Deuteronomy

Tuesday, September 7, 2010 [NASB]

Deuteronomy 14

Clean and Unclean Animals

 ²"For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

 ³"You shall not eat any detestable thing.

 ⁴"These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

 ⁵the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.

 ⁶"Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof split in two and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat.

 ⁷"Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these among those which chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in two: the camel and the rabbit and the shaphan, for though they chew the cud, they do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you.

 ⁸"The pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh nor touch their carcasses.

 ⁹"These you may eat of all that are in water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat,

 ¹⁰but anything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

 ¹¹"You may eat any clean bird.

 ¹²"But these are the ones which you shall not eat: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard,

 ¹³and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds,

 ¹⁴and every raven in its kind,

 ¹⁵and the ostrich, the owl, the sea gull, and the hawk in their kinds,

 ¹⁶the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,

 ¹⁷the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,

 ¹⁸the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat.

 ¹⁹"And all the teeming life with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten.

 ²⁰"You may eat any clean bird.

 ²¹"You shall not eat anything which dies of itself You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the LORD your God You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

 ²²"You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year.

 ²³"You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

 ²⁴"If the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the LORD your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the LORD your God blesses you,

 ²⁵then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses.

 ²⁶"You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.

 ²⁷"Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

 ²⁸"At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town.

 ²⁹"The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Monday, September 6, 2010 [NASB]

Deuteronomy 13

Shun Idolatry

 ²and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,'

 ³you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

 ⁴"You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

 ⁵"But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk So you shall purge the evil from among you.

 ⁶"If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom neither you nor your fathers have known,

 ⁷of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end),

 ⁸you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him.

 ⁹"But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

 ¹⁰"So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

 ¹¹"Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

 ¹²"If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that

 ¹³some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom you have not known),

 ¹⁴then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you,

 ¹⁵you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword.

 ¹⁶"Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt.

 ¹⁷"Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the LORD may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers,

 ¹⁸if you will listen to the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God.

September 4, 2010 [NASB]

Deuteronomy 12

Laws of the Sanctuary

 ²"You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

 ³"You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.

 ⁴"You shall not act like this toward the LORD your God.

 ⁵"But you shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.

 ⁶"There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

 ⁷"There also you and your households shall eat before the LORD your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

 ⁸"You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes;

 ⁹for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you.

 ¹⁰"When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,

 ¹¹then it shall come about that the place in which the LORD your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the LORD.

 ¹²"And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

 ¹³"Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see,

 ¹⁴but in the place which the LORD chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

 ¹⁵"However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, whatever you desire, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and the deer.

 ¹⁶"Only you shall not eat the blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.

 ¹⁷"You are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hand.

 ¹⁸"But you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all your undertakings.

 ¹⁹"Be careful that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

 ²⁰"When the LORD your God extends your border as He has promised you, and you say, 'I will eat meat,' because you desire to eat meat, then you may eat meat, whatever you desire.

 ²¹"If the place which the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter of your herd and flock which the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates whatever you desire.

 ²²"Just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten, so you will eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat of it.

 ²³"Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

 ²⁴"You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

 ²⁵"You shall not eat it, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you, for you will be doing what is right in the sight of the LORD.

 ²⁶"Only your holy things which you may have and your votive offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses.

 ²⁷"And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, and you shall eat the flesh.

 ²⁸"Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.

 ²⁹"When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,

 ³⁰beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?'

 ³¹"You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

 ³²"Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.

Deuteronomy 11

Rewards of Obedience

 ²"Know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the LORD your God--His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm,

 ³and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land;

 ⁴and what He did to Egypt's army, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the Red Sea to engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the LORD completely destroyed them;

 ⁵and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place;

 ⁶and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, among all Israel--

 ⁷but your own eyes have seen all the great work of the LORD which He did.

 ⁸"You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it;

 ⁹so that you may prolong your days on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

 ¹⁰"For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden.

 ¹¹"But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven,

 ¹²a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.

 ¹³"It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul,

 ¹⁴that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil.

 ¹⁵"He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

 ¹⁶"Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them.

 ¹⁷"Or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you.

 ¹⁸"You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

 ¹⁹"You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.

 ²⁰"You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

 ²¹so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.

 ²²"For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him,

 ²³then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

 ²⁴"Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea.

 ²⁵"No man will be able to stand before you; the LORD your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.

 ²⁶"See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:

 ²⁷the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today;

 ²⁸and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.

