Deuteronomy 1-2

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

I. First Address

Chapter 1

Introduction. ^1 [a]These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah, opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. ² It is a journey of eleven days from Horeb^[b] to Kadesh-barnea by way of the highlands of Seir.

³ In the fortieth year,^[c] on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the Israelites according to all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to them, ⁴ after he had defeated Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon,^(A) and Og, king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei. ⁵ Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law:

Departure from Horeb. ^6 [d](B)The Lord, our God, said to us at Horeb:^[e] You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Leave here and go to the hill country of the Amorites^[f] and to all the surrounding regions, the Arabah, the mountains, the Shephelah, the Negeb and the seacoast—the land of the Canaanites and the Lebanon as far as the Great River, the Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have given that land over to you.^(C) Go now and possess the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their descendants after them.

Appointment of Elders. ^9 (D)At that time I said to you, “I am unable to carry you by myself.^{(E) 10} The Lord, your God, has made you numerous, and now you are as numerous as the stars of the heavens.^{(F) 11} May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times over, and bless you as he promised! ¹² But how can I, by myself, bear the weight, the contentiousness of you? ¹³ Provide wise, discerning, and reputable persons for each of your tribes, that I may appoint them as your leaders.” ¹⁴ You answered me, “What you have proposed is good.” ¹⁵ So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and reputable, and set them as leaders over you, commanders over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties and over tens, and other tribal officers. ^16 (G)I charged your judges at that time, “Listen to complaints among your relatives, and administer true justice to both parties even if one of them is a resident alien. ¹⁷ In rendering judgment, do not consider who a person is; give ear to the lowly and to the great alike, fearing no one, for the judgment is God’s. Any case that is too difficult for you bring to me and I will hear it.” ¹⁸ Thus I charged you, at that time, with all the things you were to do.

The Twelve Scouts. ^19 (H)Then we set out from Horeb and journeyed through that whole vast and fearful wilderness that you have seen, in the direction of the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord, our God, had commanded; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.^{(I) 20} I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord, our God, is giving us. ²¹ See, the Lord, your God, has given this land over to you. Go up and take possession of it, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” ²² Then all of you approached me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and report to us on the road we should follow and the cities we will come upon.” ²³ Agreeing with the proposal, I took twelve men from your number, one from each tribe. ²⁴ They set out into the hill country as far as the Wadi Eshcol, and explored it. ²⁵ Then, taking along some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, “The land the Lord, our God, is giving us is good.”

Threats of Revolt. ^26 (J)But you refused to go up;^(K) you defied the command of the Lord, your God. ²⁷ You set to murmuring in your tents, “Out of hatred for us the Lord has brought us out of the land of Egypt,^(L) to deliver us into the power of the Amorites and destroy us. ²⁸ What shall we meet with up there? Our men have made our hearts melt by saying, ‘The people are bigger and taller than we, and their cities are large and fortified to the sky; besides, we saw the Anakim^[g] there.’”^(M)

²⁹ But I said to you, “Have no dread or fear of them. ^30 (N)The Lord, your God, who goes before you, is the one who will fight for you, just as he acted with you before your very eyes in Egypt, ³¹ as well as in the wilderness, where you saw how the Lord, your God, carried you, as one carries his own child, all along your journey until you arrived at this place.” ³² Despite this, you would not trust the Lord, your God, ³³ who journeys before you to find you a place to camp—by night in the fire, and by day in the cloud, to show you the way to go.^{(O) 34} When the Lord heard your words, he was angry, and took an oath: ³⁵ Not a single one of this evil generation shall look upon the good land I swore to give to your ancestors, ³⁶ except Caleb,^[h] son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, for to him and to his descendants I will give the land he trod upon,^(P) because he has fully followed the Lord.

³⁷ The Lord was angered against me also on your account, and said, You shall not enter there either,^{(Q) 38} but Joshua,^(R) son of Nun, your attendant, shall enter. Encourage him, for he is the one who is to give Israel its possession. ³⁹ Your little ones, who you said would become plunder, and your children, who as yet do not know good from evil—they shall enter there; to them I will give it, and they shall take possession of it. ⁴⁰ But as for yourselves: turn back and proceed into the wilderness on the Red Sea road.

Unsuccessful Invasion. ^41 (S)In reply you said to me, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up ourselves and fight, just as the Lord, our God, commanded us.” And each of you girded on his weapons, making light of going up into the hill country. ⁴² But the Lord said to me, Warn them: Do not go up and fight—for I will not be in your midst—lest you be beaten down before your enemies. ⁴³ I gave you this warning but you would not listen. You defied the Lord’s command and arrogantly went off into the hill country. ⁴⁴ Then the Amorites living in that hill country came out against you and put you to flight the way bees do, cutting you down in Seir as far as Hormah. ⁴⁵ On your return you wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to your voice or give ear to you. ⁴⁶ That is why you had to stay as long as you did at Kadesh.

