rsv Deuteronomy:1-4 SEEK
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*
These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness ,
in the Arabah over against Suph ,
between Paran and Tophel ,
Laban ,
Haze '
roth ,
and Di '-
zahab .
*
It is eleven days '
journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Se '
ir to Ka '
desh-bar '
nea .
*
And in the fortieth year ,
on the first day of the eleventh month ,
Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him in commandment to them ,
*
after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites ,
who lived in Heshbon ,
and Og the king of Bashan ,
who lived in Ash '
taroth and in Ed '
re-i .
*
Beyond the Jordan ,
in the land of Moab ,
Moses undertook to explain this law ,
saying ,
* "
The LORD our God said to us in Horeb , `
You have stayed long enough at this mountain ;
*
turn and take your journey ,
and go to the hill country of the Amorites ,
and to all their neighbors in the Arabah ,
in the hill country and in the lowland ,
and in the Negeb ,
and by the seacoast ,
the land of the Canaanites ,
and Lebanon ,
as far as the great river ,
the river Euphra '
tes .
*
Behold ,
I have set the land before you ;
go in and take possession of the land which the LORD swore to your fathers ,
to Abraham ,
to Isaac ,
and to Jacob ,
to give to them and to their descendants after them .'
* "
At that time I said to you , `
I am not able alone to bear you ;
*
the LORD your God has multiplied you ,
and behold ,
you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude .
*
May the LORD ,
the God of your fathers ,
make you a thousand times as many as you are ,
and bless you ,
as he has promised you !
*
How can I bear alone the weight and burden of you and your strife ?
*
Choose wise ,
understanding ,
and experienced men ,
according to your tribes ,
and I will appoint them as your heads .'
*
And you answered me , `
The thing that you have spoken is good for us to do .'
*
So I took the heads of your tribes ,
wise and experienced men ,
and set them as heads over you ,
commanders of thousands ,
commanders of hundreds ,
commanders of fifties ,
commanders of tens ,
and officers ,
throughout your tribes .
*
And I charged your judges at that time , `
Hear the cases between your brethren ,
and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien that is with him .
*
You shall not be partial in judgment ;
you shall hear the small and the great alike ;
you shall not be afraid of the face of man ,
for the judgment is God '
s ;
and the case that is too hard for you ,
you shall bring to me ,
and I will hear it .'
*
And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do .
* "
And we set out from Horeb ,
and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw ,
on the way to the hill country of the Amorites ,
as the LORD our God commanded us ;
and we came to Ka '
desh-bar '
nea .
*
And I said to you , `
You have come to the hill country of the Amorites ,
which the LORD our God gives us .
*
Behold ,
the LORD your God has set the land before you ;
go up ,
take possession ,
as the LORD ,
the God of your fathers ,
has told you ;
do not fear or be dismayed .'
*
Then all of you came near me ,
and said , `
Let us send men before us ,
that they may explore the land for us ,
and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come .'
*
The thing seemed good to me ,
and I took twelve men of you ,
one man for each tribe ;
*
and they turned and went up into the hill country ,
and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out .
*
And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us ,
and brought us word again ,
and said , `
It is a good land which the LORD our God gives us .'
* "
Yet you would not go up ,
but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God ;
*
and you murmured in your tents ,
and said , `
Because the LORD hated us he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt ,
to give us into the hand of the Amorites ,
to destroy us .
*
Whither are we going up ?
Our brethren have made our hearts melt ,
saying , "
The people are greater and taller than we ;
the cities are great and fortified up to heaven ;
and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there ."'
*
Then I said to you , `
Do not be in dread or afraid of them .
*
The LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you ,
just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes ,
*
and in the wilderness ,
where you have seen how the LORD your God bore you ,
as a man bears his son ,
in all the way that you went until you came to this place .'
*
Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the LORD your God ,
*
who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents ,
in fire by night ,
to show you by what way you should go ,
and in the cloud by day .
* "
And the LORD heard your words ,
and was angered ,
and he swore ,
* `
Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land which I swore to give to your fathers ,
*
except Caleb the son of Jephun '
neh ;
he shall see it ,
and to him and to his children I will give the land upon which he has trodden ,
because he has wholly followed the LORD !'
*
The LORD was angry with me also on your account ,
and said , `
You also shall not go in there ;
*
Joshua the son of Nun ,
who stands before you ,
he shall enter ;
encourage him ,
for he shall cause Israel to inherit it .
*
Moreover your little ones ,
who you said would become a prey ,
and your children ,
who this day have no knowledge of good or evil ,
shall go in there ,
and to them I will give it ,
and they shall possess it .
