Deuteronomy 1-5
New American Standard Bible
Chapter 1
1These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. 3In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, in accordance with everything that the Lord had commanded him to declare to them, 4after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei. 5Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this Law, saying,
6The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.
7Turn and set out on your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Negev, by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
8See, I have placed the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants after them.’
9And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘I am not able to endure you alone.
10The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number.
11May the Lord, the God of your fathers increase you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you, just as He has promised you!
12How can I alone endure the burden and weight of you and your strife?
13Obtain for yourselves men who are wise, discerning, and informed from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’
14And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’
15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and informed men, and appointed them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for your tribes.
16Then I ordered your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen and judge righteously between a person and his fellow countryman, or the stranger who is with him.
17You are not to show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You are not to be afraid of any person, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’
18At that time I commanded you all the things that you were to do.
19Then 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, just as the Lord our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.
20And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is about to give us.
21See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’
22Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us, so that they may spy 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 should enter.’
23The plan pleased me, and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe.
24Then they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.
25And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They also brought us back a report and said, ‘The land that the Lord our God is about to give us is good.’
26Yet you were unwilling to go up; instead you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God;
27and you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us.
28Where can we go up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, by saying, 'The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there.'?’
29But I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, nor fear them.
30The Lord your God, who goes before you, will Himself fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
31and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, on all of the road which you have walked until you came to this place.’
32Yet in spite of all this, you did not trust the Lord your God,
33who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to make camp, in the fire by night to show you the way by which you should go, and in the cloud by day.
34Then the Lord heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and swore an oath, saying,
35‘Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers,
36except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him I will give the land on which he has set foot, and to his sons, because he has followed the Lord fully.’
37The Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘Not even you shall enter there.
38Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, shall himself enter there; encourage him, for he will give it to Israel as an inheritance.
39Moreover, your little ones who, you said, would become plunder, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good and evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall take possession of it.
40But as for you, turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.’
41Then you replied to me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord; we ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every man of you strapped on his weapons of war, and you viewed it as easy to go up into the hill country.
42But the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, 'Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be defeated by your enemies.'?’
43So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead, you rebelled against the command of the Lord, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country.
44And the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do, and they scattered you from Seir to Hormah.
45Then you returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord did not listen to your voice, nor pay attention to you.
46So you remained at Kadesh for many days, the days that you spent there.
Chapter 2
1Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we circled Mount Seir for many days. 2And the Lord spoke to me, saying, 3‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, 4and command the people, saying, 'You are going to pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; 5do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even as much as a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. 6You are to 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. 7For the Lord your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wandering through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked anything.'?’
8So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
9Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not attack Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.’
10(The Emim lived there previously, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.
11Like the Anakim, they too are regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.
12The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and settled in their place; just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave them.)
13‘Now arise and cross over the Wadi Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the Wadi Zered.
14Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, just as the Lord had sworn to them.
15Indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.
16So it came about, when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people,
17that the Lord spoke to me, saying,
18‘Today you shall cross over Ar, the border of Moab.
19When you come opposite the sons of Ammon, do not attack 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 the sons of Lot as a possession.’
20(It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim, because the Rephaim previously lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin,
21a 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,
22just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place, where they remain even to this day.
23And as for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.)
24‘Arise, set out, and pass through the Valley of Arnon. Look! I have handed over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; start taking possession and plunge into battle with him.
25This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the faces of people everywhere, who, when they hear the news of you, will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’
26So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,
27‘Let me pass through your land; I will travel only on the road. I will not turn aside to the right or to the left.
28You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, only let me pass through on foot,
29just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.’
30But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to hand him over to you, as he is today.
31And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to turn Sihon and his land over to you. Begin taking possession, so that you may possess his land.’
32Then Sihon came out with all his people to meet us in battle at Jahaz.
33And the Lord our God turned him over to us, and we defeated him with his sons and all his people.
34So we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed the men, women, and children of every city. We left no survivor.
35We took only the animals as our plunder, and the spoils of the cities which we had captured.
36From Aroer which is on the edge of the Valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too high for us; the Lord our God turned it all over to us.
37Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had commanded us to avoid.
Chapter 3
1Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, came out with all his people to meet us in battle at Edrei. 2But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him and all his people and his land over to you; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’ 3So the Lord our God also handed over to us Og, king of Bashan, with all his people, and we struck them until no survivor was left. 4We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns. 6We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city. 7But all the animals and the spoils of the cities we took as our plunder.
8So at that time we took the land from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the Valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon
9(Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir):
10all the cities of the plateau, all Gilead, and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
11(For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron; it is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits, and its width four cubits by the usual cubit.)
12So we took possession of this land at that time. From Aroer, which is by the Valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites.
13The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob. (As to all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim.
14Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, that is, Bashan, and named it after his own name: Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.)
15To Machir I gave Gilead.
16To the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave from Gilead even as far as the Valley of Arnon, the middle of the valley as a border, and as far as the river Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon;
17the Arabah also, with the Jordan as a border, from Chinnereth even as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.
18Then I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to possess it; all you valiant men shall cross over armed ahead of your brothers, the sons of Israel.
19However, your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you,
20until the Lord gives rest to your fellow countrymen as to you, and they also take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving them beyond the Jordan. Then you may return, each man to his possession which I have given you.’
21And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen everything that the Lord your God has done to these two kings; the Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross.
22Do not fear them, for the Lord your God is the One fighting for you.’
23I also pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying,
24‘Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours?
25Please let me cross over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country, and Lebanon.’
26But the Lord was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me; instead, the Lord said to me, ‘ Enough! Do not speak to Me any more about this matter.
27Go up to the top of Pisgah and raise your eyes to the west, the north, the south, and the east, and see it with your eyes; for you shall not cross over this Jordan.
28But commission Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go across leading this people, and he will give to them, as an inheritance, the land which you will see.’
29So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.
Chapter 4
1Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you will live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you. 3Your eyes have seen what the Lord has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God has destroyed them from among you. 4But you who clung to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.
5See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you are to do these things in the land where you are entering to take possession of it.
6So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
7For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him?
8Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole Law which I am setting before you today?
9Only be careful for yourself and watch over your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.
10Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may have them hear My words so that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’
11You came forward and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire to the heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud, and thick gloom.
12Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form— there was only a voice.
13So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
14The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, so that you would perform them in the land where you are going over to take possession of it.
15So be very careful yourselves, since you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire,
16so that you do not act corruptly and make a carved image for yourselves in the form of any figure, a representation of male or female,
17a representation of any animal that is on the earth, a representation of any winged bird that flies in the sky,
18a representation of anything that crawls on the ground, or a representation of any fish that is in the water below the earth.
19And be careful not to raise your eyes to heaven and look at the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the heavenly lights, and allow yourself to be drawn away and worship them and serve them, things which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
20But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people of His own possession, as today.
21Now the Lord was angry with me on your account, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
22For I am going to die in this land; I am not crossing the Jordan, but you are going to cross, and you will take possession of this good land.
23So be careful yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you.
