Day 78 of 730

¹Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me; and we encircled Mount Seir many days.

²The Lord spoke to me, saying,

³"You have encircled this mountain long enough. Turn northward.

⁴Command the people, saying, 'You are to pass through the border of your brothers the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you: take good heed to yourselves therefore;

⁵do not contend with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on; because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession.

⁶You shall purchase food of them for money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water of them for money, that you may drink.'"

⁷For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; he has known your walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.

⁸So we passed by from our brothers the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion Geber. We turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

⁹The Lord said to me, "Do not bother Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession."

¹⁰(The Emim lived therein before, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim:

¹¹these also are accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim.

¹²The Horites also lived in Seir before, but the children of Esau succeeded them; and they destroyed them from before them, and lived in their place; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which the Lord gave to them.)

¹³"Now rise up, and cross over the brook Zered." We went over the brook Zered.

¹⁴The days in which we came from Kadesh Barnea, until we had come over the brook Zered, were thirty-eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the midst of the camp, as the Lord swore to them.

¹⁵Moreover the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed.

¹⁶So it happened, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,

¹⁷that the Lord spoke to me, saying,

¹⁸"You are this day to pass over Ar, the border of Moab:

¹⁹and when you come near over against the children of Ammon, do not bother them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession."

²⁰(That also is accounted a land of Rephaim: Rephaim lived therein before; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,

²¹a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and lived in their place;

²²as he did for the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and lived in their place even to this day:

²³and the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and lived in their place.)

²⁴"Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon: behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.

²⁵This day will I begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole sky, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you."

²⁶I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,

²⁷"Let me pass through your land: I will go along by the highway, I will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left.

²⁸You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only let me pass through on my feet,

²⁹as the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me; until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God gives us."

³⁰But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for the Lord your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as at this day.

³¹The Lord said to me, "Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you: begin to possess, that you may inherit his land."

³²Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz.

³³The Lord our God delivered him up before us; and we struck him, and his sons, and all his people.

³⁴We took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining:

³⁵only the livestock we took for a prey to ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken.

³⁶From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us; the Lord our God delivered up all before us:

³⁷only to the land of the children of Ammon you did not come near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God forbade us.

¹Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

²The Lord said to me, "Do not fear him; for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon."

³So the Lord our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we struck him until none was left to him remaining.

⁴We took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them; sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

⁵All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides the unwalled towns a great many.

⁶We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones.

⁷But all the livestock, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.

⁸We took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon.

⁹(The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir.)

¹⁰We took all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

¹¹(For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; isn't it in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, after the cubit of a man.)

¹²This land we took in possession at that time: from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead, and its cities, gave I to the Reubenites and to the Gadites:

¹³and the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, gave I to the half-tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, even all Bashan. (The same is called the land of Rephaim.

¹⁴Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them, even Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth Jair, to this day.)

¹⁵I gave Gilead to Machir.

¹⁶To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even to the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and its border, even to the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;

¹⁷the Arabah also, and the Jordan and its border, from Chinnereth even to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward.

¹⁸I commanded you at that time, saying, "The Lord your God has given you this land to possess it: you shall pass over armed before your brothers the children of Israel, all the men of valor.

¹⁹But your wives, and your little ones, and your livestock, (I know that you have much livestock), shall live in your cities which I have given you,

²⁰until the Lord gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God gives them beyond the Jordan: then you shall return every man to his possession, which I have given you."

²¹I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, "Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings: so shall the Lord do to all the kingdoms where you go over.

²²You shall not fear them; for the Lord your God, he it is who fights for you."

²³I begged the Lord at that time, saying,

²⁴"Lord God, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your strong hand: for what god is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to your works, and according to your mighty acts?

²⁵Please let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon."

²⁶But the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and did not listen to me; and the Lord said to me, "Let it suffice you; speak no more to me of this matter.

²⁷Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes: for you shall not go over this Jordan.

²⁸But commission Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see."

²⁹So we stayed in the valley over against Beth Peor.

¹Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.

²I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,

³which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

⁴We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, his strength, and his wondrous works that he has done.

⁵For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a teaching in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;

⁶that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born; who should arise and tell their children,

⁷that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments,

⁸and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

⁹The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

¹⁰They did not keep God's covenant, and refused to walk by his Law.

¹¹They forgot his doings, his wondrous works that he had shown them.

¹²He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

¹³He split the sea, and caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand as a heap.

¹⁴In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.

¹⁵He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.

¹⁶He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

¹⁷Yet they still went on to sin against him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert.

¹⁸They tempted God in their heart by asking food according to their desire.

¹⁹Yes, they spoke against God. They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

²⁰Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out, and streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people?"

²¹Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, anger also went up against Israel,

²²because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in his salvation.

²³Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven.

²⁴He rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them bread from heaven.

²⁵Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.

²⁶He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind.

²⁷He rained also flesh on them as the dust; winged birds as the sand of the seas.

²⁸He let them fall in the midst of their camp, around their habitations.

²⁹So they ate, and were well filled. He gave them their own desire.

³⁰They did not turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,

³¹when the anger of God went up against them, killed some of the fattest of them, and struck down the young men of Israel.

³²For all this they still sinned, and did not believe in his wondrous works.

³³Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.

³⁴When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.

³⁵They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer.

³⁶But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.

³⁷For their heart was not right with him, neither were they faithful in his covenant.

³⁸But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

³⁹He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn't come again.

⁴⁰How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!

⁴¹They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

⁴²They did not remember his hand, nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;

⁴³how he set his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the field of Zoan,

⁴⁴he turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink.

⁴⁵He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

⁴⁶He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust.

⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail, their sycamore fig trees with frost.

⁴⁸He gave over their livestock also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

⁴⁹He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and a band of destroying angels.

⁵⁰He made a path for his anger. He did not spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence,

⁵¹and struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.

⁵²But he led forth his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

⁵³He led them safely, so that they weren't afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

⁵⁴He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain, which his right hand had taken.

⁵⁵He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

⁵⁶Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not keep his testimonies;

⁵⁷but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

⁵⁸For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.

⁵⁹When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel;

⁶⁰So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

⁶¹and delivered his strength into captivity, his glory into the adversary's hand.

⁶²He also gave his people over to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance.

⁶³Fire devoured their young men. Their virgins had no wedding song.

⁶⁴Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows couldn't weep.

⁶⁵Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.

⁶⁶He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach.

⁶⁷Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

⁶⁸But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.

⁶⁹He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he has established forever.

⁷⁰He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;

⁷¹from following the ewes that have their young, he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.

⁷²So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

¹The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

²All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weighs the motives.

³Commit your deeds to the Lord, and your plans shall succeed.

⁴The Lord has made everything for its own end- yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.

⁵Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: they shall certainly not be unpunished.

⁶By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for. By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.

⁷When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

⁸Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues with injustice.

⁹A man's heart plans his course, but the Lord directs his steps.

¹⁰Inspired judgments are on the lips of the king. He shall not betray his mouth.

¹¹Honest balances and scales are the Lord's; all the weights in the bag are his work.

¹²It is an abomination for kings to do wrong, for the throne is established by righteousness.

¹³Righteous lips are the delight of kings. They value one who speaks the truth.

¹⁴The king's wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it.

¹⁵In the light of the king's face is life. His favor is like a cloud of the spring rain.

¹⁶How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

¹⁷The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He who keeps his way preserves his soul.

¹⁸Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

¹⁹It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, than to divide the plunder with the proud.

²⁰He who heeds the Word finds prosperity. Whoever trusts in the Lord is blessed.

²¹The wise in heart shall be called prudent. Pleasantness of the lips promotes instruction.

²²Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it, but the punishment of fools is their folly.

²³The heart of the wise instructs his mouth, and adds learning to his lips.

²⁴Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

²⁵There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

²⁶The appetite of the laboring man labors for him; for his mouth urges him on.

²⁷A worthless man devises mischief. His speech is like a scorching fire.

²⁸A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends.

²⁹A man of violence entices his neighbor, and leads him in a way that is not good.

³⁰One who winks his eyes to plot perversities, one who compresses his lips, is bent on evil.

³¹Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is attained by a life of righteousness.

³²One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.

³³The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.