Deuteronomy 1

¹When Samuel died, all Israel gathered to mourn for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

⁷(To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other half Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan among their brothers.) When Joshua sent them to their homes he blessed them,

¹Now when news of this reached all the kings west of the Jordan—those in the hill country, the foothills, and all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon (the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites)—

³So at the command of the Lord, Moses sent them out from the Wilderness of Paran. All the men were leaders of the Israelites,

¹⁴Select three cities across the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan as cities of refuge.

¹⁵These two and a half tribes have received their inheritance across the Jordan from Jericho, toward the sunrise.”

⁸This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to inspect the land.

²⁶and they went back to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.

²³And when the Lord sent you out from Kadesh-barnea, He said, “Go up and possess the land that I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You neither believed Him nor obeyed Him.

⁸So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab.

⁴and command the people: ‘You will pass 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.

⁶Then the sons of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh-barnea about you and me.

³⁸At the Lord’s command, Aaron the priest climbed Mount Hor and died there on the first day of the fifth month, in the fortieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt.

¹Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

²You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you.

¹In the first month, the whole congregation of Israel entered the Wilderness of Zin and stayed in Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

²¹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,

²²“Let us pass through your land. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will stay on the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”

²Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead,

³as well as the Arabah east of the Sea of Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), eastward through Beth-jeshimoth, and southward below the slopes of Pisgah.

²⁶So from the Wilderness of Kedemoth I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon, saying,

²²You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner of the land. So they took the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and of Og king of Bashan.

¹⁰and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the Ammonites;

¹¹also Gilead and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all of Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah—

¹⁹Sihon king of the Amorites His loving devotion endures forever.

²⁰and Og king of Bashan—His loving devotion endures forever.

⁸And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?

⁹So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.

⁴⁶he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.

¹⁸When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

¹⁹It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by carefully observing all the words of this instruction and these statutes.

¹Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

¹¹On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud was lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony,

¹²and the Israelites set out from the Wilderness of Sinai, traveling from place to place until the cloud settled in the Wilderness of Paran.

¹In the third month, on the same day of the month that the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai.

²After they had set out from Rephidim, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai, and Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

²The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

⁶Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

²⁴Every place where the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea.

⁴⁰So Joshua conquered the whole region—the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, and the slopes, together with all their kings—leaving no survivors. He devoted to destruction everything that breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded.

⁹Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, though his height was like that of the cedars, and he was as strong as the oaks. Yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below.

³As far as Hamath, David also defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah, who had marched out to establish his dominion along the Euphrates River.

¹⁵But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the Lord, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”

⁹They also settled in the east as far as the edge of the desert that extends to the Euphrates River, because their livestock had increased in the land of Gilead.

¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—

⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

³Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

⁴I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,

¹⁴After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are, and look to the north and south and east and west,

¹⁵for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.

⁷I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

⁸And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”

¹³And there at the top the Lord was standing and saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.

¹⁴Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

¹⁸Surely you and these people with you will wear yourselves out, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone.

¹⁷And I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put that Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.

¹¹So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have You brought this trouble on Your servant? Why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid upon me the burden of all these people?

¹²Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth, so that You should tell me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries an infant,’ to the land that You swore to give their fathers?

¹³Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’”

²²Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

⁵And the Lord took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

⁶²You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

³⁷The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth with about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children.

¹⁴May the Lord give you increase, both you and your children.

¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

²⁷So they shall put My name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

⁴I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,

³But Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?”

²⁵by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you, with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the depths below, with blessings of the breasts and womb.

⁵Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.

¹¹So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have You brought this trouble on Your servant? Why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid upon me the burden of all these people?

¹²Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth, so that You should tell me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries an infant,’ to the land that You swore to give their fathers?

¹⁶To the one we are an odor that brings death, to the other a fragrance that brings life. And who is qualified for such a task?

¹⁹You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

⁹At that time I said to you, “I cannot carry the burden for you alone.

⁷And now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in my father David’s place. But I am only a little child, not knowing how to go out or come in.