24For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25When you father children and have grandchildren, and you grow old in the land, and you act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger,
26I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that you will certainly perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to take possession of it. You will not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed.
27The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you.
28There you will serve gods, the work of human hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear, nor eat nor smell anything.
29But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.
30When you are in distress and all these things happen to you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.
31For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not abandon you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
32Indeed, ask now about the earlier days that were before your time, since the day that God created mankind on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?
33Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived?
34Or has a god ventured to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, just as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him.
36Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.
37Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power,
38driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is today.
39Therefore know today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.
40So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, so that it may go well for you and for your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.'
41Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east,
42for one to flee there who unintentionally killed his neighbor, without having hatred for him in time past; and by fleeing to one of these cities he might live:
43Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
44Now this is the Law which Moses set before the sons of Israel;
45these are the testimonies and the statutes, and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt,
46across the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt.
47And they took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan to the east,
48from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of Arnon, even as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon),
49with all the Arabah across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.
Chapter 5
1Now Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: 'Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances which I am speaking today for you to hear, so that you may learn them and be careful to do them. 2The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, all of us who are alive here today. 4The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire, 5while I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up on the mountain. He said,
8‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
9You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children, even on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
10but showing favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
12‘Keep the Sabbath day to treat it as holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.
13For six days you shall labor and do all your work,
14but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; you shall not do any work that day, you or your son or your daughter, or your male slave or your female slave, or your ox, your donkey, or any of your cattle, or your resident who stays with you, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you.
15And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to celebrate the Sabbath day.
22These words the Lord spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, from the cloud, and from the thick darkness, with a great voice, and He added nothing more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
23And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.
24You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with mankind, yet he lives.
25Now then, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die!
26For who is there of humanity who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
27Go near and listen to everything that the Lord our God says; then speak to us everything that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will listen and do it.’
28Now the Lord heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the sound of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.
29If only they had such a heart in them, to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it would go well with them and with their sons forever!
30Go, say to them, 'Return to your tents.'
31But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, so that they may follow them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’
32So you shall be careful to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left.
33You shall walk entirely in the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and that it may be well for you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.
King James Version
Chapter 1
1These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2(There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.) 3And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them; 4After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei: 5On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying, 6The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: 7Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. 8Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them. 9And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone: 10The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. 11(The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!) 12How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? 13Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. 14And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. 15So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. 16And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. 17Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. 18And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do. 19And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea. 20And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. 21Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. 22And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. 23And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: 24And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out. 25And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us. 26Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God: 27And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. 29Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. 30The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; 31And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. 32Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God, 33Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day. 34And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, 35Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, 36Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord. 37Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. 38But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. 40But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. 41Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill. 42And the Lord said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies. 43So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and went presumptuously up into the hill. 44And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah. 45And ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. 46So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.Chapter 2
1Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the Lord spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days. 2And the Lord spake unto me, saying, 3Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. 4And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore: 5Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. 6Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink. 7For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.
8And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
9And the Lord said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.
10The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;
11Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.
12The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the Lord gave unto them.
13Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.
14And the space in which we came from Kadeshbarnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware unto them.
15For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.
16So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,
17That the Lord spake unto me, saying,
18Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:
19And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.
20(That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;
21A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the Lord destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:
22As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day:
23And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)
24Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.
25This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.
26And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,
27Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left.
28Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet;
29(As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the Lord our God giveth us.
30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.
31And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land.
32Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.
33And the Lord our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.
34And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:
35Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.
36From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the Lord our God delivered all unto us:
37Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, nor unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the Lord our God forbad us.
Chapter 3
1Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2And the Lord said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. 3So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. 4And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many. 6And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. 7But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves. 8And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon; 9(Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;) 10All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man. 12And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites. 13And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants. 14Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashanhavothjair, unto this day. 15And I gave Gilead unto Machir. 16And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon; 17The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdothpisgah eastward. 18And I commanded you at that time, saying, The Lord your God hath given you this land to possess it: ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are meet for the war. 19But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you; 20Until the Lord have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the Lord your God hath given them beyond Jordan: and then shall ye return every man unto his possession, which I have given you. 21And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto these two kings: so shall the Lord do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest. 22Ye shall not fear them: for the Lord your God he shall fight for you. 23And I besought the Lord at that time, saying, 24O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? 25I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. 26But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. 27Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. 28But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see. 29So we abode in the valley over against Bethpeor.Chapter 4
1Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. 2Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. 3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. 4But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. 5Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? 9Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; 10Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. 11And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. 12And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. 13And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. 14And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. 15Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: 16Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, 18The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: 19And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. 20But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. 21Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: 22But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. 23Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. 24For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. 25When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger: 26I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. 27And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. 28And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; 31(For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them. 32For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? 33Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? 34Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him. 36Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. 37And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; 38To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. 39Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. 40Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever. 41Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising; 42That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live: 43Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites. 44And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: 45These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt, 46On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Bethpeor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt: 47And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sunrising; 48From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon, 49And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.Chapter 5
1And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. 2The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. 4The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, 5(I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying, 6I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 7Thou shalt have none other gods before me. 8Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: 9Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, 10And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. 11Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 12Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. 13Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: 14But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. 15And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. 16Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 17Thou shalt not kill. 18Neither shalt thou commit adultery. 19Neither shalt thou steal. 20Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. 21Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's. 22These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. 23And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; 24And ye said, Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth. 25Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die. 26For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it. 28And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken. 29O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! 30Go say to them, Get you into your tents again. 31But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. 32Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.Christian Standard Bible
Chapter 1
1These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab. 2It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir. 3In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, Moses told the Israelites everything the Lord had commanded him to say to them. 4This was after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei. 5Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:
6"The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb: ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough.
7Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites and their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the Judean foothills, the Negev and the sea coast—to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon as far as the great river, the Euphrates River.
8See, I have set the land before you. Enter and take possession of the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their future descendants.’
9"I said to you at that time: I can’t bear the responsibility for you on my own.
10The Lord your God has so multiplied you that today you are as numerous as the stars of the sky.
11May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times more, and bless you as he promised you.
12But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes by myself?
13Appoint for yourselves wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will make them your leaders.
15"So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and set them over you as leaders: commanders for thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for your tribes.
16I commanded your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge rightly between a man and his brother or his resident alien.
17Do not show partiality when deciding a case; listen to small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.
18At that time I commanded you about all the things you were to do.
19"We then set out from Horeb and went across all the great and terrible wilderness you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,
20I 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 set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.
22"Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let’s send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us back a report about the route we should go up and the cities we will come to.’
23The plan seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men from among you, one man for each tribe.
24They left and went up into the hill country and came to the Valley of Eshcol, scouting the land.
25They took some of the fruit from the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us back a report: ‘The land the Lord our God is giving us is good.’
26"But you were not willing to go up. You rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.
27You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘The Lord brought us out of the land of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites in order to destroy us, because he hates us.
28Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart, saying: The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, fortified to the heavens. We also saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’
29"So I said to you: Don’t be terrified or afraid of them!
30The Lord your God who goes before you will fight for you, just as you saw him do for you in Egypt.
