Deuteronomy 1:19–25

Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land

¹⁹“Then, just as the Lord our God had ordered us, we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, until we reached Kadesh-barnea.^{* 20}I said to you, ‘You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. ²¹See, the Lord your God has given the land to you; go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you; do not fear or be dismayed.’^*

²²“All of you came to me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us to explore the land for us and bring back a report to us regarding the route by which we should go up and the cities we will come to.’ ²³The plan seemed good to me, and I selected twelve of you, one from each tribe.^{* 24}They set out and went up into the hill country, and when they reached the Wadi Eshcol they spied it out^{* 25}and gathered some of the land’s produce, which they brought down to us. They brought back a report to us and said, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.’^*