The Torah: The Five Books of Moses

DEUTERONOMY

507 ã íéøá deuteronomy DEVARIMdevarim 1 These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan.—a Through the wilderness, in the Arabah near Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab, 2it is eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by the Mount Seir route.—3It was in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, that Moses addressed the Israelites in accordance with the instructions that the Lord had given him for them, 4after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth [andb] Edrei. 5On the other side of the Jora The rest of this verse and v. 2 are unclear; cf. v. 19 and Num. 33.16–36. b Cf. Josh. 12.4; 13.12, 31. torah DEUTERONOMY 1.5 508 dan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this Teaching. He said: 6The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying: You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7Start out and make your way to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the Shephelah,c the Negeb, the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites,d and the Lebanon, as far as the Great River, the river Euphrates. 8See, I place the land at your disposal. Go, take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to assign to them and to their heirs after them. 9Thereupon I said to you, “I cannot bear the burden of you by myself. 10The Lord your God has multiplied you until you are today as numerous as the stars in the sky.—11May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as He promised you.—12How can I bear unaided the trouble of you, and the burden, and the bickering! 13Pick from each of your tribes men who are wise, discerning , and experienced, and I will appoint them as your heads.” 14You answered me and said, “What you propose to do is good.” 15So I took your tribal leaders, wise and experienced men, and appointed them heads c Others “Lowland.” d I.e., Phoenicia. torah DEUTERONOMY 1.24 509 over you: chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens, and officials for your tribes. 16I charged your magistrates at that time as follows , “Hear out your fellow men, and decide justly between any man and a fellow Israelite or a stranger. 17You shall not be partial in judgment: hear out low and high alike. Fear no man, for judgment is God’s. And any matter that is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me and I will hear it.” 18Thus I instructed you, at that time, about the various things that you should do. 19We set out from Horeb and traveled the great and terrible wilderness that you saw, along the road to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-barnea, 20I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the Lord our God is giving to us. 21See, the Lord your God has placed the land at your disposal. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. Fear not and be not dismayed.” 22Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to reconnoiter the land for us and bring back word on the route we shall follow and the cities we shall come to.” 23I approved of the plan, and so I selected twelve of your men, one from each tribe. 24They made for the hill country, came to the wadi torah DEUTERONOMY 1.24 510 Eshcol, and spied it out. 25They took some of the fruit of the land with them and brought it down to us. And they gave us this report: “It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving to us.” 26Yet you refused to go up, and flouted the command of the Lord your God. 27You sulkede in your tents and said, “It is because the Lord hates us that He brought us out of the land of Egypt, to...