The Journey from Egypt to Moab

¹The following account gives the names of the places where the Israelites set up camp after they left Egypt in their tribes under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

²At the command of the Lord, Moses wrote down the name of the place each time they set up camp.

³The people of Israel left Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month of the year, the day after the first Passover. Under the Lord's protection they left the city of Rameses in full view of the Egyptians,

⁴who were burying the first-born sons that the Lord had killed. By doing this, the Lord showed that he was more powerful than the gods of Egypt.

⁵The people of Israel left Rameses and set up camp at Sukkoth.

⁶Their next camp was at Etham on the edge of the desert.

⁷From there they turned back to Pi Hahiroth, east of Baal Zephon, and camped near Migdol.

⁸They left Pi Hahiroth and passed through the Red Sea into the desert of Shur; after a three days' march they camped at Marah.

⁹From there they went to Elim, where they camped, because there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees there.

¹⁰They left Elim and camped near the Gulf of Suez.

¹¹Their next camp was in the desert of Sin.

¹²Then they camped at Dophkah,

¹³and after that at Alush.

¹⁴Next was Rephidim, where there was no water for them to drink.

^15-37From Rephidim to Mount Hor they set up camp at the following places: the Sinai Desert, Kibroth Hattaavah (or “Graves of Craving”), Hazeroth, Rithmah, Rimmon Perez, Libnah, Rissah, Kehelathah, Mount Shepher, Haradah, Makheloth, Tahath, Terah, Mithkah, Hashmonah, Moseroth, Bene Jaakan, Hor Haggidgad, Jotbathah, Abronah, Eziongeber, the wilderness of Zin (that is, Kadesh), and Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom.

^38-39At the command of the Lord, Aaron the priest climbed Mount Hor. At the age of 123 he died there on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the Israelites had left Egypt.

⁴⁰The king of Arad in southern Canaan heard that the Israelites were coming.

^41-49From Mount Hor to the plains of Moab the Israelites set up camp at the following places: Zalmonah, Punon, Oboth, the ruins of Abarim in the territory of Moab, Dibon Gad, Almon Diblathaim, the Abarim Mountains near Mount Nebo, and in the plains of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho, between Beth Jeshimoth and Acacia Valley.

Instructions before Crossing the Jordan

⁵⁰There in the plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho the Lord gave Moses

⁵¹the following instructions for Israel: “When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

⁵²you must drive out all the inhabitants of the land. Destroy all their stone and metal idols and all their places of worship.

⁵³Occupy the land and settle in it, because I am giving it to you.

⁵⁴Divide the land among the various tribes and clans by drawing lots, giving a large piece of property to a large clan and a small one to a small clan.

⁵⁵But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those that are left will be as troublesome as splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will fight against you.

⁵⁶If you do not drive them out, I will destroy you, as I planned to destroy them.”

¹“Earth and sky, hear my words, listen closely to what I say.

²My teaching will fall like drops of rain and form on the earth like dew. My words will fall like showers on young plants, like gentle rain on tender grass.

³I will praise the name of the Lord, and his people will tell of his greatness.

⁴“The Lord is your mighty defender, perfect and just in all his ways; Your God is faithful and true; he does what is right and fair.

⁵But you are unfaithful, unworthy to be his people, a sinful and deceitful nation.

⁶Is this the way you should treat the Lord, you foolish, senseless people? He is your father, your Creator, he made you into a nation.

⁷“Think of the past, of the time long ago; ask your parents to tell you what happened, ask the old people to tell of the past.

⁸The Most High assigned nations their lands; he determined where peoples should live. He assigned to each nation a heavenly being,

⁹but Jacob's descendants he chose for himself.

¹⁰“He found them wandering through the desert, a desolate, wind-swept wilderness. He protected them and cared for them, as he would protect himself.

¹¹Like an eagle teaching its young to fly, catching them safely on its spreading wings, the Lord kept Israel from falling.

¹²The Lord alone led his people without the help of a foreign god.

¹³“He let them rule the highlands, and they ate what grew in the fields. They found wild honey among the rocks; their olive trees flourished in stony ground.

¹⁴Their cows and goats gave plenty of milk; they had the best sheep, goats, and cattle, the finest wheat, and the choicest wine.

¹⁵“The Lord's people grew rich, but rebellious; they were fat and stuffed with food. They abandoned God their Creator and rejected their mighty savior.

¹⁶Their idolatry made the Lord jealous; the evil they did made him angry.

¹⁷They sacrificed to gods that are not real, new gods their ancestors had never known, gods that Israel had never obeyed.

¹⁸They forgot their God, their mighty savior, the one who had given them life.

¹⁹“When the Lord saw this, he was angry and rejected his sons and daughters.

²⁰‘I will no longer help them,’ he said; ‘then I will see what happens to them, those stubborn, unfaithful people.

²¹With their idols they have made me angry, jealous with their so-called gods, gods that are really not gods. So I will use a so-called nation to make them angry; I will make them jealous with a nation of fools.

