Deuteronomy 1

ENGWEBEnglish46 verses

1These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suf, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

2It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.

3In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that Yahweh had given him in commandment to them;

4after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.

5Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law, saying,

6“Yahweh our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have lived long enough at this mountain.

7Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all the places near there, in the Arabah, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the seashore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

8Behold, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’”

9I spoke to you at that time, saying, “I am not able to bear you myself alone.

10Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of the sky for multitude.

11Yahweh, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!

12How can I myself alone bear your problems, your burdens, and your strife?

13Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.”

14You answered me, and said, “The thing which you have spoken is good to do.”

15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes.

16I commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Hear cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him.

17You shall not show partiality 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. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.”

18I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.

19We traveled from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as Yahweh our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea.

20I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which Yahweh our God gives to us.

21Behold, Yahweh your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed.”

22You came near to me, everyone of you, and said, “Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we shall come.”

23The thing pleased me well. I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe.

24They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.

25They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, “It is a good land which Yahweh our God gives to us.”

26Yet you wouldn’t go up, but rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God.

27You murmured in your tents, and said, “Because Yahweh hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

28Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart melt, saying, ‘The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to the sky. Moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there!’”

29Then I said to you, “Don’t dread, neither be afraid of them.

30Yahweh your God who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

31and in the wilderness, where you have seen how that Yahweh your God bore you, as a man does bear his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.”

32Yet in this thing you didn’t believe Yahweh your God,

33who went before you on the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day.

34Yahweh heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying,

35“Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land, which I swore to give to your fathers,

36except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it. I will give the land that he has trodden on to him, and to his children, because he has wholly followed Yahweh.”

37Also Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, saying, “You also shall not go in there.

38Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

39Moreover your little ones, whom you said should be captured or killed, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and I will give it to, and they shall possess it.

40But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

41Then you answered and said to me, “We have sinned against Yahweh, we will go up and fight, according to all that Yahweh our God commanded us.” Every man of you put on his weapons of war, and presumed to go up into the hill country.

42Yahweh said to me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t go up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest you be struck before your enemies.’”

43So I spoke to you, and you didn’t listen; but you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill country.

44The Amorites, who lived in that hill country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to Hormah.

45You returned and wept before Yahweh; but Yahweh didn’t listen to your voice, nor turn his ear to you.

46So you stayed in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained.

Commentary

An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of The Fifth Book of Moses, Called Deuteronomy This book is a repetition of very much both of the history and of the laws contained in the three foregoing books, which repetition Moses delivered to Israel (both by word of mouth, that it might affect, and by writing, that it might abide) a little before his death. There is no new history in it but that of the death of Moses in the last chapter, nor any new revelation to Moses, for aught that appears, and therefore the style here is not, as before, The Lord spoke unto Moses, saying. But the former laws are repeated and commented upon, explained and enlarged, and some particular precepts added to them, with copius reasonings for the enforcing of them: in this Moses was divinely inspired and assisted, so that this is as truly the word of the Lord by Moses as that which was spoken to him with an audible voice out of the tabernacle of the congregation, Lev. 1:1. The Greek interpreters call it Deuteronomy, which signifies the second law, or a second edition of the law, not with amendments, for there needed none, but with additions, for the further direction of the people in divers cases not mentioned before. Now, I. It was much for the honour of the divine law that it should be thus repeated; how great were the things of that law which was thus inculcated, and how inexcusable would those be by whom they were counted as a strange thing! Hos. 8:12. II. There might be a particular reason for the repeating of it now; the men of that generation to which the law was first given were all dead, and a new generation had sprung up, to whom God would have it repeated by Moses himself, that, if possible, it might make a lasting impression upon them. Now that they were just going to take possession of the land of Canaan, Moses must read the articles of agreement to them, that they might know upon what terms and conditions they were to hold and enjoy that land, and might understand that they were upon their good behaviour in it. III. It would be of great use to the people to have those parts of the law thus gathered up and put together which did more immediately concern them and their practice; for the laws which concerned the priests and Levites, and the execution of their offices, are not repeated: it was enough for them that they were once delivered. But, in compassion to the infirmities of the people, the laws of more common concern are delivered a second time. Precept must be upon precept, and line upon line, Isa. 28:10. The great and needful truths of the gospel should be often pressed upon people by the ministers of Christ. To write the same things (says Paul, Phil. 3:1) to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. What God has spoken once we have need to hear twice, to hear many times, and it is well if, after all, it be duly perceived and regarded. In three ways this book of Deuteronomy was magnified and made honourable:—1. The king was to write a copy of it with his own hand, and to read therein all the days of his life, ch. 17, 18, 19. 2. It was to be written upon great stones plastered, at their passing over Jordan, ch. 27:2, 3. 3. It was to be read publicly every seventh year, at the feast of tabernacles, by the priests, in the audience of all Israel, ch. 31:9, etc. The gospel is a kind of Deuteronomy, a second law, a remedial law, a spiritual law, a law of faith; by it we are under the law of Christ, and it is a law that makes the comers thereunto perfect.This book of Deuteronomy begins with a brief rehearsal of the most remarkable events that had befallen the Israelites since they came from Mount Sinai. In the fourth chapter we have a most pathetic exhortation to obedience. In the twelfth chapter, and so on to the twenty-seventh, are repeated many particular laws, which are enforced (ch. 27 and 28) with promises and threatenings, blessings and curses, formed into a covenant, ch. 29 and 30. Care is taken to perpetuate the remembrance of these things among them (ch. 31), particularly by a song (ch. 32), and so Moses concludes with a blessing, ch. 33. All this was delivered by Moses to Israel in the last month of his life. The whole book contains the history but of two months; compare ch. 1:3 with Jos. 4:19, the latter of which was the thirty days of Israel’s mourning for Moses; see how busy that great and good man was to do good when he knew that his time was short, how quick his motion when he drew near his rest. Thus we have more recorded of what our blessed Saviour said and did in the last week of his life than in any other. The last words of eminent persons make or should make deep impressions. Observe, for the honour of this book, that when our Saviour would answer the devil’s temptations with, It is written, he fetched all his quotations out of this book, Mt. 4:4, 7, 10.Chapter 1 The first part of Moses’s farewell sermon to Israel begins with this chapter, and is continued to the latter end of the fourth chapter. In the first five verses of this chapter we have the date of the sermon, the place where it was preached (v. 1, 2, 5), and the time when (v. 3, 4). The narrative in this chapter reminds them, I. Of the promise God made them of the land of Canaan (v. 6-8). II. Of the provision made of judges for them (v. 9–18). III. Of their unbelief and murmuring upon the report of the spies (v. 19–33). IV. Of the sentence passed upon them for it, and the ratification of that sentence (v. 34, etc.).Verses 1-8 We have here, I. The date of this sermon which Moses preached to the people of Israel. A great auditory, no question, he had, as many as could crowd within hearing, and particularly all the elders and officers, the representatives of the people; and, probably, it was on the sabbath day that he delivered this to them. 1. The place were they were now encamped was in the plain, in the land of Moab (v. 1, 5), where they were just ready to enter Canaan, and engage in a war with the Canaanites.

