Deuteronomy 1:42-46

1:42 But the Lord told me: “Tell them this: ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you and you will be defeated by your enemies.’” 1:43 I spoke to you, but you did not listen. Instead you rebelled against the Lord ¹  and recklessly went up to the hill country. 1:44 The Amorite inhabitants of that area ²  confronted ³  you and chased you like a swarm of bees, striking you down from Seir as far as Hormah. ⁴  1:45 Then you came back and wept before the Lord, but he ⁵  paid no attention to you whatsoever. ⁶  1:46 Therefore, you remained at Kadesh for a long time – indeed, for the full time. ⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.” See note at 1:26.

² tn Heb “in that hill country,” repeating the end of v. 43.

³ tn Heb “came out to meet.”

⁴ sn Hormah is probably Khirbet el-Meshash, 5.5 mi (9 km) west of Arad and 7.5 mi (12 km) SE of Beer Sheba. Its name is a derivative of the verb חָרָם (kharam, “to ban; to exterminate”). See Num 21:3.

⁵ tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun (“he”) has been employed in the translation here for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.

⁶ tn Heb “did not hear your voice and did not turn an ear to you.”

⁷ tn Heb “like the days which you lived.” This refers to the rest of the forty-year period in the desert before Israel arrived in Moab.