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These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the desert, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.
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It is eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by the road to Mount Seir.
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And in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that Yehowah had given him in commandment to them,
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after he had killed Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.
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Across the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying,
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Yehowah our God spoke to us at Horeb, and said, You have lived long enough by this mountain.
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Turn, and set out, and go into the hill-country of the Amorites and all the places near it, in the Arabah, the hill-country, and the lowland, and in the Negeb, and on the sea coast, the land of the Canaanites, and into Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
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See, I have set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which Yehowah promised to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants after them.
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And I spoke to you at that time, and said, I am unable to bear you by myself;
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Yehowah your God has multiplied you, and look, today you are like the stars of heaven for multitude.
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May Yehowah the God of your fathers make you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!
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How can I by myself bear the weight and burden of you, and your strife?
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Choose wise, understanding, and experienced men out of your tribes, and I will set them as heads over you.
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And you answered me, and said, It is good for us to do as you have suggested.
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Then I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and made them heads over you: chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, chiefs of tens, and officers, out of your tribes.
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And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the pleas of your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother and the settler with him.
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You shall not favour individuals when you judge; you shall hear both small and great alike; you shall not fear the face of any man, for the judgment is God's; and if the case is too hard for you, you shall bring it to me and I will hear it.
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And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.
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And we set out from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible desert which you saw on the way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as Yehowah our God commanded us; and we came as far as Kadesh-barnea.
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Then I said to you, You have come to the hill-country of the Amorites, which Yehowah our God is giving to us.
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See, Yehowah your God has set the land before you; go up, take possession, as Yehowah the God of your fathers has promised you; neither fear nor be discouraged.
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Then you all approached me, and said, Let us send men ahead of us to explore the land for us, and to bring us word as to the way by which we shall go up and as to the cities into which we shall come.
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And the thing was good in my eyes; and I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe.
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And they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came to the Valley of Eshkol, and explored it.
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And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and gave us their report, saying, The land which Yehowah our God is giving us is good.
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Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the word of Yehowah your God;
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and you complained in your tents, and said, Yehowah hates us, so he has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us.
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Where are we going? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, by saying, The people are greater and taller than us; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.
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Then I said to you, Do not dread them, do not fear them.
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Yehowah your God who goes before you will fight for you himself, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
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and in the desert where you saw how Yehowah your God carried you as a man carries his son, wherever you went, until you came to this place.
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And in spite of this, not one of you would believe in Yehowah your God,
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who went before you in the way, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to search out a place for you to camp in and to show you which way to go.
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And Yehowah heard the tone of your words, and was angry, and swore, and said,
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Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land which I promised to give to your fathers,
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except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his sons I will give the land which he has trodden on, because he has followed Yehowah fully.
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Also Yehowah was angry with me on your account, and said, You also shall not enter into it;
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Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, shall enter into it; encourage him, for he shall enable Israel to inherit it.
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For your children, whom you said would be a prey, and your sons, who as yet have no knowledge of good and evil, shall enter into it, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it.
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But as for you, turn, and set out into the desert by the road to the Sea of Reeds.
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Then you answered and said to me, We have sinned against Yehowah; we will go up and fight, just as Yehowah our God commanded us. And each of you girded on his weapons of war, and thought it an easy matter to go up into the hill-country.
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And Yehowah said to me, Say to them, Do not go up and fight, for I am not in your midst; or else you will be defeated before your enemies.
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So I spoke to you, but you would not listen; and you rebelled against the word of Yehowah, and were presumptuous and went up into the hill-country.
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And the Amorites who lived in that hill-country came out against you, and chased you as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, as far as Hormah.
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And you returned and wept before Yehowah; but Yehowah did not listen to your voice or give ear to you.
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So you stayed at Kadesh for many days, all the time that you lived there.
