3. On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year after they had left Egypt, Moses told the people everything the Lord had commanded him to tell them.
4. This was after the Lord; or Moses. had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in the town of Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who ruled in the towns of Ashtaroth and Edrei.
5. It was while the people were east of the Jordan in the territory of Moab that Moses began to explain God's laws and teachings.He said,
6. “When we were at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God said to us, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.
7. Break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the surrounding regions — to the Jordan Valley, to the hill country and the lowlands, to the southern region, and to the Mediterranean coast. Go to the land of Canaan and on beyond the Lebanon Mountains as far as the great River Euphrates.
8. All of this is the land which I, the Lord, promised to give to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants. Go and occupy it.’ ”
9. Moses said to the people, “While we were still at Mount Sinai, I told you, ‘The responsibility for leading you is too much for me. I can't do it alone.
20-21. I said, ‘You have now come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God, the God of our ancestors, is giving us. Look, there it is. Go and occupy it as he commanded. Do not hesitate or be afraid.’
22. “But you came to me and said, ‘Let's send men ahead of us to spy out the land, so that they can tell us the best route to take and what kind of cities are there.’
23. “That seemed a good thing to do, so I selected twelve men, one from each tribe.
24. They went into the hill country as far as the Valley of Eshcol and explored it.
25. They brought us back some fruit they found there, and reported that the land which the Lord our God was giving us was very fertile.
26. “But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God, and you would not enter the land.
27. You grumbled to one another: ‘The Lord hates us. He brought us out of Egypt just to hand us over to these Amorites, so that they could kill us.
28. Why should we go there? We are afraid. The men we sent tell us that the people there are stronger and taller than we are, and that they live in cities with walls that reach the sky. They saw giants there!’
29. “But I said, ‘Don't be afraid of those people.
30. The Lord your God will lead you, and he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt
31. and in the desert. You saw how he brought you safely all the way to this place, just as a father would carry his son.’
32. But in spite of what I said, you still would not trust the Lord,
33. even though he always went ahead of you to find a place for you to camp. To show you the way, he went in front of you in a pillar of fire by night and in a pillar of cloud by day.
34. “The Lord heard your complaints and became angry, and so he solemnly declared,
35. ‘Not one of you from this evil generation will enter the fertile land that I promised to give your ancestors.