*
But as for you ,
turn ,
and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea .'
* "
Then you answered me , `
We have sinned against the LORD ;
we will go up and fight ,
just as the LORD our God commanded us .'
And every man of you girded on his weapons of war ,
and thought it easy to go up into the hill country .
*
And the LORD said to me , `
Say to them ,
Do not go up or fight ,
for I am not in the midst of you ;
lest you be defeated before your enemies .'
*
So I spoke to you ,
and you would not hearken ;
but you rebelled against the command of the LORD ,
and were presumptuous and went up into the hill country .
*
Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do and beat you down in Se '
ir as far as Hormah .
*
And you returned and wept before the LORD ;
but the LORD did not hearken to your voice or give ear to you .
*
So you remained at Kadesh many days ,
the days that you remained there .
* "
Then we turned ,
and journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea ,
as the LORD told me ;
and for many days we went about Mount Se '
ir .
*
Then the LORD said to me ,
* `
You have been going about this mountain country long enough ;
turn northward .
*
And command the people ,
You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren the sons of Esau ,
who live in Se '
ir ;
and they will be afraid of you .
So take good heed ;
*
do not contend with them ;
for I will not give you any of their land ,
no ,
not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on ,
because I have given Mount Se '
ir to Esau as a possession .
*
You shall purchase food from them for money ,
that you may eat ;
and you shall also buy water of them for money ,
that you may drink .
*
For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands ;
he knows your going through this great wilderness ;
these forty years the LORD your God has been with you ;
you have lacked nothing .'
*
So we went on ,
away from our brethren the sons of Esau who live in Se '
ir ,
away from the Arabah road from Elath and E '
zion-ge '
ber . "
And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab .
*
And the LORD said to me , `
Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle ,
for I will not give you any of their land for a possession ,
because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot for a possession .'
* (
The Emim formerly lived there ,
a people great and many ,
and tall as the Anakim ;
*
like the Anakim they are also known as Reph '
aim ,
but the Moabites call them Emim .
*
The Horites also lived in Se '
ir formerly ,
but the sons of Esau dispossessed them ,
and destroyed them from before them ,
and settled in their stead ;
as Israel did to the land of their possession ,
which the LORD gave to them .)
* `
Now rise up ,
and go over the brook Zered .'
So we went over the brook Zered .
*
And the time from our leaving Ka '
desh-bar '
nea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years ,
until the entire generation ,
that is ,
the men of war ,
had perished from the camp ,
as the LORD had sworn to them .
*
For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them ,
to destroy them from the camp ,
until they had perished .
* "
So when all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people ,
*
the LORD said to me ,
* `
This day you are to pass over the boundary of Moab at Ar ;
*
and when you approach the frontier of the sons of Ammon ,
do not harass them or contend with 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 for a possession .'
* (
That also is known as a land of Reph '
aim ;
Reph '
aim formerly lived there ,
but the Ammonites call them Zamzum '
mim ,
*
a people great and many ,
and tall as the Anakim ;
but the LORD destroyed them before them ;
and they dispossessed them ,
and settled in their stead ;
*
as he did for the sons of Esau ,
who live in Se '
ir ,
when he destroyed the Horites before them ,
and they dispossessed them ,
and settled in their stead even to this day .
*
As for the Avvim ,
who lived in villages as far as Gaza ,
the Caph '
torim ,
who came from Caphtor ,
destroyed them and settled in their stead .)
* `
Rise up ,
take your journey ,
and go over the valley of the Arnon ;
behold ,
I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite ,
king of Heshbon ,
and his land ;
begin to take possession ,
and contend with him in battle .
*
This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven ,
who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you .'
* "
So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Ked '
emoth to Sihon the king of Heshbon ,
with words of peace ,
saying ,
* `
Let me pass through your land ;
I will go only by the road ,
I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left .
*
You shall sell me food for money ,
that I may eat ,
and give me water for money ,
that I may drink ;
only let me pass through on foot ,
*
as the sons of Esau who live in Se '
ir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me ,
until I go over the Jordan into the land which the LORD our God gives to us .'
*
But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him ;
for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate ,
that he might give him into your hand ,
as at this day .
*
And the LORD said to me , `
Behold ,
I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you ;
begin to take possession ,
that you may occupy his land .'
*
Then Sihon came out against us ,
he and all his people ,
to battle at Jahaz .
*
And the LORD our God gave him over to us ;
and we defeated him and his sons and all his people .
