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1 These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan.—*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 vuvh 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 [and]* Edrei. 5On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this Teaching. He said: 6vuvh 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,* the Negeb, the seacoast, the *land of the Canaanites,- * 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 vuvh 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. 10vuvh your God has multiplied you until you are today as numerous as the stars in the sky.—11May vuvh, the God of your ancestors, increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as promised.—12How can I bear unaided the trouble of you, and the burden, and the bickering! 13Pick from each of your tribes representatives ° 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 as representatives ° who are wise and experienced, and appointed them heads over you: chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens, and officials for your tribes. 16I charged Devarim 285 ohrcs DEUTERONOMY your magistrates at that time as follows, “Hear out your fellow Israelites, and decide justly between anyone and a fellow Israelite or a stranger. 17You shall not be partial in judgment: hear out low and high alike. Fear no one, 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 our God vuvh had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-barnea, 20I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which our God vuvh is giving to us. 21See, your God vuvh has placed the land at your disposal. Go up, take possession , as vuvh, 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 emissaries° 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 from among you twelve representatives ,° one from each tribe. 24They made for the hill country , came to the wadi 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 our God vuvh is giving to us.” 26Yet you refused to go up, and flouted the command of your God vuvh. 27*You sulked- * in your tents and said, “It is out of hatred for us that vuvh brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to wipe us out. 28*What kind of place- * are we going to? Our brothers have taken the heart out of us, saying, ‘We saw there a people stronger and taller than we, large cities with walls sky-high, and even Anakites.’” 29I said to you, “Have no dread or fear of them. 30None other than your God vuvh, who goes before you, will fight for you, just...

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