These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan—in the wilderness, on the plain opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.

(By the way of Mount Seir it takes eleven days to reach Kadesh-barnea from Horeb.)

In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the Israelites just as the Lord had commanded him to speak to them.

This was after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei.

Beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law as follows:

The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

Resume your journey, and go into the hill country of the Amorites as well as into the neighboring regions—the Arabah, the hill country, the Shephelah, the Negeb, and the seacoast—the land of the Canaanites and the Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

See, I have set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land that I swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their descendants after them.”
Appointment of Tribal Leaders

At that time I said to you, “I am unable by myself to bear you.

The Lord your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars of heaven.

May the Lord , the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times more and bless you, as he has promised you!

But how can I bear the heavy burden of your disputes all by myself?

Choose for each of your tribes individuals who are wise, discerning, and reputable to be your leaders.”

You answered me, “The plan you have proposed is a good one.”

So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and reputable individuals, and installed them as leaders over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officials, throughout your tribes.

I charged your judges at that time: “Give the members of your community a fair hearing, and judge rightly between one person and another, whether citizen or resident alien.

You must not be partial in judging: hear out the small and the great alike; you shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God's. Any case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.”

So I charged you at that time with all the things that you should do.
Israel's Refusal to Enter the Land

Then, just as the Lord our God had ordered us, we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, until we reached Kadesh-barnea.

I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.

See, the Lord your God has given the land to you; go up, take possession, as the Lord , the God of your ancestors, has promised you; do not fear or be dismayed.”

All of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead of us to explore the land for us and bring back a report to us regarding the route by which we should go up and the cities we will come to.”

The plan seemed good to me, and I selected twelve of you, one from each tribe.

They set out and went up into the hill country, and when they reached the Valley of Eshcol they spied it out

and gathered some of the land's produce, which they brought down to us. They brought back a report to us, and said, “It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.”

But you were unwilling to go up. You rebelled against the command of the Lord your God;

you grumbled in your tents and said, “It is because the Lord hates us that he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us.

Where are we headed? Our kindred have made our hearts melt by reporting, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven! We actually saw there the offspring of the Anakim!’ ”

I said to you, “Have no dread or fear of them.

The Lord your God, who goes before you, is the one who will fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your very eyes,

and in the wilderness, where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as one carries a child, all the way that you traveled until you reached this place.

But in spite of this, you have no trust in the Lord your God,

who goes before you on the way to seek out a place for you to camp, in fire by night, and in the cloud by day, to show you the route you should take.”
The Penalty for Israel's Rebellion

When the Lord heard your words, he was wrathful and swore:

“Not one of these—not one of this evil generation—shall see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors,

except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his descendants I will give the land on which he set foot, because of his complete fidelity to the Lord.”

Even with me the Lord was angry on your account, saying, “You also shall not enter there.

Joshua son of Nun, your assistant, shall enter there; encourage him, for he is the one who will secure Israel's possession of it.

And as for your little ones, who you thought would become booty, your children, who today do not yet know right from wrong, they shall enter there; to them I will give it, and they shall take possession of it.

But as for you, journey back into the wilderness, in the direction of the Red Sea.”

You answered me, “We have sinned against the Lord! We are ready to go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.” So all of you strapped on your battle gear, and thought it easy to go up into the hill country.

The Lord said to me, “Say to them, ‘Do not go up and do not fight, for I am not in the midst of you; otherwise you will be defeated by your enemies.’ ”

Although I told you, you would not listen. You rebelled against the command of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the hill country.

The Amorites who lived in that hill country then came out against you and chased you as bees do. They beat you down in Seir as far as Hormah.

When you returned and wept before the Lord , the Lord would neither heed your voice nor pay you any attention.
The Desert Years

After you had stayed at Kadesh as many days as you did,

Pagan Practices Forbidden

You are children of the Lord your God. You must not lacerate yourselves or shave your forelocks for the dead.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
Clean and Unclean Foods

You shall not eat any abhorrent thing.

These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain-sheep.

Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof cleft in two, and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.

Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cleft you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you.

And the pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. You shall not eat their meat, and you shall not touch their carcasses.

Of all that live in water you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat.

And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

You may eat any clean birds.

But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,

the buzzard, the kite, of any kind;

every raven of any kind;

the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk, of any kind;

the little owl and the great owl, the water hen

and the desert owl, the carrion vulture and the cormorant,

the stork, the heron, of any kind; the hoopoe and the bat.

And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.

You may eat any clean winged creature.

You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to aliens residing in your towns for them to eat, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.
Regulations concerning Tithes

Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field.

In the presence of the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose as a dwelling for his name, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.

But if, when the Lord your God has blessed you, the distance is so great that you are unable to transport it, because the place where the Lord your God will choose to set his name is too far away from you,

then you may turn it into money. With the money secure in hand, go to the place that the Lord your God will choose;

spend the money for whatever you wish—oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink, or whatever you desire. And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your household rejoicing together.

As for the Levites resident in your towns, do not neglect them, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you.

Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year, and store it within your towns;

the Levites, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work that you undertake.