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These are the words that Mosheh spoke to all Yisra’el beyond the Yarden, in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suf, between Paran and Tofel and Lavan and Chatzerot and Di-Zahav.
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It is eleven days from Chorev by the way of Mount Seir to Qadesh-Barnea.
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And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Mosheh spoke to the sons of Yisra’el according to all that Yahuah had commanded him concerning them,
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after he had struck Sichon king of the Emori, who dwelt in Cheshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtarot in Edrei.
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Beyond the Yarden, in the land of Moav, Mosheh began to make this Torah plain, saying,
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“Yahuah our Elohim spoke to us at Chorev, saying, ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.
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Turn and journey for yourselves, and go to the hill country of the Emori and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country, and in the Shefelah, and in the Negev, and by the seacoast, the land of the Kena’ani, and the Levanon, as far as the great river, the river Perat.
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See, I have placed the land before your face. Go in and possess the land that Yahuah swore to your fathers—to Avraham, to Yitzchaq, and to Yaaqov—to give to them and to their seed after them.’
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And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘I am not able, I alone, to bear you.
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Yahuah your Elohim has multiplied you, and see, today you are as the stars of the heavens for multitude.
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Yahuah, Elohim of your fathers, add to you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, according to what He spoke concerning you.
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How can I, I alone, bear your burden, and your load, and your disputes?
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Take for yourselves wise men, understanding and known among your tribes, and I will place them as heads over you.’
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And you answered me and said, ‘The word that you have spoken is good to do.’
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And I took the heads of your tribes, wise men and known, and placed them as heads over you: rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, and officers for your tribes.
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And I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear between your brothers and judge rightly between an ish and his brother, and the sojourner with him.
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You shall not recognize faces in judgment. As the small, so the great, you shall hear. You shall not fear before the face of an ish, for the judgment belongs to Elohim. And the matter that is too difficult for you, bring near to me, and I will hear it.’
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And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.
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And we journeyed from Chorev and went through all that great and fearsome wilderness that you saw, by the way of the hill country of the Emori, according to what Yahuah our Elohim commanded us, and we came to Qadesh-Barnea.
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And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Emori, which Yahuah our Elohim is giving to us.
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See, Yahuah your Elohim has placed the land before your face. Go up, possess it, according to what Yahuah, Elohim of your fathers, spoke to you. Do not fear, and do not be shattered.’
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And all of you drew near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before our face, and let them search out the land for us and return word to us concerning the way by which we should go up and the cities into which we shall come.’
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And the matter was good in my eyes, and I took from you twelve men, one ish from each tribe.
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And they turned and went up into the hill country and came to the wadi of Eshkol and searched it out.
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And they took in their hands from the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and returned word to us and said, ‘Good is the land that Yahuah our Elohim is giving to us.’
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But you were not willing to go up, and you rebelled against the mouth of Yahuah your Elohim.
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And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because Yahuah hated us, He brought us out from the land of Mitzrayim, to give us into the hand of the Emori to destroy us.
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Where are we going up? Our brothers have caused our heart to melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified to the heavens; and also the sons of the Anaqim we saw there.”’
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And I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, and do not fear them.
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Yahuah your Elohim, who goes before your face, He will fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Mitzrayim before your eyes,
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and in the wilderness, where you saw how Yahuah your Elohim carried you, as an ish carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’
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Yet in this matter you were not believing in Yahuah your Elohim,
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who went before your face in the way, to search out for you a place to encamp, in fire by night to show you the way in which you should go, and in the cloud by day.
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And Yahuah heard the voice of your words and became angry and swore, saying,
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‘Surely not an ish among these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers,
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except Kalev son of Yefunneh. He shall see it, and to him I will give the land upon which he has trodden, and to his sons, because he followed fully after Yahuah.’
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Also with me Yahuah became angry because of you, saying, ‘You also shall not enter there.
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Yehoshua son of Nun, who stands before your face, he shall enter there. Strengthen him, for he shall cause Yisra’el to inherit it.
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And your little ones, whom you said would become plunder, and your sons who today do not know good or evil, they shall enter there, and to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
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But as for you, turn and journey for yourselves into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds.’
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Then you answered and said to me, ‘We have sinned against Yahuah. We will go up and fight according to all that Yahuah our Elohim commanded us.’ And each ish girded on his weapons of war, and you thought it easy to go up into the hill country.
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And Yahuah said to me, ‘Say to them: Do not go up and do not fight, for I am not in your midst, lest you be struck before your enemies.’
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And I spoke to you, but you did not listen. And you rebelled against the mouth of Yahuah and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country.
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And the Emori who dwelt in that hill country came out to meet you and pursued you as bees do, and beat you down in Seir as far as Chormah.
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And you returned and wept before Yahuah, but Yahuah did not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.
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And you remained in Qadesh many days, according to the days that you remained.