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Deuteronomy 1
New International Version
Deuteronomy 1
New International Version
The Command to Leave Horeb
1 These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan(A)—that is, in the Arabah(B)—opposite Suph, between Paran(C) and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2 (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb(D) to Kadesh Barnea(E) by the Mount Seir(F) road.)(G)
3 In the fortieth year,(H) on the first day of the eleventh month,(I) Moses proclaimed(J) to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them. 4 This was after he had defeated Sihon(K) king of the Amorites,(L) who reigned in Heshbon,(M) and at Edrei had defeated Og(N) king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.(O)
5 East of the Jordan in the territory of Moab,(P) Moses began to expound this law, saying:
6 The Lord our God said to us(Q) at Horeb,(R) “You have stayed long enough(S) at this mountain. 7 Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites;(T) go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah,(U) in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev(V) and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites(W) and to Lebanon,(X) as far as the great river, the Euphrates.(Y) 8 See, I have given you this land(Z).(AA) Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore(AB) he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”
The Appointment of Leaders
9 At that time I said to you, “You are too heavy a burden(AC) for me to carry alone.(AD) 10 The Lord your God has increased(AE) your numbers(AF) so that today you are as numerous(AG) as the stars in the sky.(AH) 11 May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase(AI) you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised!(AJ) 12 But how can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself?(AK) 13 Choose some wise, understanding and respected men(AL) from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.”
14 You answered me, “What you propose to do is good.”
15 So I took(AM) the leading men of your tribes,(AN) wise and respected men,(AO) and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders(AP) of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials.(AQ) 16 And I charged your judges at that time, “Hear the disputes between your people and judge(AR) fairly,(AS) whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner residing among you.(AT) 17 Do not show partiality(AU) in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone,(AV) for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.”(AW) 18 And at that time I told you everything you were to do.(AX)
Spies Sent Out
19 Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites(AY) through all that vast and dreadful wilderness(AZ) that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.(BA) 20 Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. 21 See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession(BB) of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid;(BC) do not be discouraged.”(BD)
22 Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy(BE) out the land(BF) for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”
23 The idea seemed good to me; so I selected(BG) twelve of you, one man from each tribe. 24 They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshkol(BH) and explored it. 25 Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported,(BI) “It is a good land(BJ) that the Lord our God is giving us.”(BK)
Rebellion Against the Lord
26 But you were unwilling to go up;(BL) you rebelled(BM) against the command of the Lord your God. 27 You grumbled(BN) 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. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller(BO) than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites(BP) there.’”
29 Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid(BQ) of them.(BR) 30 The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight(BS) for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, 31 and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried(BT) you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”(BU)
32 In spite of this,(BV) you did not trust(BW) in the Lord your God, 33 who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day,(BX) to search(BY) out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.
34 When the Lord heard(BZ) what you said, he was angry(CA) and solemnly swore:(CB) 35 “No one from this evil generation shall see the good land(CC) I swore to give your ancestors, 36 except Caleb(CD) 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.(CE)”
37 Because of you the Lord became angry(CF) with me also and said, “You shall not enter(CG) it, either. 38 But your assistant, Joshua(CH) son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage(CI) him, because he will lead(CJ) Israel to inherit(CK) it. 39 And the little ones that you said would be taken captive,(CL) your children who do not yet know(CM) good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. 40 But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.[a](CN)”
41 Then you replied, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.
42 But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’”(CO)
43 So 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. 44 The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees(CP) and beat you down from Seir(CQ) all the way to Hormah.(CR) 45 You came back and wept before the Lord,(CS) but he paid no attention(CT) to your weeping and turned a deaf ear(CU) to you. 46 And so you stayed in Kadesh(CV) many days—all the time you spent there.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 1:40 Or the Sea of Reeds
Deuteronomy 1
Expanded Bible
Deuteronomy 1
Expanded Bible
Moses Talks to the Israelites
1 ·This is the message [L These are the words] Moses gave to all the people of Israel in the ·desert [wilderness] east of the Jordan River. They were in the ·desert [wilderness] area near Suph, between Paran and the towns of Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
2 (The trip from Mount Sinai to Kadesh Barnea on the Mount Seir road takes eleven days.) 3 ·Forty years after the Israelites had left Egypt [L In the fortieth year], on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses told the ·people [L sons; T children] of Israel everything the Lord had commanded him to tell them. 4 This was after the Lord had ·defeated [L struck] Sihon and Og. Sihon was king of the Amorite people and lived in Heshbon. Og was king of Bashan and lived in Ashteroth and Edrei [Num. 21:21–35].
