^1:41Then 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. ^1:42But 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.’ ” ^1:43I spoke to you, but you did not listen. Instead you rebelled against the Lord⁸⁰ and recklessly went up to the hill country. ^1:44The Amorite inhabitants of that area⁸¹ confronted⁸² you and chased you like a swarm of bees, striking you down from Seir as far as Hormah.⁸³^1:45Then you came back and wept before the Lord, but he⁸⁴ paid no attention to you whatsoever.⁸⁵^1:46Therefore, you remained at Kadesh for a long time—indeed, for the full time.⁸⁶

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Footnotes

80 Heb “the mouth of the Lord.” See note at .
81 Heb “in that hill country,” repeating the end of v. 43.
82 Heb “came out to meet.”
83 Hormah is probably Khirbet el-Meshash, 5.5 mi (9 km) west of Arad and 7.5 mi (12 km) SE of Beer Sheba. Its name is a derivative of the verb חָרָם (kharam, “to ban; to exterminate”). See Num 21:3.
84 Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun (“he”) has been employed in the translation here for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
85 Heb “did not hear your voice and did not turn an ear to you.”
86 Heb “like the days which you lived.” This refers to the rest of the forty-year period in the desert before Israel arrived in Moab.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“Then you answered me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord. We ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every one of you fastened on his weapons of war and thought it easy to go up into the hill country. And the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’ So I spoke to you, and you would not listen; but you rebelled against the command of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the hill country. Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do and beat you down in Seir as far as Hormah. And you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to your voice or give ear to you. So you remained at Kadesh many days, the days that you remained there.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Then you replied, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.

But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’ ”

So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country. The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah. You came back and wept before the Lord, but he paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you. And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

“You answered me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ Then each of you put on his weapons of war and thought it would be easy to go up into the hill country.

“But the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them: Don’t go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from being defeated by your enemies.’ So I spoke to you, but you didn’t listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and defiantly went up into the hill country. Then the Amorites who lived there came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir as far as Hormah. When you returned, you wept before the Lord, but he didn’t listen to your requests or pay attention to you. For this reason you stayed in Kadesh as long as you did.

NLTNew Living Translation

“Then you confessed, ‘We have sinned against the Lord! We will go into the land and fight for it, as the Lord our God has commanded us.’ So your men strapped on their weapons, thinking it would be easy to attack the hill country.

“But the Lord told me to tell you, ‘Do not attack, for I am not with you. If you go ahead on your own, you will be crushed by your enemies.’

“This is what I told you, but you would not listen. Instead, you again rebelled against the Lord’s command and arrogantly went into the hill country to fight. But the Amorites who lived there came out against you like a swarm of bees. They chased and battered you all the way from Seir to Hormah. Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but he refused to listen. So you stayed there at Kadesh for a long time.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

“You replied and said to me, ‘We have sinned against Yahweh, and now we will go up and fight according to all that Yahweh our God commanded us’; and so each man fastened on his battle gear, and you regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country. So Yahweh said to me, ‘Say to them, “You shall not go up, and you shall not fight because I am not in your midst; you will be defeated before your enemies.” ’ So I spoke to you, but you did not listen; you rebelled against the command of Yahweh; you behaved presumptuously, and you went up into the hill country. The Amorites living in the hill country went out to oppose you and chased you as a swarm of wild honey bees do; and so they beat you down in Seir as far as Hormah. So you returned and wept before Yahweh; but Yahweh did not listen to your voice and did not pay any attention to you. You stayed in Kadesh many days; such were the days that you stayed there.

KJV 1900King James Version

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. 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. 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. 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. And ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.

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