1These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel on the other side of^a the Jordan in the desert,^b in the desert plateau^c opposite Suph, between Paran and between Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab. ²It is a journey of eleven days^d from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir^e up to Kadesh Barnea.

³And it was^f in the fortieth year, on the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the Israelites^g according to all that Yahweh had instructed him to speak to them. ⁴This happened after defeating^h Sihon king of the Amorites, who was reigningⁱ in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who was reigning^j in Ashtaroth in Edrei. ⁵On the other side of ^k the Jordan in the land of Moab Moses began to explain this law,^l saying:^m

Historical Prologue

⁶“Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying,ⁿ ‘You have stayed long enough^o at this mountain. ⁷Turn now and move on,^p and go into the hill of the Amorites^q and to all of the neighboring regions^r in the Jordan Valley^s in the hill country and in the Negev and in the coastal area along the sea, into the land of the Canaanites^t and into the Lebanon, as far as the great river Euphrates. ⁸Look, I have set the land before you;^u go and take possession of the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors,^v to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give it to them and to their offspring after them.’

⁹“And I spoke to them at that time, saying,^w ‘I am not able to bear you alone. ¹⁰Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and look; you are today as the stars of the heaven in number.^x ¹¹Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,^y may he add to you as you are now a thousand times, and may he bless you just as he promised you.^z ¹²How can I bear you by myself,^a your burden and your load and your strife? ¹³Choose for yourselves wise and discerning and knowledgeable men^b for each of your tribes, and I will appoint them as your leaders.’

¹⁴“And you answered me, and you said, ‘The thing you have said to do is good.’ ¹⁵And so I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and then I appointed them as leaders over you as commanders of groups of thousands and commanders of groups of hundreds and commanders of groups of fifties and commanders of groups of tens as officials for your tribes. ¹⁶And at that time I instructed your judges, saying, ‘hear out your fellow men,^c and then judge fairly^d between a man and between his brother and between his opponent who is a resident alien.^e ¹⁷You must not be partial^f in your judgment; ^g hear out the small person as also the great person; do not be intimidated by any person,^h because the judgment is God’s; and the case that is too difficultⁱ for you, bring it to me, and I will hear it out.’ ¹⁸And so I instructed you at that time concerning all of the things that you should do.

¹⁹“Then we set out from Horeb, and we went through the whole of that great and terrible desert that you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites^j as Yahweh our God had commanded us, and so we came up to Kadesh Barnea. ²⁰I said to you, ‘You have reached^k the hill country of the Amorites^l that Yahweh our God is giving to us. ²¹See, Yahweh your God has set before you the land; go up and possess it as Yahweh the God of your ancestors^m said to you; do not fear and do not be dismayed.’

²²“Then all of you approached me, and you said, ‘Let us send men before us,ⁿ and let them explore the land for us, and let them bring back a report^o to us concerning the way that we should take^p and concerning the cities that we shall come to.’ ²³The plan was good in my opinion,^q and so I took from among you twelve men, one from each tribe.^r ²⁴And they set out^s and went up into the hill country,^t and they went up to the valley^u of Eshcol, and they spied out the land. ²⁵They took in their hands^v some of the fruit^w of the land, and they brought it down to us, and they brought to us back a report,^x and they said, ‘The land that Yahweh our God is giving to us is good.’ ²⁶But you were not willing to go up, and you rebelled against the command^y of Yahweh your God. ²⁷And you grumbled in your tents, and you said, ‘Because of the hatred of Yahweh toward us he has brought us out from the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites^z to destroy us. ²⁸Where can we go up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt,^a saying,^b “The people are greater^c and taller than we are,^d and there are great fortified cities reaching up to heaven, and we saw the sons of the Anakites living there.” ’

²⁹“And so I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, and do not fear them. ³⁰Yahweh your God, who is going before you,^e will himself^f fight for you, just as^g he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, ³¹and just as he did in the wilderness^h whenⁱ you saw that^j Yahweh your God carried you, just as someone^k carries his son, all along the way that you traveled until you reached^l this place.’ ³²But through all of this you did not trust in Yahweh your God, ³³who goes^m before youⁿ on your^o way, seeking a place for your encampment, in fire at night and in a cloud by day, to show you the way that you should go.^p

