Deuteronomy 1 (New American Standard)

Israel's History after the Exodus

1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel ¹across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the ²Arabah opposite ^aSuph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days' journey from ³Horeb by the way of Mount ⁴Seir to ⁵Kadesh-barnea. 3 In the ⁶fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, ⁷according to all that the LORD had commanded him to give to them, 4 after he had ^b8defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and ⁹Og the king of Bashan, who lived in ¹⁰Ashtaroth ^cand Edrei. 5 Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying, 6 "The LORD our God ¹¹spoke to us at Horeb, saying, 'You have ^dstayed long enough at this mountain. 7 'Turn and set your journey, and go to ¹²the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in ¹³the ^eNegev and by the seacoast , the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 'See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD ¹⁴swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their ^fdescendants after them.' 9 "I spoke to you at that time, saying, '¹⁵I am not able to bear the burden of you alone. 10 'The LORD your God has ¹⁶multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number. 11 'May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are and bless you, ¹⁷just as He has ^gpromised you! 12 'How can I alone bear the load and burden of you and your strife ? 13 '^h18Choose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.' 14 "You answered me and said, 'The thing which you have said to do is good.' 15 "So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and ⁱappointed them heads over you, leaders of thousands and ^jof hundreds, ^kof fifties and ^lof tens, and officers for your tribes. 16 "Then I charged your judges at that time, saying, 'Hear the cases between your ^mfellow countrymen, and ¹⁹judge righteously between a man and his ⁿfellow countryman, or the alien who is with him. 17 '²⁰You shall not show partiality in judgment ; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall ²¹not fear ^oman, for the judgment is God's. ²²The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.' 18 "²³I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do. 19 "Then we set out from ²⁴Horeb, and went through all that ²⁵great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the ²⁶hill country of the Amorites, just as the LORD our God had commanded us; and we came to ²⁷Kadesh-barnea. 20 "I said to you, 'You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the LORD our God is about to give us. 21 'See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. ²⁸Do not fear or be dismayed.' 22 "²⁹Then all of you approached me and said, 'Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter.' 23 "The thing pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe. 24 "³⁰They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol and spied it out. 25 "Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought us back a report and said, 'It is a good land which the LORD our God is about to give us.' 26 "³¹Yet you were not willing to go up, but ³²rebelled against the ^pcommand of the LORD your God ; 27 and ³³you grumbled in your tents and said, 'Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. 28 'Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, "The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw ³⁴the sons of the Anakim there."' 29 "Then I said to you, 'Do not be shocked, nor fear them. 30 'The LORD your God who goes before you will ³⁵Himself fight on your behalf, ^qjust as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how ³⁶the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.' 32 "But ^r37for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, 33 ³⁸who goes before you on your way, ³⁹to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go. 34 "Then the LORD heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and ⁴⁰took an oath, saying, 35 '⁴¹Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh ; he shall see it, and ⁴²to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed the LORD fully.' 37 "⁴³The LORD was angry with me also on your account, saying, '⁴⁴Not even you shall enter there. 38 'Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, ⁴⁵he shall enter there ; encourage him, for ⁴⁶he will cause Israel to inherit it. 39 'Moreover, ⁴⁷your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have ⁴⁸no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it. 40 'But as for you, ⁴⁹turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way to the ^sRed Sea.' 41 "⁵⁰Then you said to me, 'We have sinned against the LORD ; we will indeed go up and fight, just as the LORD our God commanded us.' And every man of you girded on his weapons of war, and regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country. 42 "⁵¹And the LORD said to me, 'Say to them, "Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be ^tdefeated before your enemies."' 43 "So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead ⁵²you rebelled against the ^ucommand of the LORD, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. 44 "⁵³The Amorites who ^vlived in that hill country came out against you and chased you ⁵⁴as bees do, and crushed you from Seir to Hormah. 45 "Then you returned and wept before the LORD ; but the ⁵⁵LORD did not listen to your voice nor give ear to you. 46 "So you remained in ⁵⁶Kadesh many days, ^wthe days that you spent there.