Deuteronomy 1

These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan, in the wilderness toward the west, near the Red Sea, between Pharan, Tophol, and Lobon, and Aulon, and the gilded places.

Eleven days' journey at Choreb, the road by Mount Seir as far as Kades Barne.

And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, that Moses spoke to all the sons of Israel according to all that the Lord had commanded him for them,

after he had struck down Seon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Esebon, and Og king of Basan, who dwelt in Astaroth and in Edrain.

Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to expound this law, saying:

The Lord our God spoke to us at Choreb, saying: Let it be enough for you to have dwelt on this mountain.

Turn and set out, and go into the mountain of the Amorites and to all the neighbors of Araba, to the mountain and the plain, and toward the southwest and the seacoast land of the Chananites, and Antilibanos, as far as the great river Euphrates.

See, I have delivered the land before you; go in and inherit the land which I swore to your fathers, to Abraam and Isaak and Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them.

And I said to you at that time: I am not able alone to bear you.

The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of heaven in multitude.

May the Lord, the God of your fathers, add to you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you as he has spoken to you.

How can I alone bear your trouble and your burden and your disputes?

Provide for yourselves men who are wise and knowledgeable and understanding for your tribes, and I will appoint them over you as your leaders.

And you answered me and said: The thing which you have spoken to do is good.

So I took from among you men who were wise and knowledgeable and understanding, and appointed them to lead over you as rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds and rulers of fifties and rulers of tens, and officers to assist your judges.

And I commanded your judges at that time, saying: Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother and his proselyte.

You shall not regard a person's face in judgment; you shall judge the small as well as the great; you shall not shrink back before the face of a man, for the judgment is God's. And any matter that is too hard for you, you shall bring it to me, and I will hear it.

And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.

And setting out from Choreb, we went through all that great and fearful wilderness which you saw, by the way of the mountain of the Amorite, as the Lord our God commanded us, and we came as far as Kades Barne.

And I said to you: You have come to the mountain of the Amorite, which the Lord our God is giving to you.

See, the Lord your God has delivered the land to you before your face; go up and inherit it, in the manner the Lord, the God of your fathers, said to you. Do not fear, nor be cowardly.

And you all came to me and said: Let us send men ahead of us, and let them survey the land for us and bring back to us an answer: the way by which we shall go up, and the cities into which we shall enter.

And the thing pleased me, and I took twelve men from among you, one man for each tribe.

And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came as far as the Ravine of the Cluster, and spied it out.

And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and said: The land which the Lord our God is giving to us is good.

But you were unwilling to go up, and you disobeyed the word of the Lord your God.

And you grumbled in your tents and said: Because the Lord hated us he brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us.

Where are we going up? Your brothers have turned your heart away, saying: A nation great and numerous and mightier than we, and cities great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of giants there.

And I said to you: Do not be terrified, nor be afraid of them.

The Lord your God who goes before your face, he himself will fight them together with you, according to all that he did for you in the land of Egypt,

and in this wilderness which you saw, how the Lord your God nourished you, as a man would nourish his son, along all the way which you journeyed until you came to this place.

Yet in this matter you did not trust in the Lord your God,

who goes before you on the way to choose out a place for you, guiding you by fire at night, showing you the way in which you should walk, and by cloud in the daytime.

And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and being provoked he swore, saying:

Surely not one of these men shall see this good land which I swore to their fathers,

except Chaleb son of Iephonne; he shall see it, and to him I will give the land upon which he trod, and to his sons, because he clung to the things of the Lord.

And the Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying: Neither shall you enter there.

Joshua son of Naue, who stands by you, he shall enter there. Strengthen him, for he shall give it to Israel as an inheritance.

And every young child who does not today know good or evil — they shall enter there, and to them I will give it, and they shall inherit it.

But as for you, turn back and encamp in the wilderness, by the way to the Red Sea.

And you answered me and said: We have sinned before the Lord our God. We ourselves will go up and fight according to all that the Lord our God commanded us. And each of you took up his weapons of war, and you gathered together and went up into the mountain.

And the Lord said to me: Say to them, You shall not go up nor fight, for I am not with you, lest you be crushed before your enemies.

And I spoke to you, but you did not listen to me; you transgressed the word of the Lord, and presumptuously went up into the mountain.

And the Amorite who dwelt in that mountain came out to meet you, and they pursued you as bees would do, and wounded you from Seir as far as Herma.

And you sat down and wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to your voice, nor give heed to you.

And you remained in Kades many days, as many days as you remained there.