 ²⁹"It shall come about, when the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

 ³⁰"Are they not across the Jordan, west of the way toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

 ³¹"For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it,

 ³²and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.

Deuteronomy 10

The Tablets Rewritten

 ²'I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered, and you shall put them in the ark.'

 ³"So I made an ark of acacia wood and cut out two tablets of stone like the former ones, and went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

 ⁴"He wrote on the tablets, like the former writing, the Ten Commandments which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me.

 ⁵"Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, as the LORD commanded me."

 ⁶(Now the sons of Israel set out from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah There Aaron died and there he was buried and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his place.

 ⁷From there they set out to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water.

 ⁸At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to serve Him and to bless in His name until this day.

 ⁹Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, just as the LORD your God spoke to him.)

 ¹⁰"I, moreover, stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights like the first time, and the LORD listened to me that time also; the LORD was not willing to destroy you.

 ¹¹"Then the LORD said to me, 'Arise, proceed on your journey ahead of the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.'

 ¹²"Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

 ¹³and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

 ¹⁴"Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.

 ¹⁵"Yet on your fathers did the LORD set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day.

 ¹⁶"So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.

 ¹⁷"For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.

 ¹⁸"He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.

 ¹⁹"So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

 ²⁰"You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name.

 ²¹"He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.

 ²²"Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Deuteronomy 9

Israel Provoked God

 ²a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?'

 ³"Know therefore today that it is the LORD your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD has spoken to you.

 ⁴"Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you.

 ⁵"It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

 ⁶"Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.

 ⁷"Remember, do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

 ⁸"Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you.

 ⁹"When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD had made with you, then I remained on the mountain forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water.

 ¹⁰"The LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

 ¹¹"It came about at the end of forty days and nights that the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

 ¹²"Then the LORD said to me, 'Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made a molten image for themselves.'

 ¹³"The LORD spoke further to me, saying, 'I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stubborn people.

 ¹⁴'Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'

 ¹⁵"So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

 ¹⁶"And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which the LORD had commanded you.

 ¹⁷"I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and smashed them before your eyes.

 ¹⁸"I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger.

 ¹⁹"For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the LORD was wrathful against you in order to destroy you, but the LORD listened to me that time also.

 ²⁰"The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time.

 ²¹"I took your sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain.

 ²²"Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath.

 ²³"When the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and possess the land which I have given you,' then you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice.

 ²⁴"You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day I knew you.

 ²⁵"So I fell down before the LORD the forty days and nights, which I did because the LORD had said He would destroy you.

 ²⁶"I prayed to the LORD and said, 'O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

 ²⁷'Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin.

 ²⁸'Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, "Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness."

 ²⁹'Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.'

Deuteronomy 8

God's Gracious Dealings

 ²"You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

 ³"He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.

 ⁴"Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

 ⁵"Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

 ⁶"Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

 ⁷"For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;

 ⁸a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;

 ⁹a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

 ¹⁰"When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

 ¹¹"Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today;

 ¹²otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them,

 ¹³and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies,

 ¹⁴then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

 ¹⁵"He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint.

 ¹⁶"In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end.

 ¹⁷"Otherwise, you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.'

 ¹⁸"But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

 ¹⁹"It shall come about if you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.

 ²⁰"Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the LORD your God.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Deuteronomy 7

Warnings

 ²and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.

 ³"Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.

 ⁴"For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.

 ⁵"But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.

 ⁶"For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

 ⁷"The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples,

 ⁸but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

 ⁹"Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

 ¹⁰but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.

 ¹¹"Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.

Promises of God

 ¹³"He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you.

 ¹⁴"You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle.

 ¹⁵"The LORD will remove from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you.

 ¹⁶"You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

 ¹⁷"If you should say in your heart, 'These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?'

 ¹⁸you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:

 ¹⁹the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

 ²⁰"Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you perish.

 ²¹"You shall not dread them, for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.

 ²²"The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you.

 ²³"But the LORD your God will deliver them before you, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

 ²⁴"He will deliver their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven; no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them.

 ²⁵"The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.

 ²⁶"You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and like it come under the ban; you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is something banned.

Deuteronomy 6

Obey God and Prosper

 ²so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

 ³"O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

 ⁴"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!

 ⁵"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

 ⁶"These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

 ⁷"You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

 ⁸"You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

 ⁹"You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

 ¹⁰"Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build,

 ¹¹and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied,

 ¹²then watch yourself, that you do not forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

 ¹³"You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.

 ¹⁴"You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you,

 ¹⁵for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

 ¹⁶"You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.

 ¹⁷"You should diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you.

