and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. [1]
16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it. [2]
18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.
19 And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea.
20 And I said to you, Ye have come to the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give to us.
21 Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said to thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
22 And ye came near to me each one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land for us, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
23 And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:
24 And they turned and went up to the mountain, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.
25 And they took 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 the LORD our God doth give us.
26 However ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth from the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
28 Where can we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. [3]
29 Then I said to you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
30 The LORD your God who goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;
31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how the LORD thy God bore thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
32 Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,
33 Who went in the way before you, to search out for you a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.
34 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying,
35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I swore to give to your fathers,
36 Except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath walked upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD. [4]
37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in there.
38 But Joshua the son of Nun, who standeth before thee, he shall go in there: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in there, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
40 But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
41 Then ye answered and said to me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up to the hill.
42 And the LORD said to me, Say to them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.
43 So I spoke to you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up to the hill. [5]
44 And the Amorites, who dwelt on that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even to Hormah.
45 And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear to you.
46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according to the days that ye abode there .
CHAP. 2.
1 Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spoke to me: and we went around mount Seir many days.
2 And the LORD spoke to me, saying,
3 Ye have gone around this mountain long enough: turn northward.