Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

The words I am about to share with you are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan River in the wilderness. We were camped in the Arabah opposite Suf, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

It was an eleven-day journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the Israelites according to all that the Lord had commanded him. After he had struck down Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived at Ashtaroth in Edrei, Moses began to declare this law.

The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, instructing us to leave that mountain and journey to the hill country of the Amorites, including all the surrounding regions, from the Arabah to Lebanon. He told us, "You have dwelt long enough in this mountain. Turn and go to the mountain of the Amorites, and all the surrounding areas in the plain, hills, valleys, south, and by the seacoast, extending to the land of Canaan, Lebanon, and the great river Euphrates."

I set the land before you: go in and possess it, which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give to them and their descendants after them. I spoke to you at that time, saying, "How can I myself alone bear your problems and your burdens?" The Lord your God has multiplied you, and now you are as numerous as the stars of heaven.

The Lord God of your fathers will make you a thousand times more numerous than you are and bless you as he has promised. How can I alone bear your burdens and your conflicts? Take wise men from among your tribes, and I will appoint them as leaders over you.

You answered me and said, "The thing I have spoken is good for us to do." I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them captains over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, along with officers among your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, saying, "Hear the cases between your brothers and neighbors, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger with him.

You shall not show favoritism in judgment, but will give equal attention to both the lowly and the great; you shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the decision is God's. If a case seems too difficult for you to decide, bring it to me and I will hear it." I commanded you at that time to do all the things I was instructing you to do.

When we departed from Horeb, we traveled through that vast and awe-inspiring wilderness you saw on our journey to the mountain of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us. We arrived at Kadesh-barnea, where the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, just as he said to you: fear not, nor be discouraged.

You came near me and said, "We will send men ahead of us to search out the land and bring back word on what route we should take and which cities we would enter." And the saying pleased me well. I chose twelve men from you, one from each tribe, who turned and went up into the mountain.

They came to the valley of Eshcol, where they searched it out and took some of the land's produce in their hands, brought it down to us, and reported back that the Lord our God will give us a good land. Notwithstanding you refused to go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.

You murmured in your tents, saying, "Because the Lord has brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, he hates us and wants to destroy us." Whither shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, "The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there."

Do not dread them, nor be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who goes before you, will fight for you according to all that he did for you in Egypt and in the wilderness where you saw him carry you as a father carries his son. In the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a father bears his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.

Yet in this matter, you did not trust the Lord your God, who went in the way before you, to search out a place to pitch your tents in, by fire at night to show you the path ahead and by cloud cover during the day. The Lord heard the voice of your words and was enraged, swearing an oath.

Surely none of these men of this wicked generation will see the good land that I swore to give to their fathers. Save Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and to him I will give the land he has trodden upon, along with it to his children, because he has remained faithful to me.

The Lord was also angry with me on your account, saying, "You too will not enter there." Joshua, who stands before you, will lead Israel into the land, so encourage him to do so. Your little ones, whom you said would be an easy target, and your children who at that time had no understanding of right from wrong, will enter into it, and I will give it to them, and they shall possess it.

But as for you, turn back and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. You answered and said to me, "We have sinned against the Lord; we will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God has commanded us." And when each of you had put on your equipment for battle, you were ready to ascend into the hill.

The Lord said to me, "Tell them not to go up and fight, for I am not among you; otherwise, you will be defeated by your enemies." I spoke to you, but you refused to listen and instead rebelled against the Lord's command by presumptuously advancing up the hill. The Amorites, who dwelt in that mountain, came out against you and chased you like bees, destroying you all the way from Seir to Hormah.

You returned and wept before the Lord, but he refused to listen to your voices or heed your pleas. You stayed in Kadesh for many days, just as you had during your previous stay there.