At this point the Lord said to me,

the Lord said to me,

The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good.

At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. ¹ 

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.

When the Lord heard you speaking to me, he ¹  said to me, “I have heard what these people have said to you – they have spoken well.

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.’”

Then we turned and set out toward the desert land on the way to the Red Sea ¹  just as the Lord told me to do, detouring around Mount Seir for a long time.

The Lord said to me, “Look! I have already begun to give over Sihon and his land to you. Start right now to take his land as your possession.”

Then, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness while the mountain was ablaze, all your tribal leaders and elders approached me.

Now at the end of the forty days and nights the Lord presented me with the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.

Moreover, he said to me, “I have taken note of these people; they are a stubborn ¹  lot!

For I was terrified at the Lord’s intense anger ¹  that threatened to destroy you. But he ²  listened to me this time as well.

Then he ¹  said to me, “Get up, set out leading ²  the people so they may go and possess ³  the land I promised to give to their ancestors.” ⁴ 

Gather to me all your tribal elders and officials so I can speak to them directly about these things and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.

They ¹  must not discriminate in judgment, but hear the lowly ²  and the great alike. Nor should they be intimidated by human beings, for judgment belongs to God. If the matter being adjudicated is too difficult for them, they should bring it before me for a hearing.

So all of you approached me and said, “Let’s send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there.”

Then you responded to me and admitted, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will now go up and fight as the Lord our God has told us to do.” So you each put on your battle gear and prepared to go up to the hill country.

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.

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.”