1These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. 3It happened 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 in commandment to them; 4after he had struck 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, began Moses to declare this law, saying,

6"The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, You have lived long enough in this mountain: 7turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all the places near there, in the Arabah, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the Negev, and by the sea coast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Perath. 8Look, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which I swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their descendants after them."

9I spoke to you at that time, saying, "I am not able to bear you myself alone: 10The LORD your God has multiplied you, and look, you are this day as the stars of the sky for multitude. 11The 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 myself alone bear your encumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? 13Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you." 14You answered me, and said, "The thing which you have spoken is good to do." 15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes.

16I commanded your judges at that time, saying, "Hear cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him. 17You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it." 18I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.

19We traveled from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20I said to you, "You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God gives to us. 21Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you: go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you; do not be afraid, neither be dismayed."

22You came near to me everyone of you, and said, "Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we shall come." 23The thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe: 24and they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25They took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, "It is a good land which the LORD our God gives to us."

26Yet you wouldn't go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God: 27and you murmured in your tents, and said, "Because the LORD hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart to melt, saying, 'The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to the sky; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.'" 29Then I said to you, "Do not dread, neither be afraid of them. 30The LORD your God who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31and in the wilderness, where you have seen how that the LORD your God bore you, as a man does bear his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place." 32Yet in this thing 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, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day.

34The LORD heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying, 35"Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land, which I swore to give to your fathers, 36except Caleb the son of Jephunneh: he shall see it; and to him will I give the land that he has trodden on, and to his children, because he has wholly followed the LORD." 37Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, "You also shall not go in there: 38Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, because he will cause Israel to inherit it. 39Moreover your little ones, whom you said should be a prey, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it. 40But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Lake of Reeds."

41Then you answered and said to me, "We have sinned against the LORD our God, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us." Every man of you put on his weapons of war, and presumed to go up into the hill country. 42The LORD said to me, "Tell them, 'Do not go up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest you be struck before your enemies.'" 43So I spoke to you, and you did not listen; but you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill country. 44The Amorites, who lived in that hill country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to Hormah. 45You returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD did not listen to your voice, nor gave ear to you. 46So you stayed in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained.