The Fifth Book of Moses,
Commonly Called
Deuteronomy
1
1 These
are the words
which Moses spoke
to all Israel
beyond the Jordan
in the wilderness,
in the Arabah
opposite Suf, between Paran,
Tophel, Laban,
Hazeroth, and
Dizahab.
2 It
is eleven days’
journey from Horeb
by the way
of Mount Seir
to Kadesh Barnea.
3 In
the fortieth year,
in the eleventh
month, on the
first day of
the month, Moses
spoke to the
children of
Israel according to
all that the
LORD
had given him
in commandment to
them,
4 after he
had struck Sihon
the king of
the Amorites who
lived in Heshbon,
and Og the
king of Bashan
who lived in
Ashtaroth, at Edrei.
5 Beyond
the Jordan, in
the land of
Moab, Moses began
to declare this
law, saying,
6 “The
LORD our God
spoke to us in
Horeb, saying, ‘You
have lived long
enough at this
mountain.
7 Turn,
and take your
journey, and go
to the hill
country of
the Amorites and
to all the
places near there:
in the Arabah,
in the hill
country, in the
lowland, in the
South, by the
seashore, in
the land of the
Canaanites, and in
Lebanon as far
as 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—to Abraham,
to Isaac, and
to Jacob—to
give to them
and to their
offspring
after them.’ ”
9 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 today as
the stars of
the sky for
multitude.
11 May
the LORD, the
God of
your fathers, make
you a thousand
times as many as
you are and
bless you, as
he has promised
you!
12 How can I myself alone
bear your problems,
your burdens, and
your strife?
13 Take
wise men
of understanding who
are respected among
your tribes, and
I will make
them heads over
you.”
14 You
answered me, and
said, “The thing
which you have
spoken is good
to do.”
15 So
I took the
heads of your
tribes, wise
and respected men,
and made them
heads over you,
captains of thousands,
captains of
hundreds, captains
of fifties,
captains of tens,
and officers,
according to your
tribes.
16 I
commanded your
judges at that
time, saying, “Hear cases
between your brothers
and judge
righteously between
a man and
his brother, and
the foreigner who
is living with him.
17 You
shall not show
partiality in
judgment; you
shall hear the
small and the
great alike. You
shall not be
afraid of the
face of man,
for the judgment
is God’s. The
case that is
too hard for
you, you shall
bring to me,
and I will
hear it.”
18 I
commanded you at
that time all
the things which
you should do.
19 We
traveled from
Horeb and went
through all that
great and terrible
wilderness which
you saw, by
the way to
the hill country
of the Amorites,
as the LORD
our God commanded
us; and we
came to Kadesh Barnea.
20 I said
to you, “You
have come to the
hill country of
the Amorites, which
the LORD our
God gives to
us.
21 Behold,
the LORD your
God has set
the land before
you. Go up,
take possession,
as the LORD
the God of
your fathers has
spoken to you.
Don’t be afraid, neither
be dismayed.”
22 You
came near to
me, everyone of
you, and said, “Let’s send men
before us, that
they may search
the land for
us, and bring
back to us
word of the
way by which
we must go up,
and the cities
to which we
shall come.”
23 The
thing pleased me
well. I took
twelve of your
men, one man for
every tribe.
24 They
turned and went
up into the
hill country, and
came to the
valley of Eshcol,
and spied it
out.
25 They
took some 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 gives
to us.”
26 Yet
you wouldn’t go up,
but rebelled
against the
commandment of the
LORD your God.
27 You
murmured in
your tents, and
said, “Because the
LORD hated us,
he has brought
us out of
the land of Egypt,
to deliver us
into the hand
of the Amorites to
destroy us.
28 Where
are we going
up? Our brothers
have made our
heart melt, saying, ‘The
people are greater
and taller than
we. The cities
are great and
fortified up to
the sky. Moreover
we have seen
the sons of
the Anakim
there!’ ”
29 Then
I said to you,
“Don’t be terrified. Don’t
be afraid of
them.
30 The
LORD your God,
who goes before
you, he will
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 carried you,
as a man
carries his son,
in all the
way that you
went, until you
came to this
place.”
32 Yet
in this thing
you didn’t believe the
LORD your God,
33 who
went before you
on the way,
to seek out
a place for
you to pitch
your tents in:
in fire by night,
to show you
by what way
you should go,
and in the
cloud by day.
34 The
LORD heard the
voice of your
words and was
angry, and swore,
saying,
35 “Surely
not one of
these men of
this evil
generation shall
see the good land
which I swore
to give to
your fathers,
36 except
Caleb the son
of Jephunneh. He
shall see it.
I will give
the land that he
has trodden on
to him 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 there.
38 Joshua
the son of
Nun, who stands
before you, shall
go in there.
Encourage him, for
he shall cause
Israel to inherit
it.
39 Moreover
your little ones,
whom you said
would be captured
or killed, your
children, who
today have no
knowledge of good
or evil, shall
go in there.
I will give
it to them,
and they shall
possess it.
40 But
as for you,
turn, and take
your journey into
the wilderness by
the way to
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.” Every man
of you put
on his weapons
of war,
and presumed to go
up into the
hill country.
42 The
LORD said to me,
“Tell them, ‘Don’t go
up and don’t fight;
for I am
not among you, lest
you be struck
before your enemies.’ ”
43 So
I spoke to
you, and you didn’t
listen; but you
rebelled against
the commandment of
the LORD, and
were presumptuous, and
went up into
the hill country.
44 The Amorites, who
lived in that
hill country, came
out against you
and chased you
as bees do,
and beat you
down in Seir,
even to Hormah.
45 You
returned and wept
before the LORD,
but the LORD didn’t
listen to your
voice, nor turn
his ear to
you.
46 So
you stayed in
Kadesh many days,
according to the
days that you
remained.