A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Deuteronomy 1
Deuteronomy 1 is the opening chapter of the fifth and final book of the Law. The 46-verse chapter begins Moses' first farewell speech to the Israelites, delivered on the plains of Moab across the Jordan River from the Promised Land, in the fortieth year after the exodus.
The chapter opens by setting the time, place, and audience precisely. The Israelites are camped east of the Jordan, ready to cross into Canaan. Moses begins to review the journey from Sinai to where they now stand.
He recalls God's command at Sinai to leave the mountain and head for the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He recalls his own complaint about the impossible burden of leading the people alone, and the appointment of tribal leaders to share the work. He recalls the journey from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea on the edge of the Promised Land.
The bulk of the chapter retells the failure at Kadesh-barnea. Twelve spies were sent into Canaan; ten returned with a fearful report; the people refused to enter the land. God sentenced that generation to die in the wilderness. When the people then changed their minds and tried to invade anyway against God's command, they were defeated and driven back by the Amorites.
The chapter closes with the Israelites returning to Kadesh and remaining there many days. The forty years of wandering have brought them back to the same edge of the Promised Land, this time as a new generation ready to enter.
Verse 1. These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—in the Arabah opposite Suph—between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
Verse 2. It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir.
Verse 3. In 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.
Verse 4. This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and then at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.
Verse 5. On the east side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:
Verse 6. The LORD our God said to us at Horeb: “You have stayed at this mountain long enough.
Verse 7. Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the foothills, in the Negev, and along the seacoast to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great River Euphrates.
Verse 8. See, I have placed the land before you. Enter and possess the land that the LORD swore He would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants after them.”
Verse 9. At that time I said to you, “I cannot carry the burden for you alone.
Verse 10. The LORD your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Verse 11. May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times over and bless you as He has promised.
Verse 12. But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes all by myself?
Verse 13. Choose for yourselves wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will appoint them as your leaders.”
Verse 14. And you answered me and said, “What you propose to do is good.”
Verse 15. So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them as leaders over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and as officers for your tribes.
Verse 16. At that time I charged your judges: “Hear the disputes between your brothers, and judge fairly between a man and his brother or a foreign resident.
Verse 17. Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.”
Verse 18. And at that time I commanded you all the things you were to do.
Verse 19. And just as the LORD our God had commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites, through all the vast and terrifying wilderness you have seen. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,
Verse 20. I said: “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us.
Verse 21. See, the LORD your God has placed 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.”
Verse 22. Then all of you approached me and said, “Let us send men ahead of us to search out the land and bring us word of what route to follow and which cities to enter.”
Verse 23. The plan seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men from among you, one from each tribe.
Verse 24. They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied out the land.
Verse 25. They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us word: “It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
Verse 26. But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God.
Verse 27. You grumbled 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 be annihilated.
Verse 28. Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’”
Verse 29. So I said to you: “Do not be terrified or afraid of them!
Verse 30. The LORD your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt
Verse 31. and in the wilderness, where the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way by which you traveled until you reached this place.”
Verse 32. But in spite of all this, you did not trust the LORD your God,
Verse 33. who went before you on the journey, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to seek out a place for you to camp and to show you the road to travel.
Verse 34. When the LORD heard your words, He grew angry and swore an oath, saying,
Verse 35. “Not one of the men of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your fathers,
Verse 36. except Caleb 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 followed the LORD wholeheartedly.”
Verse 37. The LORD was also angry with me on your account, and He said, “Not even you shall enter the land.
Verse 38. Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will enable Israel to inherit the land.
Verse 39. And the little ones you said would become captives—your children who on that day did not know good from evil—will enter the land that I will give them, and they will possess it.
Verse 40. But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”
Verse 41. “We have sinned against the LORD,” you replied. “We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God has commanded us.” Then each of you put on his weapons of war, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.
Verse 42. But the LORD said to me, “Tell them not to go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from defeat by your enemies.”
Verse 43. So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the command of the LORD and presumptuously went up into the hill country.
Verse 44. Then the Amorites who lived in the hills came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir all the way to Hormah.
Verse 45. And you returned and wept before the LORD, but He would not listen to your voice or give ear to you.
Verse 46. For this reason you stayed in Kadesh for a long time—a very long time.
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