31And you saw in the wilderness how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place.
32But in spite of this you did not trust the Lord your God,
33who went before you on the journey to seek out a place for you to camp. He went in the fire by night and in the cloud by day to guide you on the road you were to travel.
34"When the Lord heard your words, he grew angry and swore an oath:
35‘None of these men in this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give your fathers,
36except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he remained loyal to the Lord.’
37"The Lord was angry with me also because of you and said: ‘You will not enter there either.
38Joshua son of Nun, who attends you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will enable Israel to inherit it.
39Your children, whom you said would be plunder, your sons who don’t yet know good from evil, will enter there. I will give them the land, and they will take possession of it.
40But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.’
42"But the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them: Don’t go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from being defeated by your enemies.’
43So I spoke to you, but you didn’t listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and defiantly went up into the hill country.
44Then the Amorites who lived there came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir as far as Hormah.
45When you returned, you wept before the Lord, but he didn’t listen to your requests or pay attention to you.
46For this reason you stayed in Kadesh as long as you did.
Chapter 2
1"Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the Lord had told me, and we traveled around the hill country of Seir for many days. 2The Lord then said to me, 3‘You’ve been traveling around this hill country long enough; turn north. 4Command the people: You are about to travel through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful. 5Don’t provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a foot of it, because I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his possession. 6You may purchase food from them, so that you may eat, and buy water from them to drink. 7For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this immense wilderness. The Lord your God has been with you this past forty years, and you have lacked nothing.’
8"So we bypassed our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road and from Elath and Ezion-geber. We traveled along the road to the Wilderness of Moab.
9The Lord said to me, ‘Show no hostility toward Moab, and do not provoke them to battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’"
10The Emim, a great and numerous people as tall as the Anakim, had previously lived there.
11They were also regarded as Rephaim, like the Anakim, though the Moabites called them Emim.
12The Horites had previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out, destroying them completely and settling in their place, just as Israel did in the land of its possession the Lord gave them.
13"The Lord said, ‘Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.’ So we crossed the Zered Valley.
14The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley was thirty-eight years until the entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.
15Indeed, the Lord’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp until they had all perished.
16"When all the fighting men had died among the people,
17the Lord spoke to me,
18‘Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar.
19When you get close to the Ammonites, don’t show any hostility to them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the Ammonites’ land as a possession; I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’"
20This too used to be regarded as the land of the Rephaim. The Rephaim lived there previously, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummim,
21a great and numerous people, tall as the Anakim. The Lord destroyed the Rephaim at the advance of the Ammonites, so that they drove them out and settled in their place.
22This was just as he had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them; they drove them out and have lived in their place until now.
23The Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed the Avvites, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, and settled in their place.
24"The Lord also said, ‘Get up, move out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have handed the Amorites’ King Sihon of Heshbon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession of it; engage him in battle.
25Today I will begin to put the fear and dread of you on the peoples everywhere under heaven. They will hear the report about you, tremble, and be in anguish because of you.’
26"So I sent messengers with an offer of peace to King Sihon of Heshbon from the Wilderness of Kedemoth, saying,
27‘Let us travel through your land; we will keep strictly to the highway. We will not turn to the right or the left.
28You can sell us food in exchange for silver so we may eat, and give us water for silver so we may drink. Only let us travel through on foot,
29just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for us, and the Moabites who live in Ar, until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’
30But King Sihon of Heshbon would not let us travel through his land, for the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to hand him over to you, as has now taken place.
31"Then the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Begin to take possession of it.’
32So Sihon and his whole army came out against us for battle at Jahaz.
33The Lord our God handed him over to us, and we defeated him, his sons, and his whole army.
34At that time we captured all his cities and completely destroyed the people of every city, including the women and children. We left no survivors.
35We took only the livestock and the spoil from the cities we captured as plunder for ourselves.
36There was no city that was inaccessible to us, from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead. The Lord our God gave everything to us.
37But you did not go near the Ammonites’ land, all along the bank of the Jabbok River, the cities of the hill country, or any place that the Lord our God had forbidden.
Chapter 3
1"Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and King Og of Bashan came out against us with his whole army to do battle at Edrei. 2But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’ 3So the Lord our God also handed over King Og of Bashan and his whole army to us. We struck him until there was no survivor left. 4We captured all his cities at that time. There wasn’t a city that we didn’t take from them: sixty cities, the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5All these were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a large number of rural villages. 6We completely destroyed them, as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon, destroying the men, women, and children of every city. 7But we took all the livestock and the spoil from the cities as plunder for ourselves.
8"At that time we took the land from the two Amorite kings across the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Hermon,
9which the Sidonians call Sirion, but the Amorites call Senir,
10all the cities of the plateau, Gilead, and Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.
11(Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed was made of iron. Isn’t it in Rabbah of the Ammonites? It is 13½ feet long and 6 feet wide by a standard measure. )
12"At that time we took possession of this land. I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the area extending from Aroer by the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead along with its cities.
13I gave to half the tribe of Manasseh the rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og. The entire region of Argob, the whole territory of Bashan, used to be called the land of the Rephaim.
14Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took over the entire region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He called Bashan by his own name, Jair’s Villages, as it is today.
15I gave Gilead to Machir,
16and I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the area extending from Gilead to the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley was the border) and up to the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites.
17The Arabah and Jordan are also borders from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.
18"I commanded you at that time: The Lord your God has given you this land to possess. All your valiant men will cross over in battle formation ahead of your brothers the Israelites.
19But your wives, dependents, and livestock—I know that you have a lot of livestock—will remain in the cities I have given you
20until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession that I have given you.
21"I commanded Joshua at that time: Your own eyes have seen everything the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms you are about to enter.
22Don’t be afraid of them, for the Lord your God fights for you.
23"At that time I begged the Lord:
24Lord God, you have begun to show your greatness and your strong hand to your servant, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can perform deeds and mighty acts like yours?
25Please let me cross over and see the beautiful land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.
26"But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. The Lord said to me, ‘That’s enough! Do not speak to me again about this matter.
27Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west, north, south, and east, and see it with your own eyes, for you will not cross the Jordan.
28But commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit this land that you will see.’
29So we stayed in the valley facing Beth-peor.
Chapter 4
1"Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2You must not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, so that you may keep the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you. 3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed every one of you who followed Baal of Peor. 4But you who have remained faithful to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to possess. 6Carefully follow them, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples. When they hear about all these statutes, they will say, ‘This great nation is indeed a wise and understanding people.’ 7For what great nation is there that has a god near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to him? 8And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?
9"Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.
10The day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people before me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth and may instruct their children.’
11You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire into the heavens and enveloped in a totally black cloud.
12Then the Lord spoke to you from the fire. You kept hearing the sound of the words, but didn’t see a form; there was only a voice.
13He declared his covenant to you. He commanded you to follow the Ten Commandments, which he wrote on two stone tablets.
14At that time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to follow in the land you are about to cross into and possess.
15"Diligently watch yourselves—because you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb—
16so you don’t act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form,
17or the form of any animal on the earth, any winged creature that flies in the sky,
18any creature that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the waters under the earth.
