Deuteronomy 1

Moses Reviews Israel's Journey and Leadership Appointments

6 min read

1 These be the words which Moses spoke to 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 to Kadeshbarnea.)
3 And it came to pass 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 the LORD had given him in commandment to them;
4 After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelled in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelled 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 spoke to us in Horeb, saying, You have dwelled long enough in this mount:
7 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and to all the places near 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 to Lebanon, to the great river, the river Euphrates.
8 Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them. ¶
9 And I spoke to you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:
10 The LORD your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you 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 you are, and bless you, as he has 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 you answered me, and said, The thing which you have 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 brothers, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
17 You shall not respect persons in judgment; but you shall hear the small as well as the great; 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, bring it to me, and I will hear it.
18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do. ¶
19 And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which you saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea.
20 And I said to you, You are come to the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God does give to us.
21 Behold, the LORD your God has set the land before you: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers has said to you; fear not, neither be discouraged. ¶
22 And you came near to 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 to 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 to us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God does give us.
26 Notwithstanding you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
27 And you murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD 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 Where shall we go up? our brothers 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 to you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
30 The LORD your God which goes 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 you have seen how that the LORD your God bore you, as a man does bear his son, in all the way that you went, until you came into this place.
32 Yet in this thing you 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 show you by what way you should go, and in a cloud by day.
34 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and swore, saying,
35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I swore to give to your fathers.
36 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 the LORD.
37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, You also shall not go in thither.
38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which stands before you, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39 Moreover your little ones, which you 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 to 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 you answered and said to 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 you had girded on every man his weapons of war, you were ready to go up into the hill.
42 And the LORD said to me, Say to them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest you be smitten before your enemies.
43 So I spoke to you; and you would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.
44 And the Amorites, which dwelled in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even to Hormah.
45 And you returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not listen to your voice, nor give ear to you.
46 So you stayed in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you stayed there.
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