Israel’s History after the Exodus

1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel aacross the Jordan in the wilderness, in the bArabah opposite 1Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab.

2 It is eleven days’ journey from aHoreb by the way of Mount bSeir to cKadesh-barnea.

3 In the afortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, baccording to all that the Lord had commanded him to give to them,

4 after he had 1adefeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and bOg the king of Bashan, who lived in cAshtaroth 2and Edrei.

5 Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying,

6 “The Lord our God aspoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have 1stayed long enough at this mountain.

7 ‘Turn and set your journey, and go to athe hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in bthe 1Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

8 ‘See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord aswore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their 1descendants after them.’

9 “I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘aI am not able to bear the burden of you alone.

10 ‘The Lord your God has amultiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number.

11 ‘May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are and bless you, ajust as He has 1promised you!

12 ‘How can I alone bear the load and burden of you and your strife?

13 ‘1aChoose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’

14 “You answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’

15 “So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and 1appointed them heads over you, leaders of thousands and 2of hundreds, 2of fifties and 2of tens, and officers for your tribes.

16 “Then I charged your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your 1fellow countrymen, and ajudge righteously between a man and his 2fellow countryman, or the alien who is with him.

17 ‘aYou shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall bnot fear 1man, for the judgment is God’s. cThe case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’

18 “aI commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.

19 “Then we set out from aHoreb, and went through all that bgreat and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the chill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us; and we came to aKadesh-barnea.

20 “I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the Lord our God is about to give us.

21 ‘See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. aDo not fear or be dismayed.’

22 “aThen all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter.’

23 “The thing pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe.

24 “aThey turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol and spied it out.

25 “Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought us back a report and said, ‘It is a good land which the Lord our God is about to give us.’

26 “aYet you were not willing to go up, but brebelled against the 1command of the Lord your God;

27 and ayou grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hates 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 can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw athe sons of the Anakim there.” ’

29 “Then I said to you, ‘Do not be shocked, nor fear them.

30 ‘The Lord your God who goes before you will aHimself fight on your behalf, 1just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

31 and in the wilderness where you saw how athe Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’

32 “But 1afor all this, you did not trust the Lord your God,

33 awho goes before you on your way, bto seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.

34 “Then the Lord heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and atook an oath, saying,

35 ‘aNot one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers,

36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and ato him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed the Lord fully.’

37 “aThe Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘bNot even you shall enter there.

38 ‘Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, ahe shall enter there; encourage him, for bhe will cause Israel to inherit it.

39 ‘Moreover, ayour little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have bno knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it.

40 ‘But as for you, aturn around and set out for the wilderness by the way to the 1Red Sea.’

41 “aThen you said to me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord; we will indeed go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every man of you girded on his weapons of war, and regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country.

42 “aAnd the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be 1defeated before your enemies.” ’

43 “So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead ayou rebelled against the 1command of the Lord, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country.

44 “aThe Amorites who 1lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you bas bees do, and crushed you from Seir to Hormah.

45 “Then you returned and wept before the Lord; but the aLord did not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

46 “So you remained in aKadesh many days, 1the days that you spent there.

Chapter 2

Wanderings in the Wilderness

1 “aThen we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way to the 1Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and circled bMount Seir for many days.

2 “And the Lord spoke to me, saying,

3 ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north,

4 aand command the people, saying, “You will pass through the bterritory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and cthey will be afraid of you. So be very careful;

5 do not 1provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a 2footstep abecause I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.

6 “You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink.

7 “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all 1that you have done; He has known your 2wanderings through this agreat wilderness. These bforty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.” ’

8 “So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the aArabah road, away from Elath and bfrom Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

9 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of 1their land as a possession, because I have given aAr to bthe sons of Lot as a possession.

10 (The aEmim lived there formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.

11 Like the Anakim, they are also regarded as aRephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

12 aThe Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, bjust as Israel did to the land of 1their possession which the Lord gave to them.)

13 ‘Now arise and cross over the 1brook Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the 1brook Zered.

14 “Now the 1time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the 2brook Zered was athirty-eight years, until ball the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, as cthe Lord had sworn to them.

15 “aMoreover the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.

16 “So it came about when aall the men of war had finally perished from among the people,

17 that the Lord spoke to me, saying,

18 ‘Today you shall cross over aAr, the border of Moab.

19 ‘When you come opposite the asons of Ammon, do not harass them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to bthe sons of Lot as a possession.’

20 (It is also regarded as the land of the aRephaim, for Rephaim formerly lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin,

21 a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim, but the Lord destroyed them before them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place,

22 just as He did for the sons of Esau, who alive in Seir, when He destroyed bthe Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day.

23 And the aAvvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the 1bCaphtorim who came from 2cCaphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.)

24 ‘Arise, set out, and pass through the 1avalley of Arnon. Look! I have given Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand; begin to take possession and contend with him in battle.

25 ‘This day I will begin to put athe dread and fear of you 1upon the peoples 2everywhere under the heavens, who, when they hear