5 Now ·the Israelites [L they] were ·east of [L beyond] the Jordan River in the land of Moab, and there Moses began to ·explain [make clear] ·what God had commanded [L this law/instruction]. He said:
6 The Lord our God spoke to us at ·Mount Sinai [L Horeb; C another name for Sinai] and said, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 ·Get ready [L Turn face], and go to the mountain country of the Amorites, and to all the places around there—the ·Jordan Valley [L Arabah], the mountains, the ·western hills [L Shephelah], the ·southern area [L Negev], the seacoast, the land of Canaan, and Lebanon. Go as far as the great river, the Euphrates [Gen. 15:18–21]. 8 See, I have given you this land, so go in and take it for yourselves. The Lord ·promised it [swore] to your ancestors—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants [Gen. 12:1–3; 15:17–20].”
Moses Appoints Leaders
9 At that time I said, “I am not able to ·take care of you [L lift you up; bear you] by myself. 10 The Lord your God has made you grow in number so that there are as many of you as there are stars in the ·sky [heavens; Gen. 15:5; 22:17; 26:4; Ex. 32:13]. 11 I pray that the Lord, the God of your ·ancestors [fathers], will give you a thousand times more people and ·do all the wonderful things [L bless you as] he promised. 12 ·But I cannot take care of [L How can I lift up/bear…?] your problems, your troubles, and your arguments by myself. 13 So choose some men from each tribe—wise men who have ·understanding [discernment] and experience—and I will make them leaders over you.”
14 And you said, “That’s a good thing to do.”
15 So I took the wise and experienced leaders of your tribes, and I made them your leaders. I appointed commanders over a thousand people, over a hundred people, over fifty people, and over ten people and made them officers over your tribes. 16 Then I told your ·leaders [judges], “Listen to the arguments between your people. Judge fairly between two ·Israelites [relatives; L brothers] or between an ·Israelite [L relative; brother] and a ·foreigner [resident alien]. 17 When you judge, ·be fair to everyone [do not show favoritism]; don’t act as if one person is more important than another, and don’t be ·afraid of [intimidated by] anyone, because your decision comes from God. Bring the hard cases to me, and I will judge them.” 18 At that time I told you everything you must do [Ex. 18:13–23].
Spies Enter the Land
19 Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we left ·Mount Sinai [L Horeb; 1:6] and went toward the mountain country of the Amorite people. We went through that ·large [vast] and terrible ·desert [wilderness] you saw, and then we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20 I said to you, “You have now come to the mountain country of the Amorites, to the land the Lord our God will give us. 21 Look, here it is! Go up and ·take [possess] it. The Lord, the God of your ·ancestors [fathers], told you to do this, so don’t be afraid and don’t ·worry [be dismayed].”
22 Then all of you came to me and said, “Let’s send men before us to spy out the land. They can come back and ·tell us [bring back a report] about the way we should go and the cities we will find [Num. 13–14].”
23 ·I thought that was a good idea [L The matter was good/right in my eyes], so I ·chose [took] twelve of your men, one for each tribe. 24 They ·left [L turned face] and went up to the mountains, and when they came to the ·Valley of [Wadi] Eshcol they ·explored [spied on] it. 25 They took some of the fruit from that land and brought it down to us, ·saying [L and gave us a report, saying], “It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.”
Israel Refuses to Enter
26 But you refused to go. You ·would not obey [rebelled against] the command of the Lord your God, 27 but grumbled in your tents, saying, “The Lord hates us. He brought us out of Egypt just to give us to the Amorites, who will destroy us. 28 Where can we go now? ·The spies we sent have [L Our relatives/brothers] made ·us afraid [L our hearts melt], because they said, ‘The people there are stronger and taller than we are. The cities are big, with walls up to the ·sky [heavens]. And we saw the Anakites there [Num. 13:28–33]!’”
