1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the
Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suph, between Paran, and
Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’
journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. 3 It
happened in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the
month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that
Yahweh had given him in commandment to them; 4 after he had struck Sihon
the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan,
who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei. 5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of
Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying, 6 Yahweh our God spoke to
us in Horeb, saying, You have lived long enough in this mountain:
7 turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the
Amorites, and to all the places near there, in the Arabah, in the
hill country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the seashore, the
land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river
Euphrates. 8 Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the
land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,
to give to them and to their seed after them. 9 I spoke to you at that
time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone: 10 Yahweh your God
has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of the
sky for multitude. 11 Yahweh, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand
times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!
12 How can I myself alone bear your encumbrance, and your burden, and your
strife? 13 Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your
tribes, and I will make them heads over you. 14 You answered me, and
said, The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do. 15 So
I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads
over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of
fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes.
16 I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes
between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother,
and the foreigner who is living with him. 17 You shall not show
partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike;
you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s:
and the cause that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I
will hear it. 18 I commanded you at that time all the things which
you should do. 19 We traveled from Horeb, and went through all that
great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the
hill country of the Amorites, as Yahweh our God commanded us; and we came to
Kadesh Barnea. 20 I said to you, You are come to the hill country of
the Amorites, which Yahweh our God gives to us. 21 Behold, Yahweh your God
has set the land before you: go up, take possession, as Yahweh, the God of
your fathers, has spoken to you; don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed.
22 You came near to me everyone of you, and said, Let us send men
before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of
the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we shall come.
23 The thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for
every tribe: 24 and they turned and went up into the hill country, and
came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25 They took of the fruit
of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word
again, and said, It is a good land which Yahweh our God gives to us.
26 Yet you wouldn’t go up, but rebelled against the commandment of
Yahweh your God: 27 and you murmured in your tents, and said, Because
Yahweh hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver
us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where are we going up?
our brothers have made our heart to melt, saying, The people are greater and
taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to the sky; and
moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. 29 Then I said to you,
Don’t dread, neither be afraid of them. 30 Yahweh your God who goes before
you, he will 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 that
Yahweh your God bore you, as a man does bear his son, in all the way that
you went, until you came to this place. 32 Yet in this thing
you didn’t believe Yahweh your God, 33 who went before you in the
way, to seek you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to
show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day.
34 Yahweh heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying,
35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see the
good land, which I swore to give to your fathers, 36 save Caleb the son of
Jephunneh: he shall see it; and to him will I give the land that he has
trodden on, and to his children, because he has wholly followed Yahweh.
37 Also Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, saying, You also shall
not go in there: 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall
go in there: encourage you him; for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39 Moreover your little ones, whom you said should be a prey, and
your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go
in there, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But as
for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to
the Red Sea. 41 Then you answered and said to me, We have sinned
against Yahweh, we will go up and fight, according to all that Yahweh our God
commanded us. You girded on every man his weapons of war, and were
forward to go up into the hill country. 42 Yahweh said to me, Tell them,
Don’t go up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest you be struck
before your enemies. 43 So I spoke to you, and you didn’t listen; but
you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh, and were presumptuous,
and went up into the hill country. 44 The Amorites, who lived in that
hill country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you
down in Seir, even to Hormah. 45 You returned and wept before Yahweh;
but Yahweh didn’t listen to your voice, nor gave ear to you. 46 So
you abode in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you abode
there.
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