³⁴“Then Yahweh heard the sound of your words, and he was angry, and he swore, saying,^q ³⁵‘No one of these men^r of this evil generation will see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors,^s ³⁶except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh; he himself^t shall see it, and to him I will give the land upon which he has trodden and to his sons^u because he followed Yahweh unreservedly.’^v ³⁷Even with me Yahweh was angry because of you, saying, ‘Not even you shall enter there. ³⁸Joshua, the son of Nun, your assistant,^w will go there; encourage him because he will cause Israel to inherit it. ³⁹And your little children, who you thought shall become plunder, and your sons, who do not today know good or bad, shall themselves^x go there, and I will give it to them, and they shall take possession of it. ⁴⁰But you turn and set out in the direction of the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.’^y

⁴¹“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,^z and you regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country. ⁴²So 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^a your enemies.” ’ ⁴³So I spoke to you, but you did not listen; you rebelled against the command of Yahweh;^b you behaved presumptuously, and you went up into the hill country. ⁴⁴The Amorites living in the hill country went out to oppose you^c and chased you as a swarm of wild honey bees do; and so they beat^d you down in Seir as far as Hormah. ⁴⁵So you returned and wept before Yahweh;^e but Yahweh did not listen to your voice and did not pay any attention to you. ⁴⁶You stayed in Kadesh many days; such were the days that you stayed there.

2“Then we turned and set out toward the wilderness^a in the direction of the Red Sea,^b as Yahweh told me, and we went around Mount Seir for many days. ²Yahweh spoke to me, saying,^c ³‘Long enough you have been skirting this mountain; turn yourselves north, ⁴and instruct^d the people, saying,^e “You are about to cross through the territory of your brothers, the descendants^f of Esau, who are living in Seir; they will be afraid of you, and so be very careful. ⁵Do not get involved in battle^g with them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a foot’s breadth^h of it; since I have given Mount Seir as a possession for Esau. ⁶You shall buy food from them so that you may eat; and also you shall purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. ⁷The fact of the matter is, Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work you have done;ⁱ he knows your travels^j with respect to this great wilderness; forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.” ’ ⁸And so we passed by our brothers, the descendants^k of Esau, who live in Seir, past the road of the Arabah,^l from Elath and Ezion Geber, and we turned and traveled along the route of the desert^m of Moab.

⁹And Yahweh said to me, ‘You shall not attack Moab, and you shall not engage in warⁿ with them, for I will not give you any of his land as a possession; I have given Ar to the descendants^o of Lot as a possession.’ ¹⁰(The Emim previously lived in it, a people large,^p numerous, and tall, like the Anakites. ¹¹They were reckoned also as Rephaim as the Anakites were; but the Moabites called them Emim. ¹²The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the descendants^q of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from among themselves,^r as Israel did with respect to the land of their^s possession that Yahweh gave to them.) ¹³So now arise and cross over the wadi^t of Zered yourselves; and so we crossed the wadi^u of Zered. ¹⁴Now the length of time^v that we had traveled from Kadesh Barnea until the time when we crossed the wadi^w of Zered was thirty-eight years, until the perishing of all of that generation; that is, the men of war from the midst of the camp as Yahweh had sworn to them. ¹⁵The hand of Yahweh was against them to root them out from the midst of the camp until they perished completely.

