Deuteronomy 1:37-2:15

English Standard Version

³⁷ Even with me ^(A)the Lord was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there. ^38 (B)Joshua the son of Nun, ^(C)who stands before you, he shall enter. ^(D)Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. ³⁹ And as for ^(E)your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today ^(F)have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. ⁴⁰ But as for you, ^(G)turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’

⁴¹ “Then you answered me, ^(H)‘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. ⁴² And the Lord said to me, ^(I)‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, ^(J)for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’ ⁴³ So I spoke to you, and you would not listen; but you rebelled against the command of the Lord and ^(K)presumptuously went up into the hill country. ^44 (L)Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you ^(M)as bees do and beat you down in Seir as far as ^(N)Hormah. ⁴⁵ And you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to your voice or give ear to you. ⁴⁶ So ^(O)you remained at Kadesh many days, the days that you remained there.

The Wilderness Years

2 “Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, ^(P)as the Lord told me. And for many days we traveled around Mount Seir. ² Then the Lord said to me, ³ ‘You have been traveling around this mountain country ^(Q)long enough. Turn northward ⁴ and command the people, “You are about to pass through the territory of ^(R)your brothers, the people of Esau, ^(S)who live in Seir; and ^(T)they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. ⁵ Do 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 ^(U)I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ^6 (V)You 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. ⁷ For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. ^(W)He knows your going through this great wilderness. ^(X)These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”’ ⁸ So ^(Y)we went on, away from our brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir, away from ^(Z)the Arabah road from ^(AA)Elath and ^(AB)Ezion-geber.

“And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. ⁹ And the Lord said to me, ^(AC)‘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 ^(AD)Ar to ^(AE)the people of Lot for a possession.’ ¹⁰ (^(AF)The Emim formerly lived there, ^(AG)a people great and many, and tall ^(AH)as the Anakim. ¹¹ Like the Anakim they are also counted as ^(AI)Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ^12 (AJ)The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but the people of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, ^(AK)as Israel did to the land of their possession, which the Lord gave to them.) ¹³ ‘Now rise up and go over ^(AL)the brook Zered.’ So we went over ^(AM)the brook Zered. ¹⁴ And the time from our leaving ^(AN)Kadesh-barnea until we crossed ^(AO)the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, ^(AP)until the entire generation, that is, the men of war, had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. ¹⁵ For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the camp, until they had perished.