⁸Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a people too numerous to count or number.

²¹Furthermore, select capable men from among the people—God-fearing, trustworthy men who are averse to dishonest gain. Appoint them over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

²¹Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

²²beginning from John’s baptism until the day Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

¹⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Bring Me seventy of the elders of Israel known to you as leaders and officers of the people. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting and have them stand there with you.

¹⁷And I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put that Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.

²So the Twelve summoned all the disciples and said, “It is unacceptable for us to neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.

³Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men confirmed to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will assign this responsibility to them

²⁵So Moses chose capable men from all Israel and made them heads over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

²⁶And they judged the people at all times; they would bring the difficult cases to Moses, but any minor issue they would judge themselves.

¹⁸You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

¹¹And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,

¹²He will appoint some for himself as commanders of thousands and of fifties, and others to plow his ground, to reap his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

⁷Then Saul said to his servants, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Is the son of Jesse giving all of you fields and vineyards and making you commanders of thousands or hundreds?

¹⁸Take also these ten portions of cheese to the commander of their unit. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring back an assurance from them.

²⁴Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”

¹⁸You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

¹⁹Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

²²You are to have the same standard of law for the foreign resident and the native; for I am the Lord your God.’”

²You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.

³And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.

²¹You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

²¹I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to maintain these principles without bias, and to do nothing out of partiality.

¹⁹Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

²⁶And they judged the people at all times; they would bring the difficult cases to Moses, but any minor issue they would judge themselves.

¹⁵You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.

⁶Then he said to the judges, “Consider carefully what you do, for you are not judging for man, but for the Lord, who is with you when you render judgment.

²³These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.

²⁷For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.

²⁰and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

⁵See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land that you are about to enter and possess.

²⁰I did not shrink back from declaring anything that was helpful to you as I taught you publicly and from house to house,

²⁸Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

⁴⁰Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.

²It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir.

¹⁵He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.

⁶They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

¹⁰He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.

²⁶and they went back to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.

¹²and the Israelites set out from the Wilderness of Sinai, traveling from place to place until the cloud settled in the Wilderness of Paran.

⁷Resume 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.

⁸See, 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.”

⁹Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

⁶So we say with confidence: “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

¹For the choirmaster. Of the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.

⁸If the Lord delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us.

⁹Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”

³⁰Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly conquer it!”

³²Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

¹And the Lord said to Moses,

²“Send out for yourself men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each of their fathers’ tribes send one man who is a leader among them.”

³So at the command of the Lord, Moses sent them out from the Wilderness of Paran. All the men were leaders of the Israelites,

⁴and these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur;

²¹So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo-hamath.

²²They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, dwelled. It had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.

¹Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, inspect the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

²And it was reported to the king of Jericho: “Behold, some men of Israel have come here tonight to spy out the land.”

¹Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept.

²All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!

²⁴They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise.

²⁵They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the Lord.

⁵¹You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.

¹⁰But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.

²⁸Otherwise, those in the land from which You brought us out will say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’

²⁵They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the Lord.

³Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

⁸And Moses added, “The Lord will give you meat to eat this evening and bread to fill you in the morning, for He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord.”

²⁴Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

²¹For I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’

¹Hear, O Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.

²The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them, and you have heard it said, “Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?”

²⁸Nevertheless, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We even saw the descendants of Anak there.

²⁹The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”

²²No Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites; only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod did any survive.

²⁰Just as Moses had promised, Judah gave Hebron to Caleb, who drove out the descendants of the three sons of Anak.

¹⁴And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak—the descendants of Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak.

¹⁶Then Ishbi-benob, a descendant of Rapha, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels and who was bearing a new sword, resolved to kill David.

¹⁷But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”

¹⁴The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

²⁰Wherever you hear the sound of the horn, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us!”

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

³¹What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

⁴²And because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel, Joshua captured all these kings and their land in one campaign.

²²Do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God Himself will fight for you.”

³“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.

⁴Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.

¹⁸He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness.

⁹In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

¹⁰He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.

¹¹As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.

³It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms, but they never realized that it was I who healed them.

