Deuteronomy 1

¹ These are the words spoken beyond Jordan to the whole of Israel. (In the wilderness, in the Arabah facing Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab.

² It is eleven day’s march from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.)[*a]

³ It was in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, that Moses spoke to the sons of Israel as Yahweh had ordered.

⁴ He had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who lived at Ashtaroth and Edrei.

⁵ There, in the land of Moab beyond the Jordan, Moses set himself to expound this Law. He said:

⁶ ‘Yahweh our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

⁷ Move or from here, continue your journey, go to the highlands of the Amorites, to those who make their home in the Arabah, in the highlands, in the lowlands, in the Negeb and in the coastland; go into the land of Canaan and to Lebanon as far as the great river Euphrates.

⁸ This is the land I have made over to you; go and take possession of the land that Yahweh swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to their descendants after them.”

⁹ ‘It was then that I told you: I cannot carry the burden of you by myself.

¹⁰ Yahweh your God has multiplied you, till now you are like the stars of heaven in number.

¹¹ And Yahweh your God is going to increase you a thousand times more, and bless you as he promised.

¹² So how can I carry the heavy burden of you and your bickerings, all by myself?

¹³ Bring me wise men, shrewd and tested, out of each of your tribes, therefore, and I will make them your leaders.

¹⁴ And you answered me, “Your plan is a good one”.

¹⁵ And so I selected tribal leaders for you, wise[*b] men and tested, and appointed them to lead you: captains of thousands, hundreds, fifties, tens, and scribes for your tribes too.

¹⁶ At that same time I told your judges: You must give your brothers a fair hearing and see justice done between a man and his brother or the stranger who lives with him.

¹⁷ You must be impartial in judgement and give an equal hearing to small and great alike. Do not be afraid of any man, for the judgement is God’s. Should a case be too difficult, bring it to me and I will hear it.

¹⁸ And I gave you directions at that time for everything you were to do.

¹⁹ ‘So we left Horeb and came to the vast and terrible wilderness you have seen. We made for the highlands of the Amorites, as Yahweh our God had ordered, and arrived at Kadesh-barnea.

²⁰ It was then that I said to you: Now you have reached these Amorite highlands which Yahweh our God is giving to us.

²¹ See, Yahweh your God has made over this land to you. March in, take possession of it as Yahweh the God of your fathers ordered you; do not be afraid or discouraged.

²² Then you all came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead of us to explore the country; they will report to us which way we must go and what towns we shall come to”.

²³ This seemed good advice to me and I selected twelve of your men, one from each tribe.

²⁴ These men made towards the highlands and went up into them; they reached the Valley of Eshcol and reconnoitred it.

²⁵ They collected some of the fruit of the country and brought it down to us; and they made us this report, “It is a prosperous land that Yahweh our God has given us”.

²⁶ Yet you refused to go up into it and you rebelled against the voice of Yahweh your God.

²⁷ You grumbled in your tents; “It is because he hates us” you said “that Yahweh brought us out of the land of Egypt to put us under the power of the Amorites and so destroy us.

²⁸ What kind of place are we making for? Our own brothers have made us lose heart: It is a people, they say, bigger and stronger than we are; their cities are immense, with walls reaching to the sky. And we saw Anakim there too.”

²⁹ ‘And I said to you: Do not take fright, do not be afraid of them.

³⁰ Yahweh your God goes in front of you and will be fighting on your side as you saw him fight for you in Egypt.

³¹ In the wilderness, too, you saw him: how Yahweh carried you, as a man carries his child, all along the road you travelled on the way to this place.

³² But for all this, you put not faith in Yahweh your God,

³³ who had gone in front of you on the journey to find you a camping ground, by night in the fire to light your path, by day in the cloud.

³⁴ ‘Yahweh heard this talk of yours and, in his anger, took this oath,

³⁵ “Not one of these men, this perverse generation, shall see the rich land that I swore to give to your fathers,

³⁶ except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He shall see it. To him and to his sons I will give the land he has set foot on, for he has followed Yahweh in all things”.

³⁷ Yahweh was angry with me too, on your account. “You shall not go in either” he said.

³⁸ “Your servant Joshua son of Nun, he shall be the one to enter. Give him encouragement, for it is he who shall bring Israel to take possession of the land.

³⁹ But your little ones who, you said, would be seized as booty, these children of yours who do not yet know good from evil, these shall go in there; I will give it to them and they shall possess it.

⁴⁰ As for you, turn round, go back into the wilderness, in the direction of the Sea of Suph.”

⁴¹ ‘You answered me then, “We have sinned against Yahweh our God. We will go up and fight as Yahweh our God has ordered us.” And each one of you buckled on his arms and blithely marched up into the highlands.

⁴² But Yahweh said to me, “Tell them this: Do not go up and fight. I am not among you. You will be defeated by your enemies.”

⁴³ And I did tell you, but you would not listen, and you rebelled against the voice of Yahweh: you still dared to go up into the highlands.

⁴⁴ The Amorites, who live in that country of hills, came swarming out against you like bees, pursued you and struck you down in Seir and as far away as Hormah.

⁴⁵ And when you returned you shed tears in the presence of Yahweh, but he did not listen to your cries and paid no heed to you.

⁴⁶ For many a day you had to stay at Kadesh, your full tally of days.