that Moses explained to the Israelites. 45 These are the rules, the teaching and the commands that Moses taught the Israelites after they had left Egypt. 46 At that time they were in the valley near to Beth-Peor, on the east side of the Jordan River. That was in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon. Moses and the Israelites had attacked him after they came out of Egypt. 47 They took power over his land, as well as the land of Og, king of Bashan. These two Amorite kings ruled on the east side of the Jordan River. 48 Their land went from Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon valley, as far as Mount Sirion (that is Mount Hermon). 49 This land included all the Jordan Valley on the east side of the river, as far south as the Salt Sea, near Mount Pisgah.[s]
God's 10 special commands
5 Moses called all the Israelites to come together. He said to them:
Listen, Israelites, to the rules and commands that I am teaching to you today. Learn them. Be careful to obey them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Sinai. 3 He did not make this agreement with our ancestors. He made it with all of us who are alive here today. 4 The Lord spoke clearly to you from the middle of the fire on the mountain. 5 (At that time, I stood between the Lord and you. I repeated the Lord's message to you. You were afraid of the fire, so you did not go up the mountain.)
God said this:
6 ‘I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt, the country where you were slaves.
7 You must not have any other gods except me.
8 You must not make any idol for yourself. Do not make a false god in the shape of anything that is in the sky above. Do not make one in the shape of anything on the earth or in the sea. 9 You must not bend down your head to any idol or worship it. I am the Lord your God and I want you to belong to me alone. I will punish children because of the bad things that their fathers have done. I will also punish their grandchildren and their children too. That is how I will punish everyone who hates me. 10 But I will truly love all those who love me. They are the people who obey my laws. I will continue to love them and their families for ever.
11 You must not speak the name of the Lord your God in a wrong way. The Lord will punish anyone who speaks his name in a wrong way.
12 Always make the Sabbath day a special day for God, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 You have six days every week to do all your work. 14 But the seventh day is a Sabbath day. It is special for the Lord your God. You must not do any work on that day. Your son and your daughter must not work on that day. Your servants, male or female, must not work on that day. Your ox or your donkey or any of your animals must not work on that day, nor any foreign person who lives among you. Then your servants can rest in the same way as you rest. 15 You must remember that you were slaves in Egypt. But I, the Lord your God, brought you out by my powerful authority. So the Lord your God has told you to make the Sabbath day a special day.
16 Always respect your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Then you will live for many years in the land that the Lord your God will give to you. And you will be happy.
17 You must not murder anyone.
18 You must not have sex with another person's wife or husband.
19 You must not take another person's things for yourself.
20 You must not say false things against your neighbour.
21 You must not want to take your neighbour's wife for yourself. You must not want his house or his land, or his servants, male or female. You must not want his ox or his donkey or anything else that belongs to your neighbour.’
22 These are the commands that the Lord spoke to you. You were all there together at the mountain. He spoke with a loud voice from the middle of a great fire. There was a cloud and it was very dark. He gave only those commands. Then he wrote them on two flat stones and he gave them to me.
23 The mountain was burning with fire and you heard God's voice speak from the darkness. Then the leaders and older men of your tribes came to speak to me. 24 They said, ‘The Lord our God has shown us how great and how powerful he is. We have heard his voice from the middle of the fire. We have learned this: People can continue to live, even after God has spoken to them. 25 But now we think that this great fire will kill us. We do not want to die! If we continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God, we will surely die. 26 The God who lives for ever has spoken to us from the middle of the fire. Has anyone ever heard him speak like that and then continued to live? 27 We ask you to go near to the Lord our God. Listen to everything that he says. Then you should tell us what he says to you. We will listen carefully and we will obey him.’
28 The Lord heard what you said to me. He said to me, ‘I have heard what these people have said to you. What they said is right. 29 I really want them to respect me with fear. I want them to obey my commands in the future! If they do that, everything will be well for them and for their descendants for ever. 30 Now tell them to return to their tents. 31 But you should stay here with me. I will tell you all the commands, rules and laws that you must teach to the people. Then they can obey them in the land that I will give them to live in.’
32 So you must be careful to do everything that the Lord your God has commanded you to do. You must not refuse to obey any of his laws. 33 Live in the way that he has commanded you. If you do that, you will be happy in the land where you are going. You will live for a long time in the land that will be your home.
Love the Lord your God!
6 These are the commands, rules and laws that the Lord your God gave to me. He told me to teach them to you. You must obey them when you go across the Jordan River to live in that land. 2 You must respect the Lord your God with fear. You must obey his rules and his commands that I am teaching you. You, your children and your grandchildren must obey them all through your lives. If you do that, you will enjoy a long life.
3 Listen, Israelites! Be careful to obey God's rules. If you do that, everything will be well for you. You will have many children. You will live in a land where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. The Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised that this will happen.
4 Listen, Israelites! The Lord alone is our God. There is no other true God. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your mind and with all your strength. Love him with all that you are. 6 Always think about these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Teach them to your children at all times. Talk about them when you sit together at home. Talk about them as you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as signs on your arms and on your heads, so that you remember them. 9 Write them on the wood beside the doors of your houses and on your gates.
