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

“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, the Negev and the sea coast—to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon as far as the Euphrates River.

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

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

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.

“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 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.’

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.’

You grumbled in your tents 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, saying: The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, fortified to the heavens. We also saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’

The Lord your God who goes before you will fight for you, 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.

“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.

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.

For this reason you stayed in Kadesh as long as you did.

“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.

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, because I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his possession.

“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.’”

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

They were also regarded as Rephaim, like the Anakim, though the Moabites called them Emim.

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

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.

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.’”

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, destroyed the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, and settled in their place.

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

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.

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.

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 us, from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead. The Lord our God gave everything to us.

“Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan came out against us with his whole army to do battle at Edrei.

But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’

So the Lord our God also handed over Og king of Bashan and his whole army to us. We struck him until there was no survivor left.

We completely destroyed them, as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying the men, women, and children of every city.

But we took all the livestock and the spoil from the cities as plunder for ourselves.

“At that time we took the land from the two Amorite kings across the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Hermon,

all the cities of the plateau, Gilead, and Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.

(Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed was made of iron. Isn’t it in Rabbah of the Ammonites? It is 13 feet six inches long and six feet wide by a standard measure.)

Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took over the entire region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He called Bashan by his own name, Jair’s Villages, as it is today.

The Arabah and Jordan are also borders from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they also take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession that I have given you.

Lord God, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can perform deeds and mighty acts like Yours?

“Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to possess.

Carefully follow them, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples. When they hear about all these statutes, they will say, ‘This great nation is indeed a wise and understanding people.’

For what great nation is there that has a god near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to Him?

“Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.

But the Lord selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace to be a people for His inheritance, as you are today.

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

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

“When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, provoking Him to anger,

I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed.

He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God.

Has a people heard God’s voice speaking from the fire as you have, and lived?

Or has a god attempted to go and take a nation as his own out of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

You were shown these things so that you would know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides Him.

to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance, as is now taking place.

Today, recognize and keep in mind that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other.

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

This is the law Moses gave the Israelites.

from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon)

and all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Dead Sea below the slopes of Pisgah.

Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am proclaiming as you hear them today. Learn and follow them carefully.

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

He did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today.

Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you.

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the foreigner who lives within your gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and so that you may prosper in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

You said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and greatness, and we have heard His voice from the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with a person, yet he still lives.

But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer.

For who out of all mankind has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the fire, as we have, and lived?

Go near and listen to everything the Lord our God says. Then you can tell us everything the Lord our God tells you; we will listen and obey.’

“The Lord heard your words when you spoke to me. He said to me, ‘I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. Everything they have said is right.

“Be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or the left.

“This is the command—the statutes and ordinances—the Lord your God has instructed me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess.

“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead.

for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise, the Lord your God will become angry with you and wipe you off the face of the earth.

Do not test the Lord your God as you tested Him at Massah.

Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that you may prosper and so that you may enter and possess the good land the Lord your God swore to give your fathers,

by driving out all your enemies before you, as the Lord has said.

“When your son asks you in the future, ‘What is the meaning of the decrees, statutes, and ordinances, which the Lord our God has commanded you?’

tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.

but He brought us from there in order to lead us in and give us the land that He swore to our fathers.

The Lord commanded us to follow all these statutes and to fear the Lord our God for our prosperity always and for our preservation, as it is today.

Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’

Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn up their carved images.