19When you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the stars in the sky—do not be led astray to bow in worship to them and serve them. The Lord your God has provided them for all people everywhere under heaven.
20But the Lord selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace to be a people for his inheritance, as you are today.
21"The Lord was angry with me on your account. He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
22I won’t be crossing the Jordan because I am going to die in this land. But you are about to cross over and take possession of this good land.
23Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you, and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of anything he has forbidden you.
24For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25"When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, angering him,
26I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed.
27The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be reduced to a few survivors among the nations where the Lord your God will drive you.
28There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell.
29But from there, you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your soul.
30When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, in the future you will return to the Lord your God and obey him.
31He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God.
32"Indeed, ask about the earlier days that preceded you, from the day God created mankind on the earth and from one end of the heavens to the other: Has anything like this great event ever happened, or has anything like it been heard of?
33Has a people heard God’s voice speaking from the fire as you have, and lived?
34Or has a god attempted to go and take a nation as his own out of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35You were shown these things so that you would know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
36He let you hear his voice from heaven to instruct you. He showed you his great fire on earth, and you heard his words from the fire.
37Because he loved your fathers, he chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by his presence and great power,
38to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance, as is now taking place.
39Today, recognize and keep in mind that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other.
40Keep his statutes and commands, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper and so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time."
41Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east.
42Someone could flee there who committed manslaughter, killing his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him. He could flee to one of these cities and stay alive:
43Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau land, belonging to the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gadites; or Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manassites.
44This is the law Moses gave the Israelites.
45These are the decrees, statutes, and ordinances Moses proclaimed to them after they came out of Egypt,
46across the Jordan in the valley facing Beth-peor in the land of King Sihon of the Amorites. He lived in Heshbon, and Moses and the Israelites defeated him after they came out of Egypt.
47They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings who were across the Jordan to the east,
48from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon)
49and all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Dead Sea below the slopes of Pisgah.
Chapter 5
1Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am proclaiming as you hear them today. Learn and follow them carefully. 2The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3He did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today. 4The Lord spoke to you face to face from the fire on the mountain. 5At that time I was standing between the Lord and you to report the word of the Lord to you, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain. And he said:
7Do not have other gods besides me.
8Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.
9Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them, because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ iniquity to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,
11Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.
12Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you.
13You are to labor six days and do all your work,
20Do not give dishonest testimony against your neighbor.
21Do not covet your neighbor’s wife or desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
22"The Lord spoke these commands in a loud voice to your entire assembly from the fire, cloud, and total darkness on the mountain; he added nothing more. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
23All of you approached me with your tribal leaders and elders when you heard the voice from the darkness and while the mountain was blazing with fire.
24You said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with a person, yet he still lives.
25But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer.
26For who out of all mankind has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the fire, as we have, and lived?
27Go near and listen to everything the Lord our God says. Then you can tell us everything the Lord our God tells you; we will listen and obey.’
28"The Lord heard your words when you spoke to me. He said to me, ‘I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. Everything they have said is right.
29If only they had such a heart to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that they and their children would prosper forever.
30Go and tell them: Return to your tents.
31But you stand here with me, and I will tell you every command—the statutes and ordinances—you are to teach them, so that they may follow them in the land I am giving them to possess.’
New Living Translation
2Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir.
3But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses addressed the people of Israel, telling them everything the Lord had commanded him to say.
4This took place after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated King Og of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth.
6When we were at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough.
7It is time to break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the neighboring regions — the Jordan Valley, the hill country, the western foothills, the Negev, and the coastal plain. Go to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, and all the way to the great Euphrates River.
8Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.’'
9Moses continued, 'At that time I told you, ‘You are too great a burden for me to carry all by myself.
10The Lord your God has increased your population, making you as numerous as the stars!
11And may the Lord, the God of your ancestors, multiply you a thousand times more and bless you as he promised!
12But you are such a heavy load to carry! How can I deal with all your problems and bickering?
13Choose some well-respected men from each tribe who are known for their wisdom and understanding, and I will appoint them as your leaders.’
14Then you responded, ‘Your plan is a good one.’
15So I took the wise and respected men you had selected from your tribes and appointed them to serve as judges and officials over you. Some were responsible for a thousand people, some for a hundred, some for fifty, and some for ten.
16At that time I instructed the judges, ‘You must hear the cases of your fellow Israelites and the foreigners living among you. Be perfectly fair in your decisions
17and impartial in your judgments. Hear the cases of those who are poor as well as those who are rich. Don’t be afraid of anyone’s anger, for the decision you make is God’s decision. Bring me any cases that are too difficult for you, and I will handle them.’
19Then, just as the Lord our God commanded us, we left Mount Sinai and traveled through the great and terrifying wilderness, as you yourselves remember, and headed toward the hill country of the Amorites. When we arrived at Kadesh-barnea,
20I said to you, ‘You have now reached the hill country of the Amorites that the Lord our God is giving us.
21Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!’
23This seemed like a good idea to me, so I chose twelve scouts, one from each of your tribes.
24They headed for the hill country and came to the valley of Eshcol and explored it.
25They picked some of its fruit and brought it back to us. And they reported, ‘The land the Lord our God has given us is indeed a good land.’
26But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to go in.
27You complained in your tents and said, ‘The Lord must hate us. That’s why he has brought us here from Egypt — to hand us over to the Amorites to be slaughtered.
28Where can we go? Our brothers have demoralized us with their report. They tell us, 'The people of the land are taller and more powerful than we are, and their towns are large, with walls rising high into the sky! We even saw giants there — the descendants of Anak!'’
29But I said to you, ‘Don’t be shocked or afraid of them!
30The Lord your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt.
31And you saw how the Lord your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. Now he has brought you to this place.’
32But even after all he did, you refused to trust the Lord your God,
33who goes before you looking for the best places to camp, guiding you with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.
34When the Lord heard your complaining, he became very angry. So he solemnly swore,
35‘Not one of you from this wicked generation will live to see the good land I swore to give your ancestors,
36except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see this land because he has followed the Lord completely. I will give to him and his descendants some of the very land he explored during his scouting mission.’
37And the Lord was also angry with me because of you. He said to me, ‘Moses, not even you will enter the Promised Land!
38Instead, your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will lead the people into the land. Encourage him, for he will lead Israel as they take possession of it.
39I will give the land to your little ones — your innocent children. You were afraid they would be captured, but they will be the ones who occupy it.
40As for you, turn around now and go on back through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. ’
43This is what I told you, but you would not listen. Instead, you again rebelled against the Lord’s command and arrogantly went into the hill country to fight.
44But the Amorites who lived there came out against you like a swarm of bees. They chased and battered you all the way from Seir to Hormah.
45Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but he refused to listen.
46So you stayed there at Kadesh for a long time.
2Then at last the Lord said to me,
3‘You have been wandering around in this hill country long enough; turn to the north.
4Give these orders to the people: 'You will pass through the country belonging to your relatives the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. The Edomites will feel threatened, so be careful.
5Do not bother them, for I have given them all the hill country around Mount Seir as their property, and I will not give you even one square foot of their land.
6If you need food to eat or water to drink, pay them for it.
7For the Lord your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the Lord your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.'’
8So we bypassed the territory of our relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We avoided the road through the Arabah Valley that comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber. 'Then as we turned north along the desert route through Moab,
9the Lord warned us, ‘Do not bother the Moabites, the descendants of Lot, or start a war with them. I have given them Ar as their property, and I will not give you any of their land.’'
10(A race of giants called the Emites had once lived in the area of Ar. They were as strong and numerous and tall as the Anakites, another race of giants.
11Both the Emites and the Anakites are also known as the Rephaites, though the Moabites call them Emites.
12In earlier times the Horites had lived in Seir, but they were driven out and displaced by the descendants of Esau, just as Israel drove out the people of Canaan when the Lord gave Israel their land.)
14Thirty-eight years passed from the time we first left Kadesh-barnea until we finally crossed the Zered Brook! By then, all the men old enough to fight in battle had died in the wilderness, as the Lord had vowed would happen.
15The Lord struck them down until they had all been eliminated from the community.
16When all the men of fighting age had died,
17the Lord said to me,
18‘Today you will cross the border of Moab at Ar
19and enter the land of the Ammonites, the descendants of Lot. But do not bother them or start a war with them. I have given the land of Ammon to them as their property, and I will not give you any of their land.’'
20(That area was once considered the land of the Rephaites, who had lived there, though the Ammonites call them Zamzummites.
21They were also as strong and numerous and tall as the Anakites. But the Lord destroyed them so the Ammonites could occupy their land.
22He had done the same for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, for he destroyed the Horites so they could settle there in their place. The descendants of Esau live there to this day.
23A similar thing happened when the Caphtorites from Crete invaded and destroyed the Avvites, who had lived in villages in the area of Gaza.)
24Moses continued, 'Then the Lord said, ‘Now get moving! Cross the Arnon Gorge. Look, I will hand over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and I will give you his land. Attack him and begin to occupy the land.
25Beginning today I will make people throughout the earth terrified because of you. When they hear reports about you, they will tremble with dread and fear.’'
27‘Let us travel through your land. We will stay on the main road and won’t turn off into the fields on either side.
28Sell us food to eat and water to drink, and we will pay for it. All we want is permission to pass through your land.
29The descendants of Esau who live in Seir allowed us to go through their country, and so did the Moabites, who live in Ar. Let us pass through until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’
32Then King Sihon declared war on us and mobilized his forces at Jahaz.
33But the Lord our God handed him over to us, and we crushed him, his sons, and all his people.
34We conquered all his towns and completely destroyed everyone — men, women, and children. Not a single person was spared.
35We took all the livestock as plunder for ourselves, along with anything of value from the towns we ransacked.
36The Lord our God also helped us conquer Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Gorge, and the town in the gorge, and the whole area as far as Gilead. No town had walls too strong for us.
37However, we avoided the land of the Ammonites all along the Jabbok River and the towns in the hill country — all the places the Lord our God had commanded us to leave alone.
Chapter 3
1Next we turned and headed for the land of Bashan, where King Og and his entire army attacked us at Edrei. 2But the Lord told me, ‘Do not be afraid of him, for I have given you victory over Og and his entire army, and I will give you all his land. Treat him just as you treated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.’
3So the Lord our God handed King Og and all his people over to us, and we killed them all. Not a single person survived.
4We conquered all sixty of his towns — the entire Argob region in his kingdom of Bashan. Not a single town escaped our conquest.
5These towns were all fortified with high walls and barred gates. We also took many unwalled villages at the same time.
6We completely destroyed the kingdom of Bashan, just as we had destroyed King Sihon of Heshbon. We destroyed all the people in every town we conquered — men, women, and children alike.
7But we kept all the livestock for ourselves and took plunder from all the towns.
8So we took the land of the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River — all the way from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon.
9(Mount Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians, and the Amorites call it Senir.)
10We had now conquered all the cities on the plateau and all Gilead and Bashan, as far as the towns of Salecah and Edrei, which were part of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.
11(King Og of Bashan was the last survivor of the giant Rephaites. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It can still be seen in the Ammonite city of Rabbah.)
12When we took possession of this land, I gave to the tribes of Reuben and Gad the territory beyond Aroer along the Arnon Gorge, plus half of the hill country of Gilead with its towns.
13Then I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan — Og’s former kingdom — to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (This entire Argob region of Bashan used to be known as the land of the Rephaites.
14Jair, a leader from the tribe of Manasseh, conquered the whole Argob region in Bashan, all the way to the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. Jair renamed this region after himself, calling it the Towns of Jair, as it is still known today.)
15I gave Gilead to the clan of Makir.
16But I also gave part of Gilead to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. The area I gave them extended from the middle of the Arnon Gorge in the south to the Jabbok River on the Ammonite frontier.
17They also received the Jordan Valley, all the way from the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea, with the Jordan River serving as the western boundary. To the east were the slopes of Pisgah.
18At that time I gave this command to the tribes that would live east of the Jordan: ‘Although the Lord your God has given you this land as your property, all your fighting men must cross the Jordan ahead of your Israelite relatives, armed and ready to assist them.
19Your wives, children, and numerous livestock, however, may stay behind in the towns I have given you.
20When the Lord has given security to the rest of the Israelites, as he has to you, and when they occupy the land the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan River, then you may all return here to the land I have given you.’
21At that time I gave Joshua this charge: ‘You have seen for yourself everything the Lord your God has done to these two kings. He will do the same to all the kingdoms on the west side of the Jordan.
22Do not be afraid of the nations there, for the Lord your God will fight for you.’
23At that time I pleaded with the Lord and said,
24‘O Sovereign Lord, you have only begun to show your greatness and the strength of your hand to me, your servant. Is there any god in heaven or on earth who can perform such great and mighty deeds as you do?
25Please let me cross the Jordan to see the wonderful land on the other side, the beautiful hill country and the Lebanon mountains.’
26But the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he would not listen to me. ‘That’s enough!’ he declared. ‘Speak of it no more.
27But go up to Pisgah Peak, and look over the land in every direction. Take a good look, but you may not cross the Jordan River.
28Instead, commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead the people across the Jordan. He will give them all the land you now see before you as their possession.’
29So we stayed in the valley near Beth-peor.
Chapter 4
1And now, Israel, listen carefully to these decrees and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you.
3You saw for yourself what the Lord did to you at Baal-peor. There the Lord your God destroyed everyone who had worshiped Baal, the god of Peor.
4But all of you who were faithful to the Lord your God are still alive today — every one of you.
5Look, I now teach you these decrees and regulations just as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
6Obey them completely, and you will display your wisdom and intelligence among the surrounding nations. When they hear all these decrees, they will exclaim, ‘How wise and prudent are the people of this great nation!’
7For what great nation has a god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we call on him?
