But how can I alone bear up under the burden of your hardship and strife?

So all of you approached me and said, "Let's send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there."

You have witnessed what the Lord did at Baal Peor, how he eradicated from your midst everyone who followed Baal Peor.

If you think, "These nations are more numerous than I -- how can I dispossess them?"

Remember -- don't ever forget -- how you provoked the Lord your God in the desert; from the time you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him.

After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, "How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same."

Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering that you will bring, in proportion to how he has blessed you.

Now if you say to yourselves, 'How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord?' --

This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations.

your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse.

how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God.

"(For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we crossed through the nations as we traveled.

Is this how you repay the Lord, you foolish, unwise people? Is he not your father, your creator? He has made you and established you.

The Lord found him in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him; he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye.

How can one man chase a thousand of them, and two pursue ten thousand; unless their Rock had delivered them up, and the Lord had handed them over?