²²My anger will flame up like fire and burn everything on earth. It will reach to the world below and consume the roots of the mountains.

²³“‘I will bring on them endless disasters and use all my arrows against them.

²⁴They will die from hunger and fever; they will die from terrible diseases. I will send wild animals to attack them, and poisonous snakes to bite them.

²⁵War will bring death in the streets; terrors will strike in the homes. Young men and young women will die; neither babies nor old people will be spared.

²⁶I would have destroyed them completely, so that no one would remember them.

²⁷But I could not let their enemies boast that they had defeated my people, when it was I myself who had crushed them.’

²⁸“Israel is a nation without sense; they have no wisdom at all.

²⁹They fail to see why they were defeated; they cannot understand what happened.

³⁰Why were a thousand defeated by one, and ten thousand by only two? The Lord, their God, had abandoned them; their mighty God had given them up.

³¹Their enemies know that their own gods are weak, not mighty like Israel's God.

³²Their enemies, corrupt as Sodom and Gomorrah, are like vines that bear bitter and poisonous grapes,

³³like wine made from the venom of snakes.

³⁴“The Lord remembers what their enemies have done; he waits for the right time to punish them.

³⁵The Lord will take revenge and punish them; the time will come when they will fall; the day of their doom is near.

³⁶The Lord will rescue his people when he sees that their strength is gone. He will have mercy on those who serve him, when he sees how helpless they are.

³⁷Then the Lord will ask his people, ‘Where are those mighty gods you trusted?

³⁸You fed them the fat of your sacrifices and offered them wine to drink. Let them come and help you now; let them run to your rescue.

³⁹“‘I, and I alone, am God; no other god is real. I kill and I give life, I wound and I heal, and no one can oppose what I do.

⁴⁰As surely as I am the living God, I raise my hand and I vow

⁴¹that I will sharpen my flashing sword and see that justice is done. I will take revenge on my enemies and punish those who hate me.

⁴²My arrows will drip with their blood, and my sword will kill all who oppose me. I will spare no one who fights against me; even the wounded and prisoners will die.’

⁴³“Nations, you must praise the Lord's people— he punishes all who kill them. He takes revenge on his enemies and forgives the sins of his people.”

⁴⁴Moses and Joshua son of Nun recited this song, so that the people of Israel could hear it.

Moses' Final Instructions

⁴⁵When Moses had finished giving God's teachings to the people,

⁴⁶he said, “Be sure to obey all these commands that I have given you today. Repeat them to your children, so that they may faithfully obey all of God's teachings.

⁴⁷These teachings are not empty words; they are your very life. Obey them and you will live long in that land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy.”

⁴⁸That same day the Lord said to Moses,

⁴⁹“Go to the Abarim Mountains in the land of Moab opposite the city of Jericho; climb Mount Nebo and look at the land of Canaan that I am about to give the people of Israel.

⁵⁰You will die on that mountain as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor,

⁵¹because both of you were unfaithful to me in the presence of the people of Israel. When you were at the waters of Meribah, near the town of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, you dishonored me in the presence of the people.

⁵²You will look at the land from a distance, but you will not enter the land that I am giving the people of Israel.”

A Prayer of Thanks for Victory

¹Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good, and his love is eternal.

²Let the people of Israel say, “His love is eternal.”

³Let the priests of God say, “His love is eternal.”

⁴Let all who worship him say, “His love is eternal.”

⁵In my distress I called to the Lord; he answered me and set me free.

⁶The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid; what can anyone do to me?

⁷It is the Lord who helps me, and I will see my enemies defeated.

⁸It is better to trust in the Lord than to depend on people.

⁹It is better to trust in the Lord than to depend on human leaders.

¹⁰Many enemies were around me; but I destroyed them by the power of the Lord!

¹¹They were around me on every side; but I destroyed them by the power of the Lord!

¹²They swarmed around me like bees, but they burned out as quickly as a brush fire; by the power of the Lord I destroyed them.

¹³I was fiercely attacked and was being defeated, but the Lord helped me.

¹⁴The Lord makes me powerful and strong; he has saved me.

¹⁵Listen to the glad shouts of victory in the tents of God's people: “The Lord's mighty power has done it!

¹⁶His power has brought us victory— his mighty power in battle!”

¹⁷I will not die; instead, I will live and proclaim what the Lord has done.

¹⁸He has punished me severely, but he has not let me die.

¹⁹Open to me the gates of the Temple; I will go in and give thanks to the Lord!

²⁰This is the gate of the Lord; only the righteous can come in.

²¹I praise you, Lord, because you heard me, because you have given me victory.

²²The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all.

²³This was done by the Lord; what a wonderful sight it is!

²⁴This is the day of the Lord's victory; let us be happy, let us celebrate!

²⁵Save us, Lord, save us! Give us success, O Lord!

²⁶May God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord! From the Temple of the Lord we bless you.

²⁷The Lord is God; he has been good to us. With branches in your hands, start the festival and march around the altar.

²⁸You are my God, and I give you thanks; I will proclaim your greatness.

²⁹Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good, and his love is eternal.