8And what great nation has decrees and regulations as righteous and fair as this body of instructions that I am giving you today?
9But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.
10Never forget the day when you stood before the Lord your God at Mount Sinai, where he told me, ‘Summon the people before me, and I will personally instruct them. Then they will learn to fear me as long as they live, and they will teach their children to fear me also.’
11You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while flames from the mountain shot into the sky. The mountain was shrouded in black clouds and deep darkness.
12And the Lord spoke to you from the heart of the fire. You heard the sound of his words but didn’t see his form; there was only a voice.
13He proclaimed his covenant — the Ten Commandments — which he commanded you to keep, and which he wrote on two stone tablets.
14It was at that time that the Lord commanded me to teach you his decrees and regulations so you would obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
15But be very careful! You did not see the Lord’s form on the day he spoke to you from the heart of the fire at Mount Sinai.
16So do not corrupt yourselves by making an idol in any form — whether of a man or a woman,
17an animal on the ground, a bird in the sky,
18a small animal that scurries along the ground, or a fish in the deepest sea.
19And when you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars — all the forces of heaven — don’t be seduced into worshiping them. The Lord your God gave them to all the peoples of the earth.
20Remember that the Lord rescued you from the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt in order to make you his very own people and his special possession, which is what you are today.
21But the Lord was angry with me because of you. He vowed that I would not cross the Jordan River into the good land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession.
22You will cross the Jordan to occupy the land, but I will not. Instead, I will die here on the east side of the river.
23So be careful not to break the covenant the Lord your God has made with you. Do not make idols of any shape or form, for the Lord your God has forbidden this.
24The Lord your God is a devouring fire; he is a jealous God.
26Today I call on heaven and earth as witnesses against you. If you break my covenant, you will quickly disappear from the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. You will live there only a short time; then you will be utterly destroyed.
27For the Lord will scatter you among the nations, where only a few of you will survive.
28There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone — gods that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
29But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.
30In the distant future, when you are suffering all these things, you will finally return to the Lord your God and listen to what he tells you.
31For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors.
32Now search all of history, from the time God created people on the earth until now, and search from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything as great as this ever been seen or heard before?
33Has any nation ever heard the voice of God speaking from fire — as you did — and survived?
34Has any other god dared to take a nation for himself out of another nation by means of trials, miraculous signs, wonders, war, a strong hand, a powerful arm, and terrifying acts? Yet that is what the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, right before your eyes.
35He showed you these things so you would know that the Lord is God and there is no other.
36He let you hear his voice from heaven so he could instruct you. He let you see his great fire here on earth so he could speak to you from it.
37Because he loved your ancestors, he chose to bless their descendants, and he personally brought you out of Egypt with a great display of power.
38He drove out nations far greater than you, so he could bring you in and give you their land as your special possession, as it is today.
39So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The Lord is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other.
40If you obey all the decrees and commands I am giving you today, all will be well with you and your children. I am giving you these instructions so you will enjoy a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.'
41Then Moses set apart three cities of refuge east of the Jordan River.
42Anyone who killed another person unintentionally, without previous hostility, could flee there to live in safety.
43These were the cities: Bezer on the wilderness plateau for the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth in Gilead for the tribe of Gad; Golan in Bashan for the tribe of Manasseh.
44This is the body of instruction that Moses presented to the Israelites.
45These are the laws, decrees, and regulations that Moses gave to the people of Israel when they left Egypt,
46and as they camped in the valley near Beth-peor east of the Jordan River. (This land was formerly occupied by the Amorites under King Sihon, who ruled from Heshbon. But Moses and the Israelites destroyed him and his people when they came up from Egypt.
47Israel took possession of his land and that of King Og of Bashan — the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan.
48So Israel conquered the entire area from Aroer at the edge of the Arnon Gorge all the way to Mount Sirion, also called Mount Hermon.
49And they conquered the eastern bank of the Jordan River as far south as the Dead Sea, below the slopes of Pisgah.)
2The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Mount Sinai.
3The Lord did not make this covenant with our ancestors, but with all of us who are alive today.
4At the mountain the Lord spoke to you face to face from the heart of the fire.
5I stood as an intermediary between you and the Lord, for you were afraid of the fire and did not want to approach the mountain. He spoke to me, and I passed his words on to you. This is what he said:
8You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind, or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.
9You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected — even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.
10But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
12Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.
13You have six days each week for your ordinary work,
14but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do.
15Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day.
23But when you heard the voice from the heart of the darkness, while the mountain was blazing with fire, all your tribal leaders and elders came to me.
24They said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the heart of the fire. Today we have seen that God can speak to us humans, and yet we live!
25But now, why should we risk death again? If the Lord our God speaks to us again, we will certainly die and be consumed by this awesome fire.
26Can any living thing hear the voice of the living God from the heart of the fire as we did and yet survive?
27Go yourself and listen to what the Lord our God says. Then come and tell us everything he tells you, and we will listen and obey.’
28The Lord heard the request you made to me. And he said, ‘I have heard what the people said to you, and they are right.
29Oh, that they would always have hearts like this, that they might fear me and obey all my commands! If they did, they and their descendants would prosper forever.
30Go and tell them, 'Return to your tents.'
31But you stand here with me so I can give you all my commands, decrees, and regulations. You must teach them to the people so they can obey them in the land I am giving them as their possession.’'
32So Moses told the people, 'You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following his instructions in every detail.
33Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
English Standard Version
Chapter 1
1These 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. 2It is eleven days ' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. 3In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them, 4after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei. 5Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying, 6"The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’
9"At that time I said to you, ‘I am not able to bear you by myself.
10The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven.
11May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you!
12How can I bear by myself the weight and burden of you and your strife?
13Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads.’
14And you answered me, ‘The thing that you have spoken is good for us to do.’
15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and set them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers, throughout your tribes.
16And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him.
17You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God 's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’
18And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.
19"Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrifying wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us. And we came to Kadesh-barnea.
20And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.
21See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’
22Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.’
23The thing seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe.
24And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out.
25And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.’
26"Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.
27And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
28Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, "The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there."’
29Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them.
30The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
31and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’
32Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God,
33who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.
34"And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore,
35‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers,
36except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the Lord!’
37Even with me the Lord was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there.
38Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
40But as for you, turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’
41"Then you answered me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord. We ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every one of you fastened on his weapons of war and thought it easy to go up into the hill country.
42And the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’
43So I spoke to you, and you would not listen; but you rebelled against the command of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the hill country.
44Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do and beat you down in Seir as far as Hormah.
45And you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to your voice or give ear to you.
46So you remained at Kadesh many days, the days that you remained there.
Chapter 2
1"Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, as the Lord told me. And for many days we traveled around Mount Seir. 2Then the Lord said to me, 3‘You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward 4and command the people, "You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. 5Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. 6You shall purchase food from them with money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink. 7For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing."’ 8So we went on, away from our brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road from Elath and Ezion-geber. "And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab.
9And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession.’
10(The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim.
11Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.
12The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but the people of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, as Israel did to the land of their possession, which the Lord gave to them.)