 ¹⁸"You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to give your fathers,

 ¹⁹by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.

 ²⁰"When your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the LORD our God commanded you?'

 ²¹then you shall say to your son, 'We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand.

 ²²'Moreover, the LORD showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household;

 ²³He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.'

 ²⁴"So the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today.

 ²⁵"It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us.

Deuteronomy 5

Friday, August 28, 2010

The Ten Commandments Repeated

 ²"The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

 ³"The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today.

 ⁴"The LORD spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire,

 ⁵while I was standing between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said,

 ⁶'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

 ⁷'You shall have no other gods before Me.

 ⁸'You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

 ⁹'You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

 ¹⁰but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

 ¹¹'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

 ¹²'Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.

 ¹³'Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

 ¹⁴but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

 ¹⁵'You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

 ¹⁶'Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the LORD your God gives you.

 ¹⁷'You shall not murder.

 ¹⁸'You shall not commit adultery.

 ¹⁹'You shall not steal.

 ²⁰'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

 ²¹'You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.'

Moses Interceded

 ²³"And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.

 ²⁴"You said, 'Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives.

 ²⁵'Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer, then we will die.

 ²⁶'For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

 ²⁷'Go near and hear all that the LORD our God says; then speak to us all that the LORD our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.'

 ²⁸"The LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me, 'I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.

 ²⁹'Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!

 ³⁰'Go, say to them, "Return to your tents."

 ³¹'But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess.'

 ³²"So you shall observe to do just as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left.

 ³³"You shall walk in all the way which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.

Deuteronomy 4

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Israel Urged to Obey God's Law

 ²"You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

 ³"Your eyes have seen what the LORD has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the LORD your God has destroyed them from among you.

 ⁴"But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive today, every one of you.

 ⁵"See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it.

 ⁶"So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

 ⁷"For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him?

 ⁸"Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

 ⁹"Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.

 ¹⁰"Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, 'Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.'

 ¹¹"You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom.

 ¹²"Then the LORD spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form--only a voice.

 ¹³"So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

 ¹⁴"The LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might perform them in the land where you are going over to possess it.

 ¹⁵"So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire,

 ¹⁶so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

 ¹⁷the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky,

 ¹⁸the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth.

 ¹⁹"And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

 ²⁰"But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.

 ²¹"Now the LORD was angry with me on your account, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

 ²²"For I will die in this land, I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and take possession of this good land.

 ²³"So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the LORD your God has commanded you.

 ²⁴"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

 ²⁵"When you become the father of children and children's children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD your God so as to provoke Him to anger,

 ²⁶I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed.

 ²⁷"The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you.

 ²⁸"There you will serve gods, the work of man's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.

 ²⁹"But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

 ³⁰"When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.

 ³¹"For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

 ³²"Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?

 ³³"Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived?

 ³⁴"Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

 ³⁵"To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him.

 ³⁶"Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.

 ³⁷"Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power,

 ³⁸driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today.

 ³⁹"Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

 ⁴⁰"So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time."

 ⁴¹Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east,

 ⁴²that a manslayer might flee there, who unintentionally slew his neighbor without having enmity toward him in time past; and by fleeing to one of these cities he might live:

 ⁴³Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

 ⁴⁴Now this is the law which Moses set before the sons of Israel;

 ⁴⁵these are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, when they came out from Egypt,

 ⁴⁶across the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel defeated when they came out from Egypt.

 ⁴⁷They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan to the east,

 ⁴⁸from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, even as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon),

 ⁴⁹with all the Arabah across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

Deuteronomy 3

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Conquests Recounted

 ²"But the LORD said to me, 'Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.'

 ³"So the LORD our God delivered Og also, king of Bashan, with all his people into our hand, and we smote them until no survivor was left.

 ⁴"We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

 ⁵"All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns.

 ⁶"We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women and children of every city.

 ⁷"But all the animals and the spoil of the cities we took as our booty.

 ⁸"Thus we took the land at that time from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon

 ⁹(Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir):

 ¹⁰all the cities of the plateau and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

 ¹¹(For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits and its width four cubits by ordinary cubit.)

 ¹²"So we took possession of this land at that time. From Aroer, which is by the valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites.

 ¹³"The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob (concerning all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim.

 ¹⁴Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called it, that is, Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.)

 ¹⁵"To Machir I gave Gilead.

 ¹⁶"To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even as far as the valley of Arnon, the middle of the valley as a border and as far as the river Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon;

 ¹⁷the Arabah also, with the Jordan as a border, from Chinnereth even as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

 ¹⁸"Then I commanded you at that time, saying, 'The LORD your God has given you this land to possess it; all you valiant men shall cross over armed before your brothers, the sons of Israel.

 ¹⁹'But your wives and your little ones and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you,

 ²⁰until the LORD gives rest to your fellow countrymen as to you, and they also possess the land which the LORD your God will give them beyond the Jordan Then you may return every man to his possession which I have given you.'

 ²¹"I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, 'Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so the LORD shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross.

 ²²'Do not fear them, for the LORD your God is the one fighting for you.'

 ²³"I also pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying,

 ²⁴'O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours?

 ²⁵'Let me, I pray, cross over and see the fair land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.'

 ²⁶"But the LORD was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me; and the LORD said to me, 'Enough! Speak to Me no more of this matter.

 ²⁷'Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes to the west and north and south and east, and see it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.

 ²⁸'But charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go across at the head of this people, and he will give them as an inheritance the land which you will see.'

 ²⁹"So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

Deuteronomy 2

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Wanderings in the Wilderness

 ²"And the LORD spoke to me, saying,

 ³'You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north,

 ⁴and command the people, saying, "You will pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful;

 ⁵do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a footstep because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.

 ⁶"You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink.

 ⁷"For the LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing."'

 ⁸"So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

 ⁹"Then the LORD said to me, 'Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.

 ¹⁰(The Emim lived there formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.

 ¹¹Like the Anakim, they are also regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

 ¹²The Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the LORD gave to them.)

 ¹³'Now arise and cross over the brook Zered yourselves.' So we crossed over the brook Zered.

 ¹⁴"Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.

 ¹⁵"Moreover the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.

 ¹⁶"So it came about when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people,

 ¹⁷that the LORD spoke to me, saying,

 ¹⁸'Today you shall cross over Ar, the border of Moab.

 ¹⁹'When you come opposite the sons of Ammon, do not harass them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.'

 ²⁰(It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim, for Rephaim formerly lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin,

 ²¹a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim, but the LORD destroyed them before them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place,

 ²²just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day.

 ²³And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.)

 ²⁴'Arise, set out, and pass through the valley of Arnon. Look! I have given Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand; begin to take possession and contend with him in battle.

 ²⁵'This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under the heavens, who, when they hear the report of you, will tremble and be in anguish because of you.'

 ²⁶"So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,

 ²⁷'Let me pass through your land, I will travel only on the highway; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left.

 ²⁸'You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, only let me pass through on foot,

 ²⁹just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land which the LORD our God is giving to us.'

 ³⁰"But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as he is today.

 ³¹"The LORD said to me, 'See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to occupy, that you may possess his land.'

 ³²"Then Sihon with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz.

 ³³"The LORD our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him with his sons and all his people.

 ³⁴"So we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed the men, women and children of every city. We left no survivor.

 ³⁵"We took only the animals as our booty and the spoil of the cities which we had captured.

 ³⁶"From Aroer which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too high for us; the LORD our God delivered all over to us.

 ³⁷"Only you did not go near to the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the LORD our God had commanded us.

Deuteronomy 1

Monday, August 23, 1010

The Command to Leave Horeb

 ³ In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them. ⁴ This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.

 ⁵ East of the Jordan in the territory of Moab, Moses began to expound this law, saying:

 ⁶ The LORD our God said to us at Horeb, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them."

The Appointment of Leaders

 ¹⁴ You answered me, "What you propose to do is good."

 ¹⁵ So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials. ¹⁶ And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien. ¹⁷ Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of any man, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it. ¹⁸ And at that time I told you everything you were to do.

Spies Sent Out

 ²² Then all of you came to me and said, "Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to."

 ²³ The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe. ²⁴ They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and explored it. ²⁵ Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, "It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us."

Rebellion Against the LORD

 ²⁹ Then I said to you, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. ³⁰ The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, ³¹ and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place."

 ³² In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, ³³ who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

 ³⁴ When the LORD heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: ³⁵ "Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers, ³⁶ except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly."

 ³⁷ Because of you the LORD became angry with me also and said, "You shall not enter it, either. ³⁸ But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it. ³⁹ And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. ⁴⁰ But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea. "

 ⁴¹ Then you replied, "We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God commanded us." So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.

 ⁴² But the LORD said to me, "Tell them, 'Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.' "

 ⁴³ So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the LORD's command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country. ⁴⁴ The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah. ⁴⁵ You came back and wept before the LORD, but he paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you. ⁴⁶ And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there.