*
And we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed every city ,
men ,
women ,
and children ;
we left none remaining ;
*
only the cattle we took as spoil for ourselves ,
with the booty of the cities which we captured .
*
From Aro '
er ,
which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon ,
and from the city that is in the valley ,
as far as Gilead ,
there was not a city too high for us ;
the LORD our God gave all into our hands .
*
Only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not draw near ,
that is ,
to all the banks of the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country ,
and wherever the LORD our God forbade us .
* "
Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan ;
and Og the king of Bashan came out against us ,
he and all his people ,
to battle at Ed '
re-i .
*
But the LORD said to me , `
Do not fear him ;
for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand ;
and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites ,
who dwelt at Heshbon .'
*
So the LORD our God gave into our hand Og also ,
the king of Bashan ,
and all his people ;
and we smote him until no survivor was left to him .
*
And we took all his cities at that time--there was not a city which we did not take from them--sixty cities ,
the whole region of Argob ,
the kingdom of Og in Bashan .
*
All these were cities fortified with high walls ,
gates ,
and bars ,
besides very many unwalled villages .
*
And we utterly destroyed them ,
as we did to Sihon the king of Heshbon ,
destroying every city ,
men ,
women ,
and children .
*
But all the cattle and the spoil of the cities we took as our booty .
*
So we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan ,
from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon
* (
the Sido '
nians call Hermon Si '
rion ,
while the Amorites call it Senir ),
*
all the cities of the tableland and all Gilead and all Bashan ,
as far as Sal '
ecah and Ed '
re-i ,
cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan .
* (
For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Reph '
aim ;
behold ,
his bedstead was a bedstead of iron ;
is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites ?
Nine cubits was its length ,
and four cubits its breadth ,
according to the common cubit .)
* "
When we took possession of this land at that time ,
I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory beginning at Aro '
er ,
which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon ,
and half the hill country of Gilead with its cities ;
*
the rest of Gilead ,
and all Bashan ,
the kingdom of Og ,
that is ,
all the region of Argob ,
I gave to the half-tribe of Manas '
seh . (
The whole of that Bashan is called the land of Reph '
aim .
*
Ja '
ir the Manas '
site took all the region of Argob ,
that is ,
Bashan ,
as far as the border of the Gesh '
urites and the Ma-ac '
athites ,
and called the villages after his own name ,
Hav '
voth-ja '
ir ,
as it is to this day .)
*
To Machir I gave Gilead ,
*
and to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the valley of the Arnon ,
with the middle of the valley as a boundary ,
as far over as the river Jabbok ,
the boundary of the Ammonites ;
*
the Arabah also ,
with the Jordan as the boundary ,
from Chin '
nereth as far as the sea of the Arabah ,
the Salt Sea ,
under the slopes of Pisgah on the east .
* "
And I commanded you at that time ,
saying , `
The LORD your God has given you this land to possess ;
all your men of valor shall pass over armed before your brethren the people of Israel .
*
But your wives ,
your little ones ,
and your cattle (
I know that you have many cattle )
shall remain in the cities which I have given you ,
*
until the LORD gives rest to your brethren ,
as to you ,
and they also occupy the land which the LORD your God gives them beyond the Jordan ;
then you shall return every man to his possession which I have given you .'
*
And I commanded Joshua at that time , `
Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings ;
so will the LORD do to all the kingdoms into which you are going over .
*
You shall not fear them ;
for it is the LORD your God who fights for you .'
* "
And I besought the LORD at that time ,
saying ,
* `
O Lord GOD ,
thou hast only begun to show thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand ;
for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as thine ?
*
Let me go over ,
I pray ,
and see the good land beyond the Jordan ,
that goodly hill country ,
and Lebanon .'
*
But the LORD was angry with me on your account ,
and would not hearken to me ;
and the LORD said to me , `
Let it suffice you ;
speak no more to me of this matter .
*
Go up to the top of Pisgah ,
and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward ,
and behold it with your eyes ;
for you shall not go over this Jordan .
*
But charge Joshua ,
and encourage and strengthen him ;
for he shall go over at the head of this people ,
and he shall put them in possession of the land which you shall see .'
*
So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-pe '
or .
* "
And now ,
O Israel ,
give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you ,
and do them ;
that you may live ,
and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD ,
the God of your fathers ,
gives you .
*
You shall not add to the word which I command you ,
nor take from it ;
that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you .
*
Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Ba '
al-pe '
or ;
for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Ba '
al of Pe '
or ;
*
but you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive this day .
