Deuteronomy 1:6-Deuteronomy 3:29 - Historical Prologue
6 Jehovah our God spoke to us in Horeb. He said: 'You have lived long enough on this mountain. 7 Leave this place and go to the mountain of the Amorites, and all the places near there in the plain, in the hills, and in the valley and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and to Lebanon, to the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 I have given you this land. Go in and possess the land Jehovah pledged to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to their descendants (offspring) after them.'
9 I spoke to you then and said: 'I am not able to bear the burden of you alone. 10 Jehovah your God has increased your numbers. Today you are more numerous than the stars of heaven. 11 Jehovah the God of your fathers will make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he promised you! 12 How can I alone bear your encumbrance, your burden, and your strife? 13 Take wise men with understanding, who are known among your tribes. I will make them rulers over you.'
14 You answered me: 'The thing you speak is good for us to do.'
15 So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men and known, and made them rulers over you. I made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. 16 I charged your judges to hear the cases between your countrymen and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger with him. 17 You will not show partiality in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great. You will not fear man for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.' 18 I commanded you at that time all the things you should do.
19 When we left Horeb, we went through that entire great and terrible wilderness. You saw it by way of the mountain of the Amorites, as Jehovah our God commanded us. We went to Kadesh-barnea. 20 I said to you: 'You have arrived at the mountain of the Amorites. Jehovah gives this mountain to us. 21 See, Jehovah your God give you this land. Possess it, for Jehovah the God of your fathers said to you: Do not fear. Do not be discouraged.'
22 Every one of you came near to me and said: 'We will send men before us. They will search the land. They will bring us word about the way we must go and what cities are there.' 23 What you said pleased me very much. I took twelve of your men, one from each tribe. 24 They went up to the mountain to the valley of Eshcol, and explored it. 25 They picked the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us. They brought us word again. They said: 'It is a good land that Jehovah our God gives us.'
26 Even so they were not willing to go. They rebelled against the command of Jehovah your God: 27 You complained in your tents, and said: Jehovah hates us so he brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where can we go up? Our brothers caused us to lose heart. They said: The people are stronger and taller than we are. The cities are large and the walls go up to the sky. Moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.'
29 I said to you: 'Do not be afraid of them. 30 Jehovah your God leads you. He will fight for you just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes! 31 You saw how Jehovah your God carried you like a father carries his son all the way until you reached this place.' 32 Yet in all this you did not trust Jehovah your God. 33 He went ahead of you to find places for you to camp. He offered fire by night and cloud by day to show you the way you should go.
34 Jehovah heard what you said. He was angry and solemnly swore: 35 Not one man of this evil generation will see that good land, which I swore to give your fathers, 36 Except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it. I will give him and his descendants the land he walks on. This is because he followed Jehovah wholeheartedly.
37 Jehovah was angry with me because of you. He said to me: 'You will also not go there. 38 Your assistant Joshua son of Nun will go there. He will lead the people into the land. Encourage him to go there. 39 The little ones that you said would be taken captive will enter the land. Your children who do not know good from bad will go in. I will give it to them and they will possess it. 40 But you must turn around and go back through the desert toward the Red Sea.'
41 You answered: 'We have sinned against Jehovah. We will fight just as Jehovah our God commanded us.' When every man puts on his armor and weapons of war they will be ready to go to the mountain.
42 But Jehovah said to me: 'Tell them, do not go and fight! I am not with you. Your enemies will defeat you.' 43 I told you, but you would not listen. You disobeyed Jehovah's command and proudly invaded the mountainous region. 44 The Amorites who lived there came out and attacked you. They chased you like a swarm of bees. They defeated you! They drove you back from Seir all the way to Hormah. 45 You returned and cried to Jehovah. Jehovah, however, did not listen to you. He turned a deaf ear to you! 46 That is why you stayed in Kadesh as long as you did.
1 We went back into the desert. We followed the road that leads to the Red Sea as Jehovah told me. For a long time we traveled around the region of Mount Seir. 2 Then Jehovah said to me: 3 You traveled around this mountain long enough. Now go north. 4 Give these instructions to the people: You will pass through the territory of your relatives, the descendants of Esau. They live in Seir. They will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully. 5 Do not start a fight with them, because I am not giving you any of their land, not so much as one foot. I gave Esau's descendants the region of Mount Seir as their property. 6 You must pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink. 7 Remember how Jehovah your God blessed you in everything you have done. He took care of you as you wandered through this vast desert. He has been with you these forty years. You had everything you needed.'
8 We moved on and left the road that goes from the towns of Elath and Eziongeber to the Dead Sea. We turned northeast toward Moab. 9 Then Jehovah said to me: 'Do not trouble the people of Moab, the descendants of Lot. And do not start a war with them. I gave them the city of Ar, and I am not going to give you any of their land.'
10 The Emits used to live there. They are a mighty race of giants who lived in Ar. They were as tall as the Anakim, another race of giants. 11 Like the Anakim they were also known as Rephaim; but the Moabites called them Emim. 12 Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau chased them out. They destroyed their nation and settled there themselves. This is similar to the Israelites who later chased their enemies out of the land that Jehovah gave them.