13‘Now rise up and go over the brook Zered.’ So we went over the brook Zered.
14And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation, that is, the men of war, had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.
15For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the camp, until they had perished.
16"So as soon as all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people,
17the Lord said to me,
18‘Today you are to cross the border of Moab at Ar.
19And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.’
20(It is also counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there — but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim —
21a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place,
22as he did for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them and they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day.
23As for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.)
24‘Rise up, set out on your journey and go over the Valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession, and contend with him in battle.
25This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’
26"So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon the king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,
27‘Let me pass through your land. I will go only by the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left.
28You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot,
29as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I go over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving to us.’
30But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as he is this day.
31And the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land.’
32Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz.
33And the Lord our God gave him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and all his people.
34And we captured all his cities at that time and devoted to destruction every city, men, women, and children. We left no survivors.
35Only the livestock we took as spoil for ourselves, with the plunder of the cities that we captured.
36From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. The Lord our God gave all into our hands.
37Only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not draw near, that is, to all the banks of the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, whatever the Lord our God had forbidden us.
Chapter 3
1"Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.’ 3So the Lord our God gave into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people, and we struck him down until he had no survivor left. 4And we took all his cities at that time — there was not a city that we did not take from them — sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many unwalled villages. 6And we devoted them to destruction, as we did to Sihon the king of Heshbon, devoting to destruction every city, men, women, and children. 7But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took as our plunder. 8So we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the Valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon 9(the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, while the Amorites call it Senir), 10all the cities of the tableland and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11(For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit. )
12"When we took possession of this land at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory beginning at Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead with its cities.
13The rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, that is, all the region of Argob, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (All that portion of Bashan is called the land of Rephaim.
14Jair the Manassite took all the region of Argob, that is, Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called the villages after his own name, Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.)
15To Machir I gave Gilead,
16and to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Valley of the Arnon, with the middle of the valley as a border, as far over as the river Jabbok, the border of the Ammonites;
17the Arabah also, with the Jordan as the border, from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.
18"And I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to possess. All your men of valor shall cross over armed before your brothers, the people of Israel.
19Only your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in the cities that I have given you,
20until the Lord gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they also occupy the land that the Lord your God gives them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession which I have given you.’
21And I commanded Joshua at that time, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing.
22You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.’
23"And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying,
24‘O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?
25Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’
26But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again.
27Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan.
28But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.’
29So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.
Chapter 4
1"And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. 3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. 4But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
9"Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children 's children —
10how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’
11And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom.
12Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.
13And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.
14And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.
15"Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,
16beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,
18the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.
19And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
20But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.
21Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.
22For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land.
23Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you.
24For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25"When you father children and children 's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger,
26I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed.
27And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you.
28And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
30When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice.
31For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.
32"For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.
33Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?
34Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
36Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.
37And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power,
38driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day,
39know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
40Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time."
41Then Moses set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan,
42that the manslayer might flee there, anyone who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without being at enmity with him in time past; he may flee to one of these cities and save his life:
43Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
44This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel.
45These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the rules, which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt,
46beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt.
47And they took possession of his land and the land of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan;
48from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount Sirion (that is, Hermon),
49together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.
Chapter 5
1And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. 2The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. 4The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, 5while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said:
8"‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
9You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
10but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
12"‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.
13Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
14but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
15You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
22"These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
23And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders.
24And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live.
25Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die.
26For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived?
27Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’
28"And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken.
29Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!
30Go and say to them, "Return to your tents."
31But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’
32You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
33You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.
New International Version
Chapter 1
1These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—that is, in the Arabah—opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2(It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.)
3In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.
4This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.
6The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain.
7Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates.
8See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them."
9At that time I said to you, "You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone.
10The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.
11May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised!
12But how can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself?
13Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you."
15So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials.
16And I charged your judges at that time, "Hear the disputes between your people and judge fairly, whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner residing among you.
17Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it."
18And at that time I told you everything you were to do.
19Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful wilderness that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.
20Then 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 you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
23The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe.
24They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshkol and explored it.
25Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, "It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us."
26But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.
27You grumbled in your tents and said, "The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.
28Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’ "
29Then I said to you, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them.
30The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,
31and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place."
32In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God,
33who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.
34When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore:
35"No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors,
36except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly."
37Because of you the Lord became angry with me also and said, "You shall not enter it, either.
38But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it.
39And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.
40But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea. "
43So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country.
44The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah.
45You came back and wept before the Lord, but he paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you.
46And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there.
2Then the Lord said to me,
3"You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north.
4Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful.
5Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own.
6You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’ "
10(The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites.
11Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites.
12Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the Lord gave them as their possession.)
14Thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.
15The Lord’s hand was against them until he had completely eliminated them from the camp.
16Now when the last of these fighting men among the people had died,
17the Lord said to me,
18"Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar.
19When you come to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them to war, for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot."
20(That too was considered a land of the Rephaites, who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites.
21They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. The Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place.
22The Lord had done the same for the descendants of Esau, who lived in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day.
23And as for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites coming out from Caphtor destroyed them and settled in their place.)
24"Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle.
25This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you."
26From the Desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying,
27"Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left.
28Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot—
29as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us—until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us."
30But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.
32When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz,
33the Lord our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army.
34At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them—men, women and children. We left no survivors.
35But the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves.
36From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The Lord our God gave us all of them.
37But in accordance with the command of the Lord our God, you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites, neither the land along the course of the Jabbok nor that around the towns in the hills.
Chapter 3
1Next we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei. 2The Lord said to me, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon."
3So the Lord our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors.
4At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them—the whole region of Argob, Og’s kingdom in Bashan.
5All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages.
6We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city—men, women and children.
7But all the livestock and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.
8So at that time we took from these two kings of the Amorites the territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon.
9(Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.)
10We took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salekah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.
11(Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites. His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)
12Of the land that we took over at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon Gorge, including half the hill country of Gilead, together with its towns.
13The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites.
14Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maakathites; it was named after him, so that to this day Bashan is called Havvoth Jair. )
15And I gave Gilead to Makir.
16But to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites.
17Its western border was the Jordan in the Arabah, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.
18I commanded you at that time: "The Lord your God has given you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of the other Israelites.
19However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you,
20until the Lord gives rest to your fellow Israelites as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you."
21At that time I commanded Joshua: "You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going.
22Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you."
23At that time I pleaded with the Lord:
24"Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do?
25Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon."
26But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. "That is enough," the Lord said. "Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.
27Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan.
28But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see."
29So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.
Chapter 4
1Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.
3You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,
4but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today.
5See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.
6Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."
7What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?
8And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?
9Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.
10Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, "Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children."
11You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.
12Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.
13He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets.
14And the Lord directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.
15You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully,
16so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman,
17or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air,
18or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below.
19And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
20But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.
21The Lord was angry with me because of you, and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance.
22I will die in this land; I will not cross the Jordan; but you are about to cross over and take possession of that good land.
23Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden.
24For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger,
26I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed.
27The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you.
28There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
29But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
30When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him.
31For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.
32Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?
33Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?
34Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
35You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.
36From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire.
37Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,
38to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.
39Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.
40Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.
41Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan,
42to which anyone who had killed a person could flee if they had unintentionally killed a neighbor without malice aforethought. They could flee into one of these cities and save their life.
43The cities were these: Bezer in the wilderness plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.
44This is the law Moses set before the Israelites.
45These are the stipulations, decrees and laws Moses gave them when they came out of Egypt
46and were in the valley near Beth Peor east of the Jordan, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites as they came out of Egypt.
47They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan.
48This land extended from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge to Mount Sirion (that is, Hermon),
49and included all the Arabah east of the Jordan, as far as the Dead Sea, below the slopes of Pisgah.
Chapter 5
1Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. 2The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. 4The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. 5(At that time I stood between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said:
8"You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
9You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
10but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
12"Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.
13Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
14but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.
15Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
23When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me.
24And you said, "The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them.
25But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer.
26For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived?
27Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey."
28The Lord heard you when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, "I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good.
29Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!
New King James Version
Chapter 1
1These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain opposite Suph, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. 3Now it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him as commandments to them, 4after he had killed Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei.
5On this side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying,
6“The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.
7Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates.
8See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.’
9“And I spoke to you at that time, saying: ‘I alone am not able to bear you.
10The Lord your God has multiplied you, and here you are today, as the stars of heaven in multitude.
11May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you!
12How can I alone bear your problems and your burdens and your complaints?
13Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.’
14And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have told us to do is good.’
15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes.
16“Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger who is with him.
17You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’
18And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.
19“So we departed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorites, as the Lord our God had commanded us. Then we came to Kadesh Barnea.
20And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.
21Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.’
23“The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe.
24And they departed and went up into the mountains, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.
25They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, ‘ It is a good land which the Lord our God is giving us.’
26“Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God;
27and you complained 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.
28Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.” ’
29“Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, or afraid of them.
30The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
31and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’
32Yet, for all that, you did not believe the Lord your God,
33who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day.
34“And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying,
35‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers,
36except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the Lord.’
37The Lord was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there.
38Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39‘Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
40But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.’
42“And the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies.”
43So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but rebelled against the command of the Lord, and presumptuously went up into the mountain.
44And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you as bees do, and drove you back from Seir to Hormah.
45Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.
2“And the Lord spoke to me, saying:
3‘You have skirted this mountain long enough; turn northward.
4And command the people, saying, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully.
5Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.
6You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.
8“And when we passed beyond our brethren, the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the road of the plain, away from Elath and Ezion Geber, we turned and passed by way of the Wilderness of Moab.
9Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”
10(The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim.
11They were also regarded as giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim.
12The Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave them.)
13“ ‘Now rise and cross over the Valley of the Zered.’ So we crossed over the Valley of the Zered.
14And the time we took to come from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp, just as the Lord had sworn to them.
15For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp until they were consumed.
16“So it was, when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people,
17that the Lord spoke to me, saying:
18‘This day you are to cross over at Ar, the boundary of Moab.
19And when you come near the people of Ammon, do not harass them or meddle with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”
20(That was also regarded as a land of giants; giants formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,
21a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place,
22just as He had done for the descendants of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, even to this day.
23And the Avim, who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza— the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and dwelt in their place.)
24“ ‘Rise, take your journey, and cross over the River Arnon. Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it, and engage him in battle.
25This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the nations under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’
26“And I sent messengers from the Wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,
27‘Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the road, and I will turn neither to the right nor to the left.
28You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink; only let me pass through on foot,
29just as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord our God is giving us.’
31“And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to possess it, that you may inherit his land.’
32Then Sihon and all his people came out against us to fight at Jahaz.
33And the Lord our God delivered him over to us; so we defeated him, his sons, and all his people.
34We took all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed the men, women, and little ones of every city; we left none remaining.
35We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we took.
36From Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, and from the city that is in the ravine, as far as Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us; the Lord our God delivered all to us.
37Only you did not go near the land of the people of Ammon—anywhere along the River Jabbok, or to the cities of the mountains, or wherever the Lord our God had forbidden us.
Chapter 3
1“Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan; and Og king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.’
3“So the Lord our God also delivered into our hands Og king of Bashan, with all his people, and we attacked him until he had no survivors remaining.
4And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
5All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many rural towns.
6And we utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city.
7But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took as booty for ourselves.
8“And at that time we took the land from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were on this side of the Jordan, from the River Arnon to Mount Hermon
9(the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir),
10all the cities of the plain, all Gilead, and all Bashan, as far as Salcah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
12“And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the River Arnon, and half the mountains of Gilead and its cities, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites.
13The rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to half the tribe of Manasseh. (All the region of Argob, with all Bashan, was called the land of the giants.
14Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maachathites, and called Bashan after his own name, Havoth Jair, to this day.)
15“Also I gave Gilead to Machir.
16And to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave from Gilead as far as the River Arnon, the middle of the river as the border, as far as the River Jabbok, the border of the people of Ammon;
17the plain also, with the Jordan as the border, from Chinnereth as far as the east side of the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.
18“Then I commanded you at that time, saying: ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to possess. All you men of valor shall cross over armed before your brethren, the children of Israel.
19But your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall stay in your cities which I have given you,
20until the Lord has given rest to your brethren as to you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God is giving them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession which I have given you.’
21“And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings; so will the Lord do to all the kingdoms through which you pass.
22You must not fear them, for the Lord your God Himself fights for you.’
23“Then I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying:
24‘O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds?
25I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.’
26“But the Lord was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. So the Lord said to me: ‘Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter.
27Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.
28But command Joshua, and encourage him and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you will see.’
Chapter 4
1“Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you. 2You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. 3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor; for the Lord your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor. 4But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.
5“Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess.
6Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
7“For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?
8And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?
9Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren,
10especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’
11“Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.
12And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice.
13So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
14And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess.
15“Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,
16lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,
17the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,
18the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth.
19And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.
20But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day.
21Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
22But I must die in this land, I must not cross over the Jordan; but you shall cross over and possess that good land.
23Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you.
24For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25“When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger,
26I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed.
27And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you.
28And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
29But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
30When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice
31(for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
32“For ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard.
33Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?
34Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.
36Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.
37And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power,
38driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day.
39Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
40You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
41Then Moses set apart three cities on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun,
42that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might live:
43Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
44Now this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel.
45These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt,
46on this side of the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated after they came out of Egypt.
47And they took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun,
48from Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, even to Mount Sion (that is, Hermon),
49and all the plain on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.
Chapter 5
1And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. 2The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. 4The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. 5I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He said:
6 ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
7 ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.
8 ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
9you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
10 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
11 ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
12 ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.
13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
14but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
17 ‘You shall not murder.
18 ‘You shall not commit adultery.
19 ‘You shall not steal.
20 ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
21 ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’
23“So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.
24And you said: ‘Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives.
25Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die.
26For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
27You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.’
28“Then the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me: ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken.
29Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!
30Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.”
31But as for you, stand here by Me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’
32“Therefore you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
33You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