10 The Lord your God will soon bring you into a land that has large, beautiful cities that you did not build. That is the land that he promised to give to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 11 It has houses that are full of good things that you did not put into them. There are wells of water that you did not dig. There are fields with grapes and olive trees that you did not plant. You will be able to eat as much as you want. 12 But be careful that you do not forget the Lord. He rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.
13 You must respect and obey the Lord your God. Serve only him. If you make a serious promise, only use his name to make it strong. 14 Do not try to serve other gods. They are the gods that the people who live around you worship. 15 The Lord your God lives among you. He wants you to belong to him alone. If you worship other gods, he will be very angry with you. He will completely destroy you from the whole earth.
16 Do not test the Lord your God, to see what he will do. That is what you did at Massah. 17 Be careful to obey his commands. Remember the laws and the rules that he has told you to obey. 18 Do things that the Lord says are right and good. If you do that, you will be happy in everything that you do. You will go into the good land that he promised to your ancestors, and that will be your home. 19 You will be able to chase out all your enemies, as the Lord has promised.
20 One day, your children may say to you, ‘Please tell us about the rules and laws that the Lord our God commanded us to obey.’
21 Then you must tell them, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt. But the Lord used his great power to rescue us. 22 We saw him do great and powerful miracles that brought trouble to the Egyptians, and to Pharaoh himself and his family. 23 The Lord rescued us from Egypt so that he could give us another land to live in. That is the land that he promised to our ancestors. 24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these rules and to respect him with fear. If we do that, we will always live happily and the Lord will keep us safe, as he has done until now. 25 We must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord our God. If we do what he has told us, he will be pleased with us as people who do what is right.’
The Lord's special people
7 The Lord your God will now bring you into the land that will be your home. As you go in, he will chase out seven nations that now live there. Those nations are larger and more powerful than you are. They are the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. 2 The Lord your God will put those people under your power so that you win against them. When that happens, you must destroy them completely as a gift to God. Do not make any agreement with them to keep them safe. Do not be kind to them. 3 You must not marry any of these people. Do not let your daughters marry their sons. Do not take their daughters to marry your sons. 4 If that happens, your children may turn away from the Lord. They will start to worship other gods. Then the Lord will be very angry with you. He will immediately destroy you.
5 This is what you must do to the people of those nations: Break their altars and their stone pillars into pieces. Cut down their Asherah poles. Burn their idols with fire.[t] 6 Remember that you are a special people who belong to the Lord your God. He has chosen you for himself out of all the other people who live on the earth. He loves you as his special people.
7 Why did the Lord choose you as the people who would give him pleasure? It was not because you were the largest nation on the earth. No, you were the smallest of all nations! 8 Instead, it was because of the Lord's love for you. Also, he had made a serious promise to your ancestors and he was faithful to that promise. So he used his great power to bring you out of Egypt, where you were slaves. He rescued you from the power of Pharaoh, Egypt's king.
9 Remember that the Lord your God is the only true God. So love him and obey his commands. Then you can trust him to be faithful to his covenant. He made that covenant with you, his people, and with your descendants for ever. 10 But if his people turn against him, he will punish them as they deserve. He will quickly destroy them.
11 So be careful to obey all the commands, rules and laws that I am teaching you today.
The Lord's blessings
12 Listen to these rules and be careful to obey them. If you do that, the Lord your God will be faithful to the covenant that he has made with you. He promised your ancestors that he would do this. 13 He will love you and he will bless you. He will give you many children so that you become a large nation. He will cause your fields to give you plenty of food: grain, wine and olive oil. He will cause your cows, sheep and goats to have many babies. That is how he will bless you in the land that he promised your ancestors to give you. 14 God will bless you more than any other people on the earth. All your people and all your animals will have children of their own. 15 The Lord will keep you safe from all kinds of disease. He will not give you any of the terrible diseases that you saw in Egypt. Instead, he will cause those diseases to hurt the people who hate you.
16 You must remove the people of every nation that the Lord your God will put under your power. Do not be kind to them. Do not worship their gods. If you do that, they will make you turn away from God.
17 Perhaps you will say to each other, ‘The people of these nations are stronger than we are. We cannot chase them away.’ 18 But do not be afraid of them. Remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all the Egyptian people. 19 You saw how he punished them. You saw how he used his strength and power to do great miracles. The Lord your God did all those things to rescue you from Egypt. He will use the same power against all the people that make you afraid. 20 Also, the Lord your God will send great fear among these people.[u] Even those people who hide from you will soon die. 21 When you fight against them, do not let them frighten you. The Lord your God is there to help you. He is a great and powerful God. 22 He will chase out the people of those nations, one at a time. He will not let you destroy them all immediately. If you did that, wild animals would become so many that they would be a danger to you.
23 But the Lord your God will put your enemies under your power. He will cause them to become completely confused, so that you can destroy them. 24 He will put their kings under your power. No one will remember their names any more. No one will be able to stop you. You will destroy them all. 25 You must burn the images of their gods with fire. Do not try to keep the silver or gold from those idols. The Lord your God hates those things. If you take it for yourselves, it will catch you like a trap. 26 Do not bring anything that God hates into your house. If you do that, God will be ready to destroy you as well as the thing itself. God has said that he hates things like that, so you must hate them too.
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