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1-2-3-4-5This book contains the speeches that Moses made while Israel was in the land of Moab, camped near the town of Suph in the desert east of the Jordan River. The town of Paran was in one direction from their camp, and the towns of Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab were in the opposite direction.[#Nu 21.21-35.; #1.1-5 The exact location of these towns is not known.]
Earlier, Moses had defeated the Amorite King Sihon of Heshbon. Moses had also defeated King Og of Bashan, who used to live in Ashtaroth for part of the year and in Edrei for the rest of the year.
Although it takes only eleven days to walk from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea by way of the Mount Seir Road, these speeches were not made until 40 years after Israel left Egypt.
The Lord had given Moses his laws for the people of Israel. And on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses began explaining those laws by saying:
6People of Israel, when we were in our camp at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God told us:[#1.6 See the note at 1.1-5.]
9Right after the Lord commanded us to leave Mount Sinai, I told you:[#1.9 See the note at 1.1-5.]
14You answered, “That's a good idea!”
15Then I took these men, who were already wise and respected leaders, and I appointed them as your official leaders. Some of them became military officers in charge of groups of 1,000, or 100, or 50, or 10,
16and others became judges. I gave these judges the following instructions:
18After I gave these instructions to the judges, I taught you the Lord 's commands.
19The Lord had commanded us to leave Mount Sinai and go to the hill country that belonged to the Amorites, so we started out into the huge desert. You remember how frightening it was, but soon we were at Kadesh-Barnea,[#1.19 See the note at 1.1-5.]
20-21and I told you, “We have reached the hill country. It belongs to the Amorites now, but the Lord our God is giving it to us. He is the same God our ancestors worshiped, and he has told us to go in and take this land, so don't hesitate and be afraid.”
22Then all of you came to me and said, “Before we go into the land, let's send some men to explore it. When they come back, they can tell us about the towns we will find and what roads we should take to get there.”
23It seemed like a good idea, so I chose twelve men, one from each tribe.
24They explored the hill country as far as Bunch Valley[#1.24 Or “Eshcol Valley,” famous for its large bunches of grapes.]
25and even brought back some of the fruit. They said, “The Lord our God is giving us good land.”
26You did not want to go into the land, and you refused to obey the Lord your God.[#Dt 9.23; He 3.16.]
27You stayed in your tents and grumbled, “The Lord must hate us—he brought us out of Egypt, just so he could hand us over to the Amorites and get rid of us.
28We are afraid, because the men who explored the land told us that the cities are large, with walls that reach to the sky. The people who live there are taller and stronger than we are, and some of them are Anakim. We have nowhere to go.”[#1.28 Most Hebrew manuscripts; a few Hebrew manuscripts and one ancient translation “the people who live there are stronger than we are, and there are more of them than there are of us.”; #1.28 Perhaps a group of very tall people that lived in or near Palestine before the Israelites. See also 2.10,11, 20,21; Numbers 13.33.]
29Then I said, “Don't worry!
30The Lord our God will lead the way. He will fight on our side, just as he did when we saw him do all those things to the Egyptians.
31And you know that the Lord has taken care of us the whole time we've been in the desert, just as you might carry one of your children.”[#Ac 13.18.]
32But you still would not trust the Lord ,[#He 3.19.]
33even though he had always been with us in the desert. During the daytime, the Lord was in the cloud, leading us in the right direction and showing us where to camp. And at night, he was there in the fire.[#1.33 See Exodus 40.34-38; Numbers 9.15-23.]
34You had made the Lord angry, and he said:[#He 3.18.]
37The Lord was even angry with me because of you people, and he said, “Moses, I won't let you go into the land either.
38Instead, I will let Joshua your assistant lead Israel to conquer the land. So encourage him.”[#1.38 Hebrew “Joshua son of Nun.”]
39Then the Lord spoke to you again:
41Then you told me, “We disobeyed the Lord our God, but now we want to obey him. We will go into the hill country and fight, just as he told us to do.” So you picked up your weapons, thinking it would be easy to take over the hill country.
42But the Lord said, “Moses, warn them not to go into the hill country. I won't help them fight, and their enemies will defeat them.”
43I told you what the Lord had said, but you paid no attention. You disobeyed him and went into the hill country anyway. You thought you were so great!
44But when the Amorites in the hill country attacked from their towns, you ran from them as you would run from a swarm of bees. The Amorites chased your troops into Seir as far as Hormah, killing them as they went.[#1.44 An area of hills and mountains that was part of the territory of Edom.]
45Then you came back to the place of worship at Kadesh-Barnea and wept, but the Lord would not listen to your prayers.
46After we had been in Kadesh for a few months, we obeyed the Lord and headed back into the desert by way of Red Sea Road.[#1.46 See the notes at 1.40; 11.4.]