13 Then we crossed the Zered River Valley just as Jehovah told us to do. 14 This was thirty-eight years after we left Kadesh-Barnea. By that time all the men who had been in the army at Kadesh-Barnea had died, just as Jehovah said they would. 15 Jehovah kept getting rid of them until finally none of them were left.
16 When the last of these soldiers died, 17 Jehovah said to me (Moses): 18 You will cross over the border of Moab at Ar today. 19 When you come near the Ammonites, do not bother them or start a fight with them. I am not giving you any of the land that I already gave to the descendants of Lot as their property.
20 This territory is also known as the land of the Rephaim. That is the name of the giants who formerly lived there. The Ammonites called them Zamzummim. 21 They were as tall as the Anakim. There were many of them. They were a mighty race. But Jehovah destroyed them. Then the Ammonites took over their land and settled there. 22 Jehovah did the same thing for the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who live in the mountains of Edom. He destroyed the Horites. That allowed the Edomites to take over their land and settled there, where they still live. 23 The Avims lived in Hazerim, even as far as Azzah. The Caphtorims came from Caphtor to destroy them and live there in their place.
24 Moses continued: Cross over the Arnon River. I will help you defeat Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon and his country. Possess his land and engage him in battle. 25 From this day forward I will make all the people and nations through out the earth afraid of you. They will hear reports about you and tremble and be in anguish because of you.
26 I sent messengers from the desert of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with the following offer of peace: 27 If you allow us to travel through your country, we will go straight through and will not leave the road. 28 We will pay you in silver for the food we eat and the water we drink. Please let us go through, 29 as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us. We will keep going until we cross the Jordan River into the land Jehovah our God is giving us.' 30 King Sihon of Heshbon would not allow us to pass through. Jehovah your God made him stubborn and overconfident in order to hand him over to you, as he has now done.
31 Then Jehovah said to me: 'I make King Sihon and his land helpless before you. Capture his land and occupy it.' 32 Sihon came out with all his men to fight us near the town of Jahaz, 33 and Jehovah our God helped us defeat them. We killed Sihon, his sons, and all his people. 34 We captured and destroyed every town in Sihon's kingdom. We killed everyone. 35 We took the livestock and everything else of value. 36 Jehovah helped us capture every town from the Arnon River Gorge north to the boundary of Gilead. This included the town of Aroer on the edge of the gorge and the town in the middle of the gorge. 37 However, we did not go near the Ammonite towns, both in the mountains and near the Jabbok River, just as Jehovah commanded.
1 Next we headed for the land of Bashan. King Og of Bashan and all his army came to fight us at Edrei. 2 Jehovah said to me: 'Do not be afraid of him. I will hand him, all his army, and his land, over to you. Do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.' 3 So Jehovah our God also handed King Og of Bashan and all his army over to us. We defeated him and left no survivors. 4 We captured all his cities. Not one was missed. We captured a total of sixty cities in the territory of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5 All of these cities were fortified with high walls and double-door gates with bars across the gates. We also captured a large number of unwalled villages. 6 We destroyed all the towns and put to death all the men, women, and children. This was just as we did in the towns that belonged to King Sihon of Heshbon. 7 We kept the livestock and took plunder from the towns.
8 Sihon and Og ruled Amorite kingdoms east of the Jordan River. Their land stretched from the Arnon River Gorge in the south to Mount Hermon in the north. We captured it all. 9 Mount Hermon is called Mount Sirion by the people of Sidon. The Amorites call it Mount Senir. 10 All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, and Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan were captured. 11 Of the Rephaim only King Og of Bashan was left. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It is still in the Ammonite city of Rabbah.
12 We took possession of this land. I gave the tribes of Reuben and Gad the land north of Aroer near the Arnon Valley and half of the mountain region of Gilead with its cities. 13 I assigned the rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, where Og had ruled, that is, the entire Argob region to half the tribe of Manasseh. Bashan was known as the land of the Rephaim. 14 Jair, from the tribe of Manasseh, took the entire region of Argob, that is, Bashan, as far as the border of Geshur and Maacah. He named the villages after himself, and they are still known as the villages of Jair. 15 I assigned Gilead to the clan of Machir of the tribe of Manasseh. 16 I assigned the territory from Gilead to the Arnon River to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. The middle of the river was their southern boundary, and their northern boundary was the Jabbok River, part of which formed the Ammonite border. 17 On the west their territory extended to the Jordan River, from Lake Galilee in the north down to the Dead Sea in the south and to the foot of (Mount) Pisgah on the east.
18 Then I gave them the following instructions: 'Jehovah our God gave you the land east of the Jordan to occupy. Now arm your fighting men and send them across the Jordan ahead of the other tribes of Israel, to help them occupy their land. 19 Your wives, children, and livestock, for you have a lot of livestock, will remain behind in the towns I assigned to you. 20 Help the other Israelites until they occupy the land Jehovah is giving them west of the Jordan and until Jehovah lets them live there in peace, just as he has done here for you. After that, you may return to the land I assigned to you.'
21 I also gave Joshua this command: 'You have seen with your own eyes everything Jehovah your God has done to these two kings. Jehovah will do the same to all of the kingdoms on the other side of the Jordan River where you are going. 22 Do not be afraid of them. For Jehovah your God fights for you.'
23 Then I pleaded with Jehovah: