Deuteronomy 9:23

23 When the LORD sent you from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then you rebelled against the mitzvah of the LORD your God, and you didn't believe him, nor listen to his voice.

Deuteronomy 9:23 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 9:23

Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadeshbarnea
From whence the spies were sent to search the land, though previous to it they had the following order to go up and possess it; see ( Numbers 32:8 ) ( Deuteronomy 1:19-21 )

saying, go up and possess the land which I have given you;
this they were bid to do, before they desired the spies might be sent to search it first; and after they had returned and made their report, they were encouraged to go up and take possession of it:

then ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God; refusing
to go up into it: and ye believed him not;
that he would cast out and destroy the inhabitants of it, and put them into the possession of it; which they distrusted by reason of the gigantic stature of some that dwelt in it, and their fortified cities:

nor hearkened to his voice;
whether commanding or encouraging.

Deuteronomy 9:23 In-Context

21 I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust of it into the brook that descended out of the mountain.

22 At Tav`erah, and at Massah, and at Kivrot-Hatta'avah, you provoked the LORD to wrath.

23 When the LORD sent you from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then you rebelled against the mitzvah of the LORD your God, and you didn't believe him, nor listen to his voice.

24 You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.

25 So I fell down before the LORD the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because the LORD had said he would destroy you.