Chapter 2

Northward Along Edom. ^1 (T)Then we turned and proceeded into the wilderness on the Red Sea road,^(U) as the Lord had told me, and circled around the highlands of Seir for a long time. ² Finally the Lord said to me, ³ You have wandered round these highlands long enough; turn and go north. ⁴ Command the people: You are now about to pass through the territory of your relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. Though they are afraid of you, be very careful ⁵ not to come in conflict with them, for I will not give you so much as a foot of their land, since I have already given Esau possession of the highlands of Seir.^{(V) 6} You shall purchase from them with money the food you eat; even the water you drink you shall buy from them with money. ⁷ Surely, the Lord, your God, has blessed you in all your undertakings; he has been concerned^[i] about your journey through this vast wilderness. It is now forty years that the Lord, your God, has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.^{(W) 8} So we passed by our relatives, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, leaving behind us the Arabah route, Elath, and Ezion-geber.

Along Moab. Then we turned and passed on toward the wilderness of Moab. ^9 (X)And the Lord said to me, Do not show hostility to the Moabites or engage them in battle, for I will not give you possession of any of their land, since I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.^{(Y) 10} (Formerly the Emim lived there, a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakim;^{(Z) 11} like the Anakim they are considered Rephaim, though the Moabites call them Emim.^{(AA) 12} In Seir, however, the former inhabitants were the Horites;^(AB) the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, clearing them out of the way and dwelling in their place, just as Israel has done in the land of its possession which the Lord gave it.) ¹³ Now get ready to cross the Wadi Zered.

So we crossed the Wadi Zered. ^14 (AC)Now thirty-eight years had elapsed between our departure from Kadesh-barnea and the crossing of the Wadi Zered; in the meantime the whole generation of soldiers had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn they should. ¹⁵ Indeed the Lord’s own hand was against them, to rout them from the camp completely.

Along Ammon. ^16 (AD)When at length death had put an end to all the soldiers among the people, ¹⁷ the Lord said to me, ¹⁸ You are now about to leave Ar and the territory of Moab behind. ¹⁹ As you come opposite the Ammonites,^(AE) do not show hostility or come in conflict with them, for I will not give you possession of any land of the Ammonites, since I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession. ²⁰ (This also is considered a country of the Rephaim; formerly the Rephaim dwelt there. The Ammonites call them Zamzummim,^{(AF) 21} a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakim. But these, too, the Lord cleared out of the way for the Ammonites, so that they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place.^{(AG) 22} He did the same for the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, by clearing the Horites out of their way, so that they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place down to the present.^{(AH) 23} As for the Avvim, who once lived in villages in the vicinity of Gaza,^[j] the Caphtorim, migrating from Caphtor, cleared them away and dwelt in their place.)^(AI)

Defeat of Sihon. ^24 (AJ)Advance now across the Wadi Arnon. I now deliver into your power Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession; engage him in battle.^{(AK) 25} This day I will begin to put a fear and dread of you into the peoples everywhere under heaven, so that at the mention of your name they will quake and tremble before you.

²⁶ So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with this offer of peace: ²⁷ “Let me pass through your country. I will travel only on the road. I will not turn aside either to the right or to the left. ²⁸ The food I eat you will sell me for money, and the water I drink, you will give me for money. Only let me march through, ²⁹ as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar have done, until I cross the Jordan into the land the Lord, our God, is about to give us.”^{(AL) 30} But Sihon, king of Heshbon, refused to let us pass through his land, because the Lord, your God, made him stubborn in mind and obstinate in heart that he might deliver him into your power, as indeed he has now done.

³¹ Then the Lord said to me, Now that I have already begun to give over to you Sihon and his land, begin to take possession. ³² So Sihon and all his people advanced against us to join battle at Jahaz; ³³ but since the Lord, our God, had given him over to us, we defeated him and his sons and all his people. ^34 (AM)At that time we captured all his cities and put every city under the ban,^[k] men, women and children; we left no survivor. ³⁵ Our only plunder was the livestock and the spoils of the captured cities. ³⁶ From Aroer on the edge of the Wadi Arnon and from the town in the wadi itself, as far as Gilead,^(AN) no city was too well fortified for us. All of them the Lord, our God, gave over to us. ³⁷ However, just as the Lord, our God, commanded us, you did not encroach upon any of the Ammonite land, neither the region bordering on the Wadi Jabbok, nor the cities of the highlands.^(AO)