*
Behold ,
I have taught you statutes and ordinances ,
as the LORD my God commanded me ,
that you should do them in the land which you are entering to take possession of it .
*
Keep them and do them ;
for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples ,
who ,
when they hear all these statutes ,
will say , `
Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people .'
*
For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us ,
whenever we call upon him ?
*
And what great nation is there ,
that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day ?
* "
Only take heed ,
and keep your soul diligently ,
lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen ,
and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life ;
make them known to your children and your children '
s children --
*
how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb ,
the LORD said to me , `
Gather the people to me ,
that I may let them hear my words ,
so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth ,
and that they may teach their children so .'
*
And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain ,
while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven ,
wrapped in darkness ,
cloud ,
and gloom .
*
Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire ;
you heard the sound of words ,
but saw no form ;
there was only a voice .
*
And he declared to you his covenant ,
which he commanded you to perform ,
that is ,
the ten commandments ;
and he wrote them upon two tables of stone .
*
And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances ,
that you might do them in the land which you are going over to possess .
* "
Therefore take good heed to yourselves .
Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire ,
*
beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves ,
in the form of any figure ,
the likeness of male or female ,
*
the likeness of any beast that is on the earth ,
the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air ,
*
the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground ,
the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth .
*
And beware lest you lift up your eyes to heaven ,
and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars ,
all the host of heaven ,
you be drawn away and worship them and serve them ,
things which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven .
*
But the LORD has taken you ,
and brought you forth out of the iron furnace ,
out of Egypt ,
to be a people of his own possession ,
as at this day .
*
Furthermore the LORD was angry with me on your account ,
and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan ,
and that I should not enter the good land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance .
*
For I must die in this land ,
I must not go over the Jordan ;
but you shall go over and take possession of that good land .
*
Take heed to yourselves ,
lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God ,
which he made with you ,
and make a graven image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you .
*
For the LORD your God is a devouring fire ,
a jealous God .
* "
When you beget children and children '
s children ,
and have grown old in the land ,
if you act corruptly by making a graven image in the form of anything ,
and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God ,
so as to provoke him to anger ,
*
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day ,
that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess ;
you will not live long upon it ,
but will be utterly destroyed .
*
And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples ,
and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you .
*
And there you will serve gods of wood and stone ,
the work of men '
s hands ,
that neither see ,
nor hear ,
nor eat ,
nor smell .
*
But from there you will seek the LORD your God ,
and you will find him ,
if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul .
*
When you are in tribulation ,
and all these things come upon you in the latter days ,
you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice ,
*
for the LORD your God is a merciful God ;
he will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers which he swore to them .
* "
For ask now of the days that are past ,
which were before you ,
since the day that God created man upon the earth ,
and ask from one end of heaven to the other ,
whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of .
*
Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire ,
as you have heard ,
and still live ?
*
Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation ,
by trials ,
by signs ,
by wonders ,
and by war ,
by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm ,
and by great terrors ,
according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes ?
*
To you it was shown ,
that you might know that the LORD is God ;
there is no other besides him .
*
Out of heaven he let you hear his voice ,
that he might discipline you ;
and on earth he let you see his great fire ,
and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire .
*
And because he loved your fathers and chose their descendants after them ,
and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence ,
by his great power ,
*
driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves ,
to bring you in ,
to give you their land for an inheritance ,
as at this day ;
*
know therefore this day ,
and lay it to your heart ,
that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath ;
there is no other .
*
Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments ,
which I command you this day ,
that it may go well with you ,
and with your children after you ,
and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God gives you for ever ."
*
Then Moses set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan ,
*
that the manslayer might flee there ,
who kills his neighbor unintentionally ,
without being at enmity with him in time past ,
and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might save his life :
*
Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland for the Reubenites ,
and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites ,
and Golan in Bashan for the Manas '
sites .
*
This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel ;
*
these are the testimonies ,
the statutes ,
and the ordinances ,
which Moses spoke to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt ,
*
beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-pe '
or ,
in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites ,
who lived at Heshbon ,
whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt .
*
And they took possession of his land and the land of Og the king of Bashan ,
the two kings of the Amorites ,
who lived to the east beyond the Jordan ;
*
from Aro '
er ,
which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon ,
as far as Mount Si '
rion (
that is ,
Hermon ),
*
together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah ,
under the slopes of Pisgah .
*
And Moses summoned all Israel ,
and said to them , "
Hear ,
O Israel ,
the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your hearing this day ,
and you shall learn them and be careful to do them .