Deuteronomy 1:19-33

1:19 Then we left Horeb and passed through all that immense, forbidding wilderness that you saw on the way to the Amorite hill country as the Lord our God had commanded us to do, finally arriving at Kadesh Barnea. 1:20 Then I said to you, “You have come to the Amorite hill country which the Lord our God is about to give ¹  us. 1:21 Look, he ²  has placed the land in front of you! ³  Go up, take possession of it, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to do. Do not be afraid or discouraged!” 1:22 So all of you approached me and said, “Let’s send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there.” 1:23 I thought this was a good idea, ⁴  so I sent ⁵  twelve men from among you, one from each tribe. 1:24 They left and went up to the hill country, coming to the Eshcol Valley, ⁶  which they scouted out. 1:25 Then they took ⁷  some of the produce of the land and carried it back down to us. They also brought a report to us, saying, “The land that the Lord our God is about to give us is good.”

Disobedience at Kadesh Barnea

1:26 You were not willing to go up, however, but instead rebelled against the Lord your God. ⁸  1:27 You complained among yourselves privately ⁹  and said, “Because the Lord hates us he brought us from Egypt to deliver us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us! 1:28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage ¹⁰  by describing people who are more numerous ¹¹  and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven ¹²  itself! Moreover, they said they saw ¹³  Anakites ¹⁴  there.” 1:29 So I responded to you, “Do not be terrified ¹⁵  of them! 1:30 The Lord your God is about to go ¹⁶  ahead of you; he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt ¹⁷  1:31 and in the desert, where you saw him ¹⁸  carrying you along like a man carries his son. This he did everywhere you went until you came to this very place.” 1:32 However, through all this you did not have confidence in the Lord your God, 1:33 the one who was constantly going before you to find places for you to set up camp. He appeared by fire at night and cloud by day, to show you the way you ought to go.

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¹ tn The Hebrew participle has an imminent future sense here, although many English versions treat it as a present tense (“is giving us,” NAB, NIV, NRSV) or a predictive future (“will give us,” NCV).

² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun (“he”) has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid repetition.

³ tn Or “has given you the land” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV).

⁴ tn Heb “the thing was good in my eyes.”

⁵ tn Or “selected” (so NIV, NRSV, TEV); Heb “took.”

⁶ tn Or “the Wadi Eshcol” (so NAB).

sn The Eshcol Valley is a verdant valley near Hebron, still famous for its viticulture (cf. Num 13:22-23). The Hebrew name “Eshcol” means “trestle,” that is, the frame on which grape vines grow.

⁷ tn The Hebrew text includes “in their hand,” which is unnecessary and somewhat redundant in English style.

⁸ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God.” To include “the mouth” would make for odd English style. The mouth stands by metonymy for the Lord’s command, which in turn represents the Lord himself.

⁹ tn Heb “in your tents,” that is, privately.

¹⁰ tn Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”

¹¹ tn Heb “greater.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “stronger,” NAB, NIV, NRSV; “bigger,” NASB).

¹² tn Or “as the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

¹³ tn Heb “we have seen.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “the sons of the Anakim.”

sn Anakites were giant people (Num 13:33; Deut 2:10, 21; 9:2) descended from a certain Anak whose own forefather Arba founded the city of Kiriath Arba, i.e., Hebron (Josh 21:11).

¹⁵ tn Heb “do not tremble and do not be afraid.” Two synonymous commands are combined for emphasis.

¹⁶ tn The Hebrew participle indicates imminent future action here, though some English versions treat it as a predictive future (“will go ahead of you,” NCV; cf. also TEV, CEV).

¹⁷ tn Heb “according to all which he did for you in Egypt before your eyes.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun (“him”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.