Deuteronomy

The fifth book of Moses, called Deuteronomy, chapter 1, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 1 New English Translation

The Covenant Setting

   1 This is what Moses said to the assembly of Israel in the Transjordanian wastelands, the arid country opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di Zahab 2 Now it is ordinarily an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by way of Mount Seir. 3 However, it was not until the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year that Moses addressed the Israelites just as the LORD had instructed him to do. 4 This took place after the defeat of King Sihon of the Amorites, whose capital was in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, whose capital was in Ashtaroth, specifically in Edrei. 5 So it was in the Transjordan, in Moab, that Moses began to deliver these words:

Events at Horeb

   6 The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb and said, "You have stayed in the area of this mountain long enough. 7 Get up now, resume your journey, heading for the Amorite hill country, to all its areas including the arid country, the highlands, the Shephelah, the Negev, and the coastal plain - all of Canaan and Lebanon as far as the Great River, that is, the Euphrates. 8 Look! I have already given the land to you. Go, occupy the territory that I, the LORD, promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants." 9 I also said to you at that time, "I am no longer able to sustain you by myself. 10 The LORD your God has increased your population to the point that you are now as numerous as the very stars of the sky. 11 Indeed, may the LORD, the God of your ancestors, make you a thousand times more numerous than you are now, blessing you just as he said he would! 12 But how can I alone bear up under the burden of your hardship and strife? 13 Select wise and practical men, those known among your tribes, whom I may appoint as your leaders." 14 You replied to me that what I had said to you was good. 15 So I chose as your tribal leaders wise and well-known men, placing them over you as administrators of groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and also as other tribal officials. 16 I furthermore admonished your judges at that time that they should pay attention to issues among your fellow citizens and judge fairly, whether between one citizen and another or a citizen and a resident foreigner. 17 They must not discriminate in judgment, but hear the lowly and the great alike. Nor should they be intimidated by human beings, for judgment belongs to God. If the matter being adjudicated is too difficult for them, they should bring it before me for a hearing.

Instructions at Kadesh Barnea

   18 So I instructed you at that time regarding everything you should do. 19 Then we left Horeb and passed through all that immense, forbidding wilderness that you saw on the way to the Amorite hill country as the LORD our God had commanded us to do, finally arriving at Kadesh Barnea. 20 Then I said to you, "You have come to the Amorite hill country which the LORD our God is about to give us. 21 Look, he has placed the land in front of you! Go up, take possession of it, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, said to do. Do not be afraid or discouraged!" 22 So all of you approached me and said, "Let's send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there." 23 I thought this was a good idea, so I sent twelve men from among you, one from each tribe. 24 They left and went up to the hill country, coming to the Eshcol Valley, which they scouted out. 25 Then they took some of the produce of the land and carried it back down to us. They also brought a report to us, saying, "The land that the LORD our God is about to give us is good."

Disobedience at Kadesh Barnea

   26 You were not willing to go up, however, but instead rebelled against the LORD your God. 27 You complained among yourselves privately and said, "Because the LORD hates us he brought us from Egypt to deliver us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us! 28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage by describing people who are more numerous and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven itself! Moreover, they said they saw Anakites there." 29 So I responded to you, "Do not be terrified of them! 30 The LORD your God is about to go ahead of you; he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt 31 and in the desert, where you saw him carrying you along like a man carries his son. This he did everywhere you went until you came to this very place." 32 However, through all this you did not have confidence in the LORD your God, 33 the one who was constantly going before you to find places for you to set up camp. He appeared by fire at night and cloud by day, to show you the way you ought to go.

Judgment at Kadesh Barnea

   34 When the LORD heard you, he became angry and made this vow: 35 "Not a single person of this evil generation will see the good land that I promised to give to your ancestors! 36 The exception is Caleb son of Jephunneh; he will see it and I will give him and his descendants the territory on which he has walked, because he has wholeheartedly followed me." 37 As for me, the LORD was also angry with me on your account. He said, "You also will not be able to go there. 38 However, Joshua son of Nun, your assistant, will go. Encourage him, because he will enable Israel to inherit the land. 39 Also, your infants, who you thought would die on the way, and your children, who as yet do not know good from bad, will go there; I will give them the land and they will possess it. 40 But as for you, turn back and head for the desert by the way to the Red Sea."

Unsuccessful Conquest of Canaan

   41 Then you responded to me and admitted, "We have sinned against the LORD. We will now go up and fight as the LORD our God has told us to do." So you each put on your battle gear and prepared to go up to the hill country. 42 But the LORD told me: "Tell them this: 'Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you and you will be defeated by your enemies.'" 43 I spoke to you, but you did not listen. Instead you rebelled against the LORD and recklessly went up to the hill country. 44 The Amorite inhabitants of that area confronted you and chased you like a swarm of bees, striking you down from Seir as far as Hormah. 45 Then you came back and wept before the LORD, but he paid no attention to you whatsoever. 46 Therefore, you remained at Kadesh for a long time - indeed, for the full time.

King James Version

   1 These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
   2 (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea.)
   3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;
   4 After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:
   5 On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
   6 The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:
   7 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
   8 Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.
   9 ¶ And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:
   10 The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
   11 (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)
   12 How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?
   13 Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.
   14 And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.
   15 So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.
   16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
   17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
   18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.
   19 ¶ And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.
   20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.
   21 Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
   22 ¶ And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
   23 And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:
   24 And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.
   25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.
   26 Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
   27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
   28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.
   29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
   30 The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;
   31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
   32 Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,
   33 Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.
   34 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
   35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers,
   36 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.
   37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
   38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
   39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
   40 But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
   41 Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.
   42 And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.
   43 So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.
   44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
   45 And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.
   46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.