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See, 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.”
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The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.
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May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised!
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But how can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself?
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Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.”
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So 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.
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And 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.
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See, 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.”
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Rebellion Against the Lord
But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.
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You 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.
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The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,
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and 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.”
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In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God,
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who 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.
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“No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors,
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But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it.
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And 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.
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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.’”
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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.
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You came back and wept before the Lord, but he paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you.
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“You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north.
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Give 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.
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Do 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.
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The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.
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Horites 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.)
