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[1]These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel, on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain, over against the Red Sea, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
[2]There are eleven days journey from Horeb unto Kadesh-barnea, by the way of mount Seir.
[3]And it came to pass in the first day of the eleventh month, in the fortieth year that Moses spake unto the children of Israel according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them,
[4]After that he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, which dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei.
[5]On this side Jordan in the land of Moab began Moses to declare this law, saying,
[6]The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount,
[7]Turn you and depart, and go unto the mountain of the Amorites, and unto all places near thereunto in the plain, in the mountain, or in the valley: both southward, and to the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon: even unto the great river, the river Perath.
[8]Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess that land which the Lord swear unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.
[9]And I spake unto you the same time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:
[10]The Lord your God hath multiplied you: and behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven in number:
[11](The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you)
[12]How can I alone bear your cumbrance and your charge, and your strife?
[13]Bring you men of wisdom and of understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you:
[14]Then ye answered me and said, The thing is good that thou hast commanded us to do.
[15]So I took the chief of your tribes wise and known men, and made them rulers over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifty, and captains over ten, and officers among your tribes.
[16]And I charged your judges that same time, saying, Hear the controversies between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
[17]Ye shall have no respect of person in judgment, but shall hear the small as well as the great: ye shall not fear the face of man: for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring unto me, and I will hear it.
[18]Also I commanded you the same time all the things which ye should do.
[19]Then we departed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness (as ye have seen) by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us: and we came to Kadesh-barnea.
[20]And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us.
[21]Behold, the Lord thy God hath laid the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord the God of thy fathers hath said unto thee: fear not, neither be discouraged.
[22]Then ye came unto me every one, and said, We will send men before us, to search us out the land and to bring us word again, what way we must go up by, and unto what cities we shall come.
[23]So the saying pleased me well, and I took twelve men of you, of every tribe one.
[24]Who departed, and went up into the mountain, and came unto the river Eshcol, and searched out the land.
[25]And took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land, which the Lord our God doth give us.
[26]Notwithstanding, ye would not go up, but were disobedient unto the commandment of the Lord your God,
[27]And murmured in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us, therefore hath he brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, and to destroy us.
[28]Whither shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, 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.
[29]But I said unto you, Dread not, nor be afraid of them.
[30]The Lord your God, who goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did unto you in Egypt before your eyes,
[31]And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how the Lord thy God bear thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way which ye have gone, until ye came unto this place.
[32]Yet for all this ye did not believe the Lord your God,
[33]Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, that ye might see what way to go, and in a cloud by day.
[34]Then the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and swear, saying,
[35]Surely there shall not one of these men of this froward generation, see that good land, which I swear to give unto your fathers,
[36]Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh: he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath constantly followed the Lord.
[37]Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither,
[38]But Joshua the son of Nun which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
[39]Moreover, your children, which ye said should be a prey, and your sons, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
[40]But as for you, turn back, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.
[41]Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up, and fight, according to all that the Lord our God hath commanded us: and ye armed you every man to the war, and were ready to go up into the mountain.
[42]But the Lord said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight, (for I am not among you) lest ye fall before your enemies.
[43]And when I told you, ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and were presumptuous, and went up into the mountain.
[44]Then the Amorites which dwelt in that mountain came out against you, and chased you (as bees used to do) and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
[45]And when ye came again, ye wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not hear your voice, nor incline his ears unto you.
[46]So ye abode in Kadesh a long time, according to the time that ye had remained before.
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