29 Then I said to you, “Don’t be frightened; don’t be afraid of those people. 30 The Lord your God will go ahead of you and fight for you as he did in Egypt; ·you saw him do it [L before your eyes]. 31 And in the ·desert [wilderness] you saw how the Lord your God carried you, like one carries a child [Ps. 131]. And he has brought you safely all the way to this place.”
32 But you still did not trust the Lord your God, even though 33 he had always gone before you to find places for you to camp. In a fire at night and in a cloud during the day, he showed you which way to go.
34 When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and ·made an oath [swore], saying, 35 “I promised a good land to your ·ancestors [fathers], but none of ·you evil people [this evil generation] will see it. 36 Only Caleb son of Jephunneh will see it [Num. 14:24]. I will give him and his descendants the land he walked on, because he followed the Lord completely [Josh. 15:13–19; Judg. 1:9–15].”
37 Because of you, the Lord was also angry with me and said, “You won’t enter the land either [Num. 20:12], 38 but ·your assistant [L the one who stands before you], Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to take the land for their own.
39 “Your little children that you said would be ·captured [plunder], who do not know right from wrong at this time, will go into the land. I will give the land to them, and they will ·take it for their own [possess it]. 40 But you must turn ·around [L face] and follow the ·desert [wilderness] road toward the ·Red [or Reed] Sea [Ex. 10:19].”
41 Then you said to me, “We have sinned against the Lord, but now we will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.” Then all of you put on weapons, thinking it would be easy to go into the mountains.
42 But the Lord said to me, “Tell the people, ‘You must not go up there and fight. I will not be with you, and your enemies will defeat you.’”
43 So I told you, but you would not listen. You ·would not obey [rebelled against] the Lord’s command. You were ·proud [presumptuous], so you went on up into the mountains, 44 and the Amorites who lived in those mountains came out and fought you. They ·chased [swarmed over] you like bees and ·defeated [L struck] you from ·Edom [L Seir; C another name for Edom] to Hormah [Num. 14:39–45]. 45 So you came back and cried before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to you; he refused to pay attention to you. 46 So you stayed in Kadesh a long time.
Deuteronomy 1
English Standard Version
Deuteronomy 1
English Standard Version
The Command to Leave Horeb
1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in (A)the Arabah opposite (B)Suph, between (C)Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to (D)Kadesh-barnea. 3 (E)In 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, 4 after (F)he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and (G)Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in (H)Edrei. 5 Beyond the Jordan, (I)in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying, 6 “The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, (J)‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and take your journey, and go to (K)the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in (L)the Arabah, (M)in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and (N)by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, (O)to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’
Leaders Appointed
9 “At that time (P)I said to you, ‘I am not able to bear you by myself. 10 The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, (Q)you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven. 11 (R)May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, (S)as he has promised you! 12 (T)How can I bear by myself the weight and burden of you and your strife? 13 (U)Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ 14 And you answered me, ‘The thing that you have spoken is good for us to do.’ 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, (V)and set them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers, throughout your tribes. 16 And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and (W)judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him. 17 (X)You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for (Y)the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall (Z)bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 18 And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.
Israel's Refusal to Enter the Land
19 “Then we set out from Horeb and (AA)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 (AB)we came to Kadesh-barnea. 20 And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. 21 See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. (AC)Do not fear or be dismayed.’ 22 Then 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.’ 23 The thing seemed good to me, and (AD)I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe. 24 And (AE)they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. 25 And 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. 27 And (AF)you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord (AG)hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, (AH)to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where are we going up? (AI)Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, (AJ)“The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen (AK)the sons of the Anakim there.”’ 29 Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God who goes before you (AL)will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God (AM)carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ 32 Yet in spite of this word (AN)you did not believe the Lord your God, 33 (AO)who went before you in the way (AP)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.
The Penalty for Israel's Rebellion
34 “And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, 35 (AQ)‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, 36 (AR)except 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!’ 37 Even with me (AS)the Lord was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there. 38 (AT)Joshua the son of Nun, (AU)who stands before you, he shall enter. (AV)Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 And as for (AW)your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today (AX)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, (AY)turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’
41 “Then you answered me, (AZ)‘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, (BA)‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, (BB)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 (BC)presumptuously went up into the hill country. 44 (BD)Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you (BE)as bees do and beat you down in Seir as far as (BF)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 (BG)you remained at Kadesh many days, the days that you remained there.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
Expanded Bible (EXB)
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.