1These are the words which Mosheh spake with all Israel beyond the Jordan, reproving them because they had sinned in the wilderness, and had provoked (the Lord) to anger on the plains over against the Sea of Suph, in Pharan, where they scorned the manna; and in Hazeroth, where they provoked to anger on account of flesh, and because they had made the golden calf.
2It is a journey of eleven days from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Rekem Giah.
3And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, in the first day of the month, Mosheh spake with the sons of Israel according to all that the Lord had commanded him for them.
4After he had slain Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og, king of Mathnan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrehi;
5On this side Jordan in the land of Moab began Mosheh to explain the doctrine of this law, saying:
6The Lord our God spake with us at Horeb, saying: It is sufficient for you to have dwelt at this mountain:
7Turn, and proceed, and go unto the mountain of the Amoraah, and to all its habitable places in the plains, the mountain, the valleys, and in the south, and by the side of the sea; the land of the Kenaanah and Lebanon, unto the river, the great river Phrat;
8Behold, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord covenanted to your fathers, to Abraham, to Izhak, and to Jakob; to give it to them, and to your children after them.
9And I spake to you at that time, saying: I am not able to bear you myself alone.
10The Lord your God hath multiplied you; and, behold, you are this day as the stars of the heavens for multitude.
11The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you, as He hath said to you!
12How can I bear alone your labour, your business, and your adjudgments?
13Provide (then) for yourselves prudent and sagacious men of your tribes, and I will appoint them to be chiefs over you.
14And you answered me, and said: The thing that thou hast spoken it is right that we should do.
15And I took the heads of your tribes, wise men and masters of knowledge, and appointed them chiefs over you, captains of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and officers of your tribes.
16And I charged your judges at that time, saying: Hear between your brethren, and judge rightly between a man and his brother, or the sojourner.
17You shall not have respect to persons in the judgment; you shall hear little words (matters) as well as great; nor be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is of the Lord; and the matter that is too hard for you bring to me, and I will hear it;
18And commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.
19And we departed from Horeb, and went through all that great and fearful desert which you saw by the way of the mountain of the Amoraah, as the Lord our God commanded us, and we came unto Rekem Giah.
20And I the said: You are come to the mountain of the Amoraah, which the Lord our God will give to us.
21See, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: arise, possess (it), as the Lord the God of thy fathers hath bid thee; fear not, nor be broken.
22And all of you came to me and said: We will send men before us, to explore the land for us, and bring us word about the way to go up to it, and to what cities we shall come.
23And the thing was good in my eyes, and I took from you twelve men, one man for a tribe.
24And they turned and went up to the mountain, and came to the brook of Ethkela, and explored it.
25And they took in their hands some of the produce of the land and brought to us, and returned us word, saying: The land which the Lord will give us is good.
26But you were not willing to go up, but were rebellious against the Word of the Lord your God,
27and murmured in your tents, and said: Because the Lord hath hated us, He hath brought us from the land of Mizraim to deliver us into the hand of the Amoraah to destroy us.
28To what shall we go up? Our brethren have broken our heart, saying: The people are greater and stronger than we; vast are the cities, and walled to the height of heaven, and we saw there also the sons of the giants.
29But I said to you: Be not broken (hearted), fear them not;
30The Word of the Lord, who leadeth on before you, will fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Mizraim in your sight;
31And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen that the Lord thy God carrieth thee, as a man carrieth his child, in all the way you have journeyed until your coming to this place.
32But in this thing you did not believe in the Word of the Lord your God,
33who led on before you in the way to prepare for you (each) place of encampment for your sojournings, in the pillar of fire by night to show you in which way to go, and in the pillar of the cloud by day.
34But the voice of your words was heard before the Lord, and He was angry, and made oath, saying:
35If a man of the men of this evil generation shall see the good land which I sware to your fathers,
36Save Kaleb bar Jephunneh. He shall see it, and I will give to him the land on which he hath trodden, and unto his children, because he hath been upright in the fear of the Lord.
37Also against me was there displeasure before the Lord on your account, (He) saying: Thou too art not to go in thither;
38Jehoshua bar Nun, who standeth before thee, he shall go in thither; strengthen him, for he is to make Israel to inherit;
39But your little ones, who you said would be for prey, your children, who today know not good and evil, they shall enter therein, to them will I give it, and they shall possess it;
40but you, turn you, and go into the wilderness by the Weedy Sea.
41Then you answered, and said: We have sinned before the Lord; we will go up and wage war according to all that the Lord our God commanded; and you girded on every man his weapons of war, and began to go up to the mountain.
42But the Lord said to me: Tell them, You shall not go up, neither wage war; for My Shekinah is not among you, lest you be crushed before your enemies.
43And I told you, but you hearkened not, but rebelled against the Word of the Lord, and dared, and went up to the mountain;
44But the Amoraah who dwelt in that mountain came out against you, and pursued you as bees are dispersed, and smote you in Seir unto Hormah.
45And you returned, and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not receive your prayer, nor hearken to your words;
46And you dwelt in Rekem many days, according to the days that you abode.
