Good News Translation GNT
World English Bible WEB
1 In this book are the words that Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were in the Jordan Valley near Suph, between the town of Paran on one side and the towns of Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab on the other
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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 Di-zahab.
2 (It takes eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh Barnea by way of the hill country of Edom.)
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It is eleven days' [journey] from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.
3 On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year after they had left Egypt, Moses told the people everything the Lord had commanded him to tell them.
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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 This was after the Lord had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in the town of Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who ruled in the towns of Ashtaroth and Edrei.
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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 It was while the people were east of the Jordan in the territory of Moab that Moses began to explain God's laws and teachings. He said,
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Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
6 "When we were at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God said to us, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain.
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Yahweh our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, You have lived long enough in this mountain:
7 Break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the surrounding regions - to the Jordan Valley, to the hill country and the lowlands, to the southern region, and to the Mediterranean coast. Go to the land of Canaan and on beyond the Lebanon Mountains as far as the great Euphrates River.
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turn you, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites, and to all [the places] near thereunto, in the Arabah, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the sea-shore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
8 All of this is the land which I, the Lord, promised to give to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants. Go and occupy it.' "
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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 Moses said to the people, "While we were still at Mount Sinai, I told you, "The responsibility for leading you is too much for me. I can't do it alone.
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I spoke to you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:
10 The Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
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Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day as the stars of the sky for multitude.
11 May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, make you increase a thousand times more and make you prosperous, as he promised!
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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 But how can I alone bear the heavy responsibility for settling your disputes?
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How can I myself alone bear your encumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?
13 Choose some wise, understanding, and experienced men from each tribe, and I will put them in charge of you.'
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Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.
14 And you agreed that this was a good thing to do.
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You answered me, and said, The thing which you have spoken is good [for us] to do.
15 So I took the wise and experienced leaders you chose from your tribes, and I placed them in charge of you. Some were responsible for a thousand people, some for a hundred, some for fifty, and some for ten. I also appointed other officials throughout the tribes.
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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 "At that time I instructed them, "Listen to the disputes that come up among your people. Judge every dispute fairly, whether it concerns only your own people or involves foreigners who live among you.
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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 sojourner who is with him.
17 Show no partiality in your decisions; judge everyone on the same basis, no matter who they are. Do not be afraid of anyone, for the decisions you make come from God. If any case is too difficult for you, bring it to me, and I will decide it.'
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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 At the same time I gave you instructions for everything else you were to do.
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I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.
19 "We did what the Lord our God commanded us. We left Mount Sinai and went through that vast and fearful desert on the way to the hill country of the Amorites. When we reached Kadesh Barnea,
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We journeyed 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 told you, "You have now come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God, the God of our ancestors, is giving us. Look, there it is. Go and occupy it as he commanded. Do not hesitate or be afraid.'
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I said to you, You are come to the hill-country of the Amorites, which Yahweh our God gives to us.
22 "But you came to me and said, "Let's send men ahead of us to spy out the land, so that they can tell us the best route to take and what kind of cities are there.'
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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 "That seemed like a good thing to do, so I selected twelve men, one from each tribe.
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The thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe:
24 They went into the hill country as far as Eshcol Valley and explored it.
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and they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.
25 They brought us back some fruit they found there, and reported that the land which the Lord our God was giving us was very fertile.
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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 "But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God, and you would not enter the land.
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Yet you wouldn't go up, but rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God:
27 You grumbled to one another: "The Lord hates us. He brought us out of Egypt just to hand us over to these Amorites, so that they could kill us.
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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 Why should we go there? We are afraid. The men we sent tell us that the people there are stronger and taller than we are, and that they live in cities with walls that reach the sky. They saw giants there!'
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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 "But I told you, "Don't be afraid of those people.
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Then I said to you, Don't dread, neither be afraid of them.
30 The Lord your God will lead you, and he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt
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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 desert. You saw how he brought you safely all the way to this place, just as a father would carry his son.'
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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 But in spite of what I said, you still would not trust the Lord,
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Yet in this thing you didn't believe Yahweh your God,
33 even though he always went ahead of you to find a place for you to camp. To show you the way, he went in front of you in a pillar of fire by night and in a pillar of cloud by day.
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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 "The Lord heard your complaints and became angry, and so he solemnly declared,
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Yahweh heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying,
35 "Not one of you from this evil generation will enter the fertile land that I promised to give your ancestors.
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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 Only Caleb son of Jephunneh will enter it. He has remained faithful to me, and I will give him and his descendants the land that he has explored.'
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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 Because of you the Lord also became angry with me and said, "Not even you, Moses, will enter the land.
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Also Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, saying, You also shall not go in there:
38 But strengthen the determination of your helper, Joshua son of Nun. He will lead Israel to occupy the land.'
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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 "Then the Lord said to all of us, "Your children, who are still too young to know right from wrong, will enter the land - the children you said would be seized by your enemies. I will give the land to them, and they will occupy it.
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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 people, turn around and go back into the desert on the road to the Gulf of Aqaba.'
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But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.
41 "You replied, "Moses, we have sinned against the Lord. But now we will attack, just as the Lord our God commanded us.' Then each one of you got ready to fight, thinking it would be easy to invade the hill country.
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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 "But the Lord said to me, "Warn them not to attack, for I will not be with them, and their enemies will defeat them.'
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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 I told you what the Lord had said, but you paid no attention. You rebelled against him, and in your pride you marched into the hill country.
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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 Then the Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you like a swarm of bees. They chased you as far as Hormah and defeated you there in the hill country of Edom.
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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 So you cried out to the Lord for help, but he would not listen to you or pay any attention to you.
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You returned and wept before Yahweh; but Yahweh didn't listen to your voice, nor gave ear to you.
46 "So then, after we had stayed at Kadesh for a long time,
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So you abode in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you abode [there].
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
The World English Bible is in the public domain.