Study Desk

These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness,^(a) in the Arabah opposite Suph,^[a] between Paran^(b) and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth,^(c) and Di-zahab.

It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir.

In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, Moses told the Israelites everything the Lord had commanded him to say to them.

This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.^(d)

Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:

"The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb: ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough.

Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites and their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the Judean foothills,^[b] the Negev and the sea coast—to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon as far as the Euphrates River.^[c]

See, I have set the land before you. Enter and take possession of the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers^(e) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their future descendants.'^(f)

"I said to you at that time: I can't bear the responsibility for you on my own.

The Lord your God has so multiplied you that today you are as numerous as the stars of the sky.^(g)

May Yahweh, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times more, and bless you as He promised you.

But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes by myself?

Appoint for yourselves wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will make them your leaders.

"You replied to me, ‘What you propose to do is good.'

"So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and set them over you as leaders: officials for thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for your tribes.

I commanded your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge rightly between a man and his brother or a foreign resident.

Do not show partiality when deciding a case;^(h) listen to small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God.⁽ⁱ⁾ Bring me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.

At that time I commanded you about all the things you were to do.^(j)

"We then set out from Horeb and went across all the great and terrible wilderness you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,

I said to you: You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.

See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

"Then^(k) all of you approached me and said, ‘Let's send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us back a report about the route we should go up and the cities we will come to.'

The plan seemed good to me, so I selected 12 men from among you, one man for each tribe.

They left and went up into the hill country and came to the Valley of Eshcol, scouting the land.

They took some of the fruit from the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us back a report: ‘The land the Lord our God is giving us is good.'^(l)

"But you were not willing to go up, rebelling against the command of the Lord your God.

You grumbled in your tents^(m) and said, ‘The Lord brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites so they would destroy us, because He hated us.

Where can we go? Our brothers have discouraged us,⁽ⁿ⁾ saying: The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, fortified to the heavens.^(o) We also saw the descendants of the Anakim^(p) there.'

"So I said to you: Don't be terrified or afraid of them!^(q)

The Lord your God who goes before you^(r) will fight for you,^(s) just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt.

And you saw in the wilderness how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place.

But in spite of this you did not trust the Lord your God,

who went before you on the journey to seek out a place for you to camp. He went in the fire by night and in the cloud by day to guide you on the road you were to travel.

"When the Lord heard your^[d] words, He grew angry and swore an oath:

‘None of these men in this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give your fathers,^(t)

except Caleb the 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 completely.'

"The Lord was angry with me also because of you and said: ‘You will not enter there either.^(u)

Joshua son of Nun, who attends you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will enable Israel to inherit it.^(v)

Your little children, whom you said would be plunder, your sons who^[e] don't know good from evil, will enter there. I will give them the land, and they will take possession of it.

But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.'^(w)

"You answered me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord . We will go up and fight just as the Lord our God commanded us.' Then each of you put on his weapons of war and thought it would be easy to go up into the hill country.

"But the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them: Don't go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from being defeated by your enemies.'^(x)

So I spoke to you, but you didn't listen. You rebelled against the Lord 's command and defiantly went up into the hill country.

Then the Amorites who lived there came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir as far as Hormah.^(y)

When you returned, you wept before the Lord , but He didn't listen to your requests or pay attention to you.

For this reason you stayed in Kadesh as long as you did.^[f]

"Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the Lord had told me, and we traveled around the hill country of Seir for many days.

The Lord then said to me,

‘You've been traveling around this hill country long enough; turn north.

Command the people: You are about to travel through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.

Don't fight with them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even an inch of it,^[a] because I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his possession.

You may purchase food from them with silver, so that you may eat, and buy water from them to drink.^(a)

For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands.^(b) He has watched over your journey through this immense wilderness. The Lord your God has been with you this past 40 years, and you have lacked nothing.'

"So we bypassed our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road and from Elath and Ezion-geber. We traveled along the road to the Wilderness of Moab.

The Lord said to me, ‘Show no hostility toward Moab, and do not provoke them to battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.'"^(c)

The Emim, a great and numerous people as tall as the Anakim, had previously lived there.

They were also regarded as Rephaim,^(d) like the Anakim, though the Moabites called them Emim.^(e)

The Horites had previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out, destroying them completely^[b] and settling in their place, just as Israel did in the land of its possession the Lord gave them.

"The Lord said, ‘Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.' So we crossed the Zered Valley.^(f)

The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley was 38 years until the entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.

Indeed, the Lord 's hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp until they had all perished.

"When all the fighting men had died among the people,

the Lord spoke to me,

‘Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar.

When you get close to the Ammonites, don't show any hostility to them or fight with them, for I will not give you any of the Ammonites' land as a possession; I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.'"^(g)

This too used to be regarded as the land of the Rephaim. The Rephaim lived there previously, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummim,

a great and numerous people, tall as the Anakim. The Lord destroyed the Rephaim at the advance of the Ammonites, so that they drove them out and settled in their place.

This was just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites before them; they drove them out and have lived in their place until now.

The Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor,^[c] destroyed the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, and settled in their place.

"The Lord also said, ‘Get up, move out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have handed Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land over to you. Begin to take possession of it; engage him in battle.

Today I will begin to put the fear and dread of you on the peoples everywhere under heaven. They will hear the report about you, tremble, and be in anguish because of you.'

"So I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon from the Wilderness of Kedemoth, saying,

‘Let us travel through your land; we will keep strictly to the highway. We will not turn to the right or the left.^(h)

You can sell us food in exchange for silver so we may eat, and give us water for silver so we may drink. Only let us travel through on foot,

just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for us, and the Moabites who live in Ar, until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.'

But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us travel through his land, for the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to hand him over to you, as has now taken place.

"Then the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Begin to take possession of it.'

So Sihon and his whole army came out against us for battle at Jahaz.

The Lord our God handed him over to us, and we defeated him, his sons, and his whole army.

At that time we captured all his cities and completely destroyed the people of every city, including the women and children. We left no survivors.

We took only the livestock and the spoil from the cities we captured as plunder for ourselves.

There was no city that was inaccessible to^[d] us, from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead.⁽ⁱ⁾ The Lord our God gave everything to us.

But you did not go near the Ammonites' land, all along the bank of the Jabbok River,^(j) the cities of the hill country, or any place that the Lord our God had forbidden.^(k)