“Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them,

Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who is going with you. He will not fail you or abandon you!”

May Reuben live and not die, and may his people multiply. ¹ 

Look, he ¹  has placed the land in front of you! ²  Go up, take possession of it, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to do. Do not be afraid or discouraged!”

Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass Moab and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as your territory. This is because I have given Ar ¹  to the descendants of Lot ²  as their possession.

But when you come close to the Ammonites, do not harass or provoke them because I am not giving you any of the Ammonites’ land as your possession; I have already given it to Lot’s descendants ¹  as their possession.

I prayed to him: ¹  O, Lord God, ²  do not destroy your people, your valued property ³  that you have powerfully redeemed, ⁴  whom you brought out of Egypt by your strength. ⁵ 

Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; ignore the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of these people.

Do not blame ¹  your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” ²  Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed.

Do not be hostile toward them, because I am not giving you any of their land, not even a footprint, for I have given Mount Seir ¹  as an inheritance for Esau.

The Lord, however, said to me, “Don’t be afraid of him because I have already given him, his whole army, ¹  and his land to you. You will do to him exactly what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon.”

But the Lord was angry at me because of you and would not listen to me. Instead, he ¹  said to me, “Enough of that! ²  Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.

Do not think to yourself after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, “Because of my own righteousness the Lord has brought me here to possess this land.” It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you.

Remember – don’t ever forget ¹  – how you provoked the Lord your God in the desert; from the time you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him. ²