Deuteronomy 1

1Now these are the words Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the desert

2It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.

3Now it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all the Lord gave him as commandments to them,

4after he killed Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei.

5Beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying,

6'The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, 'You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.

7Turn and take your journey and go to the mountain of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the Arabah, in the mountains and in the plain, to the south and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites, and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates.

8Behold, I am delivering the land in your presence; go in and inherit the land I swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give it to them and their seed after them.'

9'So I spoke to you at that time, saying, 'I alone am not able to bear you.

10The Lord your God multiplied you, and here you are today, as the stars of heaven in multitude.

11May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you, just as He said.

12How can I alone bear your labors, your burdens, and your lawsuits?

13Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them leaders over you.'

14'Then you answered me and said, 'The thing you told us to do is good.'

15So I took from you wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men and made them leaders over you: leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens; judges to interpret the law for you.

16'Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, 'Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the resident alien with him.

17You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall judge the small and the great; you shall not shrink before any man's presence, for the judgment is God's. The case too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.'

18So I commanded you at that time all the words you should do.

19'So we departed from Horeb, and went through all that great and fearful desert you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorite, as the Lord our God commanded us. Then we came to Kadesh Barnea.

20Then I said to you, 'You have come to the mountains of the Amorite, which the Lord our God is giving us.

21Behold, the Lord your God is delivering the land to you in your presence; go up and take it as an inheritance, in the manner the Lord God of your fathers spoke to you; do not fear or be afraid.'

22Then every one of you came near me and said, 'Let us send men before us, and let them spy out the land for us and report back to us the way we should go up in it, and the cities into which we should come.'

23'The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe.

24Then they departed and went up into the mountain, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and surveyed it.

25They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and said, 'The land the Lord our God gives us is good.'

26'Nevertheless you would not go up, but disobeyed the word of the Lord your God;

27and you murmured in your tents, and said, 'Because the Lord hates us, He brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us.

28Where can we go up? Our brethren caused our heart to revolt, saying, 'The people are great and tall and stronger than we; and the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover, we saw the sons of giants there.' '

29'Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified or afraid of them.

30The Lord your God, who goes before your face, He will fight them with you in all things, as He did for you in Egypt

31and in this desert, where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way you went until you came to this place.'

32Yet, in all this matter, you did not believe the Lord your God,

33who went in the way before you to choose a place for you, leading you with the fire by night and the cloud by day and showing you the road, that you might travel it.

34'So the Lord heard the sound of your words and was provoked to wrath, and took an oath, saying,

35'Not one of these men shall see this good land I swore to give their fathers

36except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he will see it, and to him and his sons I give the land on which he walked, because he is attached to the things of the Lord.'

37The Lord was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, 'Even you shall not enter there.

38Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he will enter there. Encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it.

39Thus every young child who today has no knowledge of good or evil, they will enter there; to them I will give it, and they will have it as an inheritance.

40But as for you, turn and camp in the desert road towards the Red Sea.'

41'Then you answered and said to me, 'We sinned before the Lord our God; we will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.' So when every one of you girded on his weapons of war and assembled together, you went up into the mountain.

42'Then the Lord said to me, 'Tell them, 'Do not go up or fight, for I am not with you; lest you be crushed before your enemies.' '

43So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but transgressed the word of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the mountain.

44Then the Amorite who dwelt in that mountain came out against you, and chased you as bees do, and wounded you from Seir to Hormah.

45Then you sat down and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not listen to your voice nor pay attention to you.

46So you encamped in Kadesh many days, according to the days you spent there.