giving orders to the people. They said, "When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then get up, leave where you are, and follow it.

The Israelis traveled 40 years in the wilderness until the entire nation that is, the warriors who had departed from Egypt had perished because they hadn't listened to the voice of the LORD. The LORD had promised them that he would not let them see the land that he had sworn to give us, a land that flows with milk and honey.

"Look how the LORD has let me survive, as you can see, these 45 years since the time when the LORD said this through Moses, while Israel was wandering through the wilderness. And look! I'm here today my eighty-fifth birthday!

You have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to all of these nations on your behalf, because it has been the LORD your God who has been fighting on your behalf.