Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old and upward who came from Egypt will see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

For if you turn away from following him, he will once again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will be the reason for their destruction."

Then they came very close to him and said, "We will build sheep folds here for our flocks and cities for our families,

but we will maintain ourselves in armed readiness and go before the Israelites until whenever we have brought them to their place. Our descendants will be living in fortified towns as a protection against the inhabitants of the land.

We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has his inheritance.

For we will not accept any inheritance on the other side of the Jordan River and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this eastern side of the Jordan."

Then Moses replied, "If you will do this thing, and if you will arm yourselves for battle before the Lord,

and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you may return and be free of your obligation to the Lord and to Israel. This land will then be your possession in the Lord's sight.

"But if you do not do this, then look, you will have sinned against the Lord. And know that your sin will find you out.

So the Gadites and the Reubenites replied to Moses, "Your servants will do as my lord commands.

Our children, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock will be there in the cities of Gilead,

but your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, to do battle in the Lord's presence, just as my lord says."

Then the Gadites and the Reubenites answered, "Your servants will do what the Lord has spoken.

We will cross armed in the Lord's presence into the land of Canaan, and then the possession of our inheritance that we inherit will be ours on this side of the Jordan River."

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, then those whom you allow to remain will be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your side, and will cause you trouble in the land where you will be living.

And what I intended to do to them I will do to you."

your southern border will extend from the wilderness of Zin along the Edomite border, and your southern border will run eastward to the extremity of the Salt Sea,

and then the border will turn from the south to the Scorpion Ascent, continue to Zin, and then its direction will be from the south to Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and pass over to Azmon.

There the border will turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and then its direction is to the sea.

"'And for a western border you will have the Great Sea. This will be your western border.

"'And this will be your northern border: From the Great Sea you will draw a line to Mount Hor;

from Mount Hor you will draw a line to Lebo Hamath, and the direction of the border will be to Zedad.

The border will continue to Ziphron, and its direction will be to Hazar Enan. This will be your northern border.

"'For your eastern border you will draw a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham.

The border will run down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain, and the border will descend and reach the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth.

Then the border will continue down the Jordan River and its direction will be to the Salt Sea. This will be your land by its borders that surround it.'"

Then Moses commanded the Israelites: "This is the land which you will inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to be given to the nine and a half tribes,

"Instruct the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. You must also give the Levites grazing land around the towns.

Thus they will have towns in which to live, and their grazing lands will be for their cattle, for their possessions, and for all their animals.

The grazing lands around the towns that you will give to the Levites must extend to a distance of 500 yards from the town wall.

Now from these towns that you will give to the Levites you must select six towns of refuge to which a person who has killed someone may flee. And you must give them forty-two other towns.

"So the total of the towns you will give the Levites is forty-eight. You must give these together with their grazing lands.

The towns you will give must be from the possession of the Israelites. From the larger tribes you must give more; and from the smaller tribes fewer. Each must contribute some of its own towns to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance allocated to each.

These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.

and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the town of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer, he will not be guilty of blood,

Therefore do not defile the land that you will inhabit, in which I live, for I the Lord live among the Israelites."

Now if they should be married to one of the men from another Israelite tribe, their inheritance would be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. As a result, it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance.

And when the Jubilee of the Israelites is to take place, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe."

In this way the inheritance of the Israelites will not be transferred from tribe to tribe. But every one of the Israelites must retain the ancestral heritage.

The Lord your God is about to go ahead of you; he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt

"Not a single person of this evil generation will see the good land that I promised to give to your ancestors!

The exception is Caleb son of Jephunneh; he will see it and I will give him and his descendants the territory on which he has walked, because he has wholeheartedly followed me."

As for me, the Lord was also angry with me on your account. He said, "You also will not be able to go there.

However, Joshua son of Nun, your assistant, will go. Encourage him, because he will enable Israel to inherit the land.

Also, your infants, who you thought would die on the way, and your children, who as yet do not know good from bad, will go there; I will give them the land and they will possess it.

Then you responded to me and admitted, "We have sinned against the Lord. We will now go up and fight as the Lord our God has told us to do." So you each put on your battle gear and prepared to go up to the hill country.

But the Lord told me: "Tell them this: 'Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you and you will be defeated by your enemies.'"

Instruct these people as follows: 'You are about to cross the border of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who inhabit Seir. They will be afraid of you, so watch yourselves carefully.

Then the Lord said to me, "Do not harass Moab and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as your territory. This is because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.

This very day I will begin to fill all the people of the earth with dread and to terrify them when they hear about you. They will shiver and shake in anticipation of your approach."

"Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the roadway. I will not turn aside to the right or the left.