⁴I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love; I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them.

⁴‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.

²⁴They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise.

⁵Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe.

¹⁸And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed?

¹⁹So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter.

¹²See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.

²²because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.

⁹The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all.’”

³³So they set out on a three-day journey from the mountain of the Lord, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them.

¹⁴He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.

⁶On that day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands.

¹⁵On the day that the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it and appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning.

¹⁶It remained that way continually; the cloud would cover the tabernacle by day, and at night it would appear like fire.

¹²You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they should travel.

²¹And the Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel by day or night.

²²Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place before the people.

²²not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—

²³not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it.

⁸do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,

⁹where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works.

¹⁴The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.

¹⁵Indeed, the Lord’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished.

¹⁵Moreover, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands—

⁸This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to inspect the land.

⁹For when your fathers went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land that the Lord had given them.

¹¹So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”

¹¹So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”

²⁴But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it.

⁶Then the sons of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh-barnea about you and me.

⁷I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back to him an honest report.

¹²not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun—because they did follow the Lord wholeheartedly.’

⁶⁵For the Lord had told them that they would surely die in the wilderness. Not one was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

³⁰Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly conquer it!”

⁶from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

²¹The Lord, however, was angry with me on account of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan to enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

¹²But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

⁴And the Lord said to him, “This is the land that I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross into it.”

³²At the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them.

³³For they rebelled against His Spirit, and Moses spoke rashly with his lips.

¹³After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was;

¹⁴for when the congregation contended in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you rebelled against My command to show My holiness in their sight regarding the waters.” Those were the waters of Meribah in Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin.

²³At that time I also pleaded with the Lord:

²⁴“O Lord God, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant. For what god in heaven or on earth can perform such works and mighty acts as Yours?

²⁸But commission Joshua, encourage him, and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit the land that you will see.”

³⁰Surely none of you will enter the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

⁷Then Moses called for Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.

⁸The Lord Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

²³Then the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land that I swore to give them, and I will be with you.”

²²Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.”

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the time of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁵By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey.

¹⁶For before the boy knows enough to reject evil and choose good, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

³Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

¹¹Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand,

³¹But I will bring your children, whom you said would become plunder, into the land you have rejected—and they will enjoy it.

¹¹So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”

³All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

²⁵Now since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”

³⁹And when Moses relayed these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly.

⁴⁰Early the next morning they got up and went up toward the ridge of the hill country. “We have indeed sinned,” they said, “but we will go to the place the Lord has promised.”

³A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the Lord.

³⁴“I have sinned,” Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “for I did not realize that you were standing in the road to confront me. And now, if this is displeasing in your sight, I will go back home.”

⁸O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?

⁹When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

⁴¹But Moses said, “Why are you transgressing the commandment of the Lord? This will not succeed!

⁴²Do not go up, lest you be struck down by your enemies, because the Lord is not among you.

¹⁷And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.

¹Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear.

²But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.

²The Philistines arrayed themselves against Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men on the battlefield.

¹²Even if they raise their children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe be to them when I turn away from them!

⁴⁴But they dared to go up to the ridge of the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the covenant of the Lord moved from the camp.

⁷because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

⁸Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.

¹⁰But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.

⁵¹You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.

¹²They swarmed around me like bees, but they were extinguished like burning thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off.

⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them all the way to Hormah.

³And the Lord heard Israel’s plea and delivered up the Canaanites. Israel devoted them and their cities to destruction; so they named the place Hormah.

¹⁸On that day the Lord will whistle to the flies at the farthest streams of the Nile and to the bees in the land of Assyria.

³⁰How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the Lord had given them up?

²⁵The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

¹⁷For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could find no ground for repentance, though he sought the blessing with tears.

³⁴When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.

¹In the first month, the whole congregation of Israel entered the Wilderness of Zin and stayed in Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

²²After they had set out from Kadesh, the whole congregation of Israel came to Mount Hor.

¹⁶But when Israel came up out of Egypt, they traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

¹⁷Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.

³⁴In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.

²⁵Now since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”