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Translations8 · 5

AMHEVG በዮርዳኖስ ማዶ በምድረ በዳ፥ በዓረባ ውስጥ በኤርትራ ባሕር ፊት ለፊት፥ በፋራን በጦፌልም በላባንም በሐጼሮትም በዲዛሃብም መካከል ሳሉ፥ ሙሴ ለእስራኤል ሁሉ የነገራቸው ቃል ይህ ነው። አማርኛ ENGNIV These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert east of the Jordan–that is, in the Arabah–opposite Suph, be… English BCV ሙሴ፥ ኵሎም ደቂ እስራኤል ኣብ ምብራቕ ፈለግ ዮርዳኖስ ኣብ ዘሎ ምድረ በዳ እንተለዉ ዝነገሮም ቃል እዙይ እዩ። ንሳቶም ኣብ ጥቓ ሱፍ ዝበሃል ቦታ ኣብ ዘሎ ምድረ በዳ፥ ኣብ መንጎ ፋራንን … ትግርኛ GAZBIB Dubbiin Museen dachaa Yordaanos Arabaayi lafa onaa keessatti fuullee Suuf, Phaaraan Tofel, Laabaan, Haserootii fi Diiza… Afaan Oromoo BCV GIZ ዝንቱ ውእቱ ነገር ዘነገሮሙ ሙሴ ለኵሉ እስራኤል በማዕዶተ ዮርዳኖስ መንገለ ዐረቢሁ በኀበ ባሕረ ኤርትራ በማእከለ ፋራን ጦፌል ወሎቦን ወአውሎን ወዘክሪስያ። giz GAZGAZ Dubbiin Museen dachaa Yordaanos Arabaayi lafa onaa keessatti fuullee Suuf, Phaaraan Tofel, Laabaan, Haserootii fi Diiza… Afaan Oromoo BCV aksum ሙሴ፥ ኵሎም ደቂ እስራኤል ኣብ ምብራቕ ፈለግ ዮርዳኖስ ኣብ ዘሎ ምድረ በዳ እንተለዉ ዝነገሮም ቃል እዙይ እዩ። ንሳቶም ኣብ ጥቓ ሱፍ ዝበሃል ቦታ ኣብ ዘሎ ምድረ በዳ፥ ኣብ መንጎ ፋራንን … ትግርኛ AMHNIV ከዮርዳኖስ በስተ ምሥራቅ ዓረባ በተባለው ምድረ በዳ ከሱጰ ትይዩ፣ በፋራንና በጦፌል፣ በላባን፣ በሐጼሮትና በዲዛሃብ መካከል ሳሉ፣ ሙሴ ለእስራኤል ሁሉ የተናገረው ቃል ይህ ነው። አማርኛ