The Lord, however, said to me, "Don't be afraid of him because I have already given him, his whole army, and his land to you. You will do to him exactly what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon."

I also commanded Joshua at the same time, "You have seen everything the Lord your God did to these two kings; he will do the same to all the kingdoms where you are going.

Do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God will personally fight for you."

Go up to the top of Pisgah and take a good look to the west, north, south, and east, for you will not be allowed to cross the Jordan.

Commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because he will lead these people over and will enable them to inherit the land you will see."

So be sure to do them, because this will testify of your wise understanding to the people who will learn of all these statutes and say, "Indeed, this great nation is a very wise people."

You stood before the Lord your God at Horeb and he said to me, "Assemble the people before me so that I can tell them my commands. Then they will learn to revere me all the days they live in the land, and they will instruct their children."

I say this so you will not corrupt yourselves by making an image in the form of any kind of figure. This includes the likeness of a human male or female,

So I must die here in this land; I will not cross the Jordan. But you are going over and will possess that good land.

I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will surely and swiftly be removed from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be annihilated.

Then the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and there will be very few of you among the nations where the Lord will drive you.

There you will worship gods made by human hands -- wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell.

But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul.

(for he is a merciful God), he will not let you down or destroy you, for he cannot forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.

You must not make use of the name of the Lord your God for worthless purposes, for the Lord will not exonerate anyone who abuses his name that way.

But now, why should we die, because this intense fire will consume us! If we keep hearing the voice of the Lord our God we will die!

You go near so that you can hear everything the Lord our God is saying and then you can tell us whatever he says to you; then we will pay attention and do it."

and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments that I am giving you -- you, your children, and your grandchildren -- all your lives, to prolong your days.

Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number -- as the Lord, God of your ancestors, said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey.

for the Lord your God, who is present among you, is a jealous God and his anger will erupt against you and remove you from the land.

We will be innocent if we carefully keep all these commandments before the Lord our God, just as he demands."

for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you.

but who pays back those who hate him as they deserve and destroys them. He will not ignore those who hate him but will repay them as they deserve!

If you obey these ordinances and are careful to do them, the Lord your God will faithfully keep covenant with you as he promised your ancestors.

He will love and bless you, and make you numerous. He will bless you with many children, with the produce of your soil, your grain, your new wine, your oil, the offspring of your oxen, and the young of your flocks in the land which he promised your ancestors to give you.

You will be blessed beyond all peoples; there will be no barrenness among you or your livestock.

The Lord will protect you from all sickness, and you will not experience any of the terrible diseases that you knew in Egypt; instead he will inflict them on all those who hate you.

You must destroy all the people whom the Lord your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

the great judgments you saw, the signs and wonders, the strength and power by which he brought you out -- thus the Lord your God will do to all the people you fear.

Furthermore, the Lord your God will release hornets among them until the very last ones who hide from you perish.

He, the God who leads you, will expel the nations little by little. You will not be allowed to destroy them all at once lest the wild animals overrun you.

The Lord your God will give them over to you; he will throw them into a great panic until they are destroyed.

He will hand over their kings to you and you will erase their very names from memory. Nobody will be able to resist you until you destroy them.

You will eat your fill and then praise the Lord your God because of the good land he has given you.

You must remember the Lord your God, for he is the one who gives ability to get wealth; if you do this he will confirm his covenant that he made by oath to your ancestors, even as he has to this day.

Now if you forget the Lord your God at all and follow other gods, worshiping and prostrating yourselves before them, I testify to you today that you will surely be annihilated.

Just like the nations the Lord is about to destroy from your sight, so he will do to you because you would not obey him.

Understand today that the Lord your God who goes before you is a devouring fire; he will defeat and subdue them before you. You will dispossess and destroy them quickly just as he has told you.

Stand aside and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory, and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are."

Otherwise the people of the land from which you brought us will say, "The Lord was unable to bring them to the land he promised them, and because of his hatred for them he has brought them out to kill them in the desert."

I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you must put them into the ark."

then he promises, "I will send rain for your land in its season, the autumn and the spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil.

I will provide pasture for your livestock and you will eat your fill."

Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will close up the sky so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed from the good land that the Lord is about to give you.

then he will drive out all these nations ahead of you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you.

Every place you set your foot will be yours; your border will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, the Euphrates) as far as the Mediterranean Sea.

Nobody will be able to resist you; the Lord your God will spread the fear and terror of you over the whole land on which you walk, just as he promised you.

For you are about to cross the Jordan to possess the land the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess and inhabit it.

When you do go across the Jordan River and settle in the land he is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety.