The Command to Leave Horeb (Exodus 33:1–6)
1 UST In this book are speeches that Moses said to all the Israelites. He spoke to them after they had set up their tents east of the Jordan River. They were in the desert plain along the Jordan near a place named Suph. Suph is between the desert of Paran{ on one side of the Jordan River} and the towns of Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di Zahab{ on the other side of the river}. BSB BSB: These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—in the Arabah opposite Suph—between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
2 UST It usually takes 11 days to walk from Mount Horeb to Kadesh Barnea. People go by way of Mount Seir. BSB BSB: It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir.
3 UST Forty years had passed since the Israelites had left Egypt, and it was the first day of the eleventh month. Moses told the Israelite people everything that Yahweh had commanded him to tell them. BSB BSB: In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them.
4 UST He did this after they had defeated Sihon and Og. Sihon, the king of the Amorite people, lived in the city of Heshbon. Og, the king of the region of Bashan, ruled in the towns of Ashtaroth and Edrei. BSB BSB: This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and then at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.
5 UST The people were in Moab, on the east side of the Jordan River. There, Moses explained to them God’ s instructions, saying, BSB BSB: On the east side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:
6 UST “Yahweh our God said to our ancestors at Mount Horeb,‘You have stayed for a very long time at the base of this mountain. BSB BSB: The LORD our God said to us at Horeb: “You have stayed at this mountain long enough.
7 UST Now you must continue traveling. Go to the hilly area where the Amorite people live and go to the nearby areas. These areas include the plain along the Jordan, the hilly area, the smaller hills in the west, the wilderness in the south, the coast of the Great Sea, the land of Canaan, the Lebanon mountains, and northeast to the great Euphrates River. BSB BSB: Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the foothills, in the Negev, and along the seacoast to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great River Euphrates.
8 UST Know that I will give that land to you. I, Yahweh, promised the land to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I promised that I would give it to them and to their descendants. So go and occupy it.’ BSB BSB: See, I have placed the land before you. Enter and possess the land that the LORD swore He would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants after them.”
Moses Appoints Leaders (Exodus 18:13–27)
9 UST I said to your ancestors during that time,‘I am not able to govern all of you by myself. BSB BSB: At that time I said to you, “I cannot carry the burden for you alone.
10 UST Yahweh our God has caused us Israelites to become numerous. Today we are as numerous as the stars in the sky. BSB BSB: The LORD your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.
11 UST I pray that Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors worshiped, will cause us to become a great many times more numerous than we are now. I pray that he will bless us just as he promised to do. BSB BSB: May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times over and bless you as He has promised.
12 UST But I cannot solve all of your problems by myself. BSB BSB: But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes all by myself?
13 UST So choose some men from your tribes who are wise and who have good sense and whom people respect. Then I will assign them to be your leaders.’ BSB BSB: Choose for yourselves wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will appoint them as your leaders.”
14 UST Your parents replied,‘We agree with what you have suggested.’ BSB BSB: And you answered me and said, “What you propose to do is good.”
15 UST So I took the wise men, those whom people respected and whom your families chose from your tribes, and I appointed them to be your leaders. I appointed some to lead groups of 1, 000 people, some to lead groups of 100 people, some to lead groups of 50 people, and some to lead groups of 10 people. I also appointed other officers from throughout your tribes. BSB BSB: So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them as leaders over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and as officers for your tribes.
16 UST Then, I instructed your leaders,‘Listen when your people are quarreling. Consider each case fairly, including cases where Israelites quarrel with each other. Also consider cases where an Israelite quarrels with someone from another land who lives among you. BSB BSB: At that time I charged your judges: “Hear the disputes between your brothers, and judge fairly between a man and his brother or a foreign resident.
17 UST You must not favor one person more than another. You must treat unimportant people and important people equally. You must not worry about what anyone will think, because you will decide matters as God wants you to decide them. If you are not sure what to decide when people are quarreling, tell me, and I will decide.’ BSB BSB: Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.”
18 UST At that time I also told you other things that you should do. BSB BSB: And at that time I commanded you all the things you were to do.
Twelve Spies Sent Out (Numbers 13:1–33)
19 UST Then, just as Yahweh our God told us to do, we left Horeb. We went through a huge and dangerous wilderness. The wilderness was on the road to the hilly area where the Amorite people live. We arrived at Kadesh Barnea. BSB BSB: And just as the LORD our God had commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites, through all the vast and terrifying wilderness you have seen. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,
20 UST I said to your parents,‘You have now come to the hilly area where the Amorite people live. This is part of the area that Yahweh our God is giving to us. BSB BSB: I said: “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us.
21 UST Know that Yahweh our God is giving this land to us. So go and occupy it as he commanded. Yahweh is the God whom your ancestors worshiped. Do not be at all afraid.’ BSB BSB: See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
22 UST But your fathers all came to me and said,‘We should first send some men ahead of us to explore the land. Then, they can return and tell us which will be the best road to go there and what kind of towns are there.’ BSB BSB: Then all of you approached me and said, “Let us send men ahead of us to search out the land and bring us word of what route to follow and which cities to enter.”
23 UST I thought that what they had planned was good, so I chose 12 men, one man from each tribe. BSB BSB: The plan seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men from among you, one from each tribe.
24 UST They went into the hilly area as far as the Valley of Eshkol, and they explored the area. BSB BSB: They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied out the land.
25 UST They picked some of the fruit that they found there and brought it to us. They reported that the land that Yahweh our God was giving to us was very good. BSB BSB: They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us word: “It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
Israel’s Rebellion (Numbers 14:1–12)
26 UST But your parents refused to go and conquer that land. They rebelled against what Yahweh our God had commanded them to do. BSB BSB: But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God.
27 UST Your parents stayed in their tents and complained. They said,‘Yahweh hates us, so he has brought us here from Egypt to allow the Amorite people to destroy us. BSB BSB: You grumbled in your tents and said, “Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to be annihilated.
28 UST We do not want to go there. The men whom we sent there have caused us to become very afraid. They have told us that the people there are stronger and bigger than we are. They said that there are very high walls around their towns. They also said that they saw giants there that are descendants of Anak.’ BSB BSB: Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’”
29 UST Then I said to your fathers,‘Do not be even a little bit afraid of those people! BSB BSB: So I said to you: “Do not be terrified or afraid of them!
30 UST Yahweh our God will go before you. He will fight for you just as you saw him do for you in Egypt BSB BSB: The LORD your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt
31 UST and in the wilderness. You saw how he brought you safely here, just like a man holds and protects his son.’ BSB BSB: and in the wilderness, where the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way by which you traveled until you reached this place.”
32 UST Your parents would not trust Yahweh our God, even though I reminded them of what Yahweh had done. BSB BSB: But in spite of all this, you did not trust the LORD your God,
33 UST He always went ahead of them while they traveled in the desert. He showed them places to set up their tents. He directed them with the fire during the night and with the cloud during the day. BSB BSB: who went before you on the journey, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to seek out a place for you to camp and to show you the road to travel.
Israel’s Penalty (Numbers 14:20–35)
34 UST Yahweh heard your parents complaining, and he became angry. He solemnly declared, BSB BSB: When the LORD heard your words, He grew angry and swore an oath, saying,
35 UST ‘Only Caleb son of Jephunneh will enter the land. He has obeyed me completely. So I will give to him and to his descendants some of the land that he explored. None of the rest of these evil people will ever live in that good land that I solemnly promised to give to your ancestors.’ BSB BSB: “Not one of the men of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your fathers,
37 UST But because of what your fathers did, Yahweh was also angry with me. He said to me,‘You also will not enter that land. BSB BSB: The LORD was also angry with me on your account, and He said, “Not even you shall enter the land.
38 UST Joshua son of Nun, who is your helper, will enter it. Support him, because he will enable the Israelite people to occupy that land.’ BSB BSB: Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will enable Israel to inherit the land.
39 UST Yahweh continued to declare,‘You said that your enemies would capture your children,{ but this did not happen}. Your children are very young, so they do not yet know what is good and what is evil. However, they are the ones who will enter that land. I will give them the land, and they will occupy it. BSB BSB: And the little ones you said would become captives—your children who on that day did not know good from evil—will enter the land that I will give them, and they will possess it.
40 UST As for you, turn around and go back into the desert, toward the Sea of Reeds.’ BSB BSB: But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”
The Defeat at Hormah (Numbers 14:40–45)
41 UST Then your fathers replied,‘We have sinned by disobeying Yahweh. We promise now that we will go and attack the people who live in that land, just as Yahweh our God has told us to do.’ Then each of their men equipped himself with weapons. They thought that it would be easy to invade the hill country. BSB BSB: “We have sinned against the LORD,” you replied. “We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God has commanded us.” Then each of you put on his weapons of war, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.
42 UST But Yahweh said to me,‘Tell them not to go there and attack those people, because I will not help them. If they go, their enemy will certainly defeat them.’ BSB BSB: But the LORD said to me, “Tell them not to go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from defeat by your enemies.”
43 UST So I said that to your fathers, but they did not obey what I said. They again rebelled against what Yahweh commanded them to do. Their soldiers proudly marched up into that hilly area. BSB BSB: So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the command of the LORD and presumptuously went up into the hill country.
44 UST Then the men of the Amorite people who lived in that region came out of their towns. They attacked those soldiers. They chased our soldiers like a swarm of bees would chase a person. The Amorites pursued your ancestors’ soldiers south from the area of Seir and defeated them at the city of Hormah. BSB BSB: Then the Amorites who lived in the hills came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir all the way to Hormah.
45 UST So your fathers went back to Kadesh Barnea and cried out to request Yahweh to help them, but he did not pay any attention to them. BSB BSB: And you returned and wept before the LORD, but He would not listen to your voice or give ear to you.
46 UST So we stayed there at Kadesh Barnea for a long time. BSB BSB: For this reason you stayed in Kadesh for a long time—a very long time.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.