DeuteronomyChapter 1
Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.
1These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel. They were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were in the Arabah across from Suph. It was between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2It takes eleven days to travel from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by the Mount Seir road. 3It was the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month. Moses told the Israelites everything the LORD had commanded him to tell them. 4This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He had also defeated Og king of Bashan at Edrei. Og lived in Ashtaroth. 5Moses was east of the Jordan in the land of Moab. There he began to explain this law. He said, 6The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb. He said, "You have stayed at this mountain long enough. 7Break camp and go on your way. Go to the hill country of the Amorites. Go to all the nearby peoples. Go to the Arabah, the hill country, the foothills, the Negev, and the seacoast. Go to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon. Go as far as the great Euphrates River. 8Look, I have put the land in front of you. Go in and take the land. The LORD promised with an oath to give it to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He promised it to their descendants after them too." 9At that time I said to you, "I can't carry the load of caring for you all alone. 10The LORD your God has made you grow in number. Today you are as many as the stars in the sky. 11May the LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times more! May he bless you as he promised. 12But how can I handle your troubles, your loads, and your arguments all by myself? 13Choose some men from each of your tribes. Choose men who are wise, who understand, and who are respected. I will make them your leaders." 14You answered me, "What you want to do is good." 15So I took the leaders of your tribes. They were wise and respected men. I made them leaders over you. Some were in charge of a thousand people, some of a hundred, some of fifty, and some of ten. Others were officers for your tribes. 16At that time I gave your judges this order: "Listen to the arguments between your people. Judge fairly between two Israelites. Judge fairly between an Israelite and a foreigner who lives among you. 17Don't take sides when you judge. Listen to the unimportant and the important alike. Don't be afraid of anyone, because judging belongs to God. If a case is too hard for you, bring it to me. I will hear it." 18At that time I told you everything you were to do. 19Then we left Horeb, as the LORD our God had commanded us. We headed toward the hill country of the Amorites. We went through all that huge and terrible wilderness you saw. Then we reached Kadesh-barnea. 20I said to you, "You have reached the hill country of the Amorites. The LORD our God is giving it to us. 21Look, the LORD your God has put the land in front of you. Go up and take it, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, told you. Don't be afraid or lose heart." 22Then all of you came to me. You said, "Let's send men ahead of us to explore the land. They can come back and tell us which road to take. They can tell us which cities to go to." 23The plan seemed good to me. So I chose twelve of your men, one from each tribe. 24They left and went up into the hill country. They came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied out the land. 25They picked some of the fruit of the land and carried it down to us. They told us, "The land the LORD our God is giving us is good." 26But you would not go up. You rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. 27You complained in your tents. You said, "The LORD hates us. That's why he brought us out of Egypt. He wants to hand us over to the Amorites so they will wipe us out. 28Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They said, 'The people are bigger and taller than we are. The cities are large. Their walls reach up to the sky! We even saw the descendants of Anak there.'"a 29So I told you, "Don't be terrified! Don't be afraid of them! 30The LORD your God goes ahead of you. He will fight for you. You saw him do it for you in Egypt. 31You saw it in the wilderness too. There the LORD your God carried you, like a man carries his son. He carried you all along the way until you came to this place." 32But even after all this, you did not trust the LORD your God. 33He went ahead of you on your journey. He was in the fire at night and in the cloud during the day. He looked for places for you to camp. He showed you the way to go. 34The LORD heard what you said, and he became angry. He made a promise with an oath. He said, 35"Not one man of this evil generation will see the good land. I promised with an oath to give it to your fathers. 36Only Caleb son of Jephunneh will see it. I will give him and his descendants the land he has walked on, because he followed the LORD with all his heart." 37Because of you, the LORD was angry with me too. He said, "You will not go into the land either. 38Joshua son of Nun, your helper, will go into it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to take the land as their own.b 39You said your little ones would be taken captive. On that day your children did not yet know good from evil. But they are the ones who will go into the land. I will give it to them, and they will own it. 40But as for you, turn around. Head back into the wilderness on the road to the Red Sea." 41Then you answered, "We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God commanded us." So each of you put on your weapons. You thought it would be easy to go up into the hill country. 42But the LORD said to me, "Tell them, 'Don't go up and fight. I am not with you. Your enemies will defeat you.'" 43So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the LORD's command. You were proud and went up into the hill country anyway. 44Then the Amorites who lived in those hills came out to fight you. They chased you like a swarm of bees. They beat you and drove you all the way from Seir to Hormah. 45You came back and cried before the LORD. But he would not listen to you or pay attention to you. 46That is why you stayed in Kadesh a long time, a very long time.