¹⁶“And then^x when all the men of war^y had died^z from among the people, ¹⁷Yahweh spoke to me, saying,^a ¹⁸‘You are about to cross over the boundary of Moab today^b at Ar. ¹⁹When you approach the border of^c the Ammonites,^d you shall not harass them, and you shall not get involved in battle with them, for I have not given the land of the Ammonites^e to you as a possession; because I have given it to the descendants^f of Lot as a possession. ²⁰(It is also considered the land of Rephaim; Rephaim lived in it previously,^g and the Ammonites called them Zamzummim, ²¹a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakites; Yahweh destroyed them from before them,^h and they dispossessed them and settled in place of them, ²²just as…

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Footnotes

aLiterally “in the beyond of”
bOr “the wilderness”
cOr “desert plain”; others render this as a named location, “Arabah”
dLiterally “one and ten days”
eLiterally “by the mountain of Seir”
fLiterally “and it happened” or “and then”
gLiterally “sons/children of Israel”
hLiterally “after he had struck down”
iOr “dwelling,” and in this context “reigning”
jOr “dwelling,” and in this context “reigning”
kLiterally “in the beyond of”
lHebrew torah
mLiterally “to say”
nLiterally “to say”
oLiterally “much time”
pLiterally “journey on with respect to yourselves” or “move yourselves out”
qHebrew “Amorite”
rOr “peoples”
sLiterally “Arabah,” arid stretches of land.
tHebrew “Canaanite”
uLiterally “before your face”
vOr “fathers”
wLiterally “to say”
xLiterally “with respect to multitude/abundance”
yOr “fathers”
zLiterally “spoke to you”
aLiterally “to me alone”
bLiterally “men wise and discerning and knowledgeable”
cLiterally “hear between your brothers,” with the idea of listening carefully in this context
dOr “righteously”
eLiterally “between his resident alien/non-Israelite who dwells temporarily among Israel”
fLiterally “recognize faces”
gLiterally “in the process of rendering a judgment”
hLiterally “do not fear before the faces of any man”
iOr “hard”
jHebrew “Amorite”
kLiterally “You have come up to”
lHebrew “Amorite”
mOr “fathers”
nLiterally “before our faces” or “ahead of us”
oLiterally “a word”
pLiterally “we should go up by it”
qLiterally “in my eyes”
rLiterally “man one from the tribe”
sLiterally “turned”
tLiterally “went up toward the hill country mountain”
uOr “wadi”
vHebrew “hand”
wLiterally “from the fruit”
xLiterally “a word”
yLiterally “mouth”
zHebrew “Amorite”
aLiterally “caused to melt our hearts”
bLiterally “to say”
cOr “bigger”
dHebrew “than us”
eLiterally “to your faces”
fThe Hebrew pronoun indicates emphasis
gLiterally “like all that”
hOr “desert”
iOr “where”
jOr “how”
kOr “a man”
lLiterally “you came”
mLiterally “is the one going”
nLiterally “before your faces”
oHebrew “the”
pLiterally “you should go in it”
qLiterally “to say”
rThe beginning of an oath in Hebrew; the text emphatically denies anyone of that evil generation the privilege of seeing the promised land
sOr “fathers”
tEmphatic use of the pronoun
uOr “descendants”
vLiterally “he filled his hands after Yahweh”
wLiterally “the one standing before you”
xThe Hebrew pronoun is used for emphasis
yLiterally “sea of reeds”
zLiterally “his vessels of battle”
aLiterally “in the faces of your enemies”
bLiterally “mouth of Yahweh”
cLiterally “to meet you”
dLiterally “cut”
eLiterally “before the faces of Yahweh”
aOr “desert”
bLiterally “sea of reeds”
cLiterally “to say”
dOr “command”
eLiterally “to say”
fOr “sons”
gOr “provoke”
hLiterally “a sole’s foot of space”
iLiterally “the work of your hand”
jLiterally “your journeying”
kOr “sons”
lOr “Jordan Valley” since the Arabah is an extension of it
mOr “wilderness”
nOr “battle”
oOr “sons”
pOr “great” in the sense of influential
qOr “sons”
rLiterally “from their presence”
sLiterally “its/his”
tA valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
uA valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
vLiterally “days”
wA valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
xLiterally “And it happened”
yOr “battle”
zLiterally “had finished/completed to die”
aLiterally “to say”
bLiterally “the day”
cLiterally “opposite”
dLiterally “the sons/children of Ammon”
eLiterally “the sons/children of Ammon”
fOr “sons”
gLiterally “before”
hThat is, the Ammonites