申1:8See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore he would give to your fathers-to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-and to their descendants after them."

申1:9At that time I said to you, "You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone.

申1:10The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as many as the stars in the sky.

申1:11May the Lord , the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised!

申1:12But how can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself?

申1:13Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you."

申1:14You answered me, "What you propose to do is good."

申1:15So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you-as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials.

申1:16And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien.

申1:17Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of any man, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.

申1:18And at that time I told you everything you were to do.

申1:19Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful desert that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.

申1:20Then I said to you, "You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.

申1:21See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord , the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

申1:22Then all of you came to me and said, "Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to."

申1:23The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe.

申1:24They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and explored it.

申1:25Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, "It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us."

申1:26But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.

申1:27You grumbled in your tents and said, "The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.