The Pillars of Three Faiths: Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran. Various Authors

cities unto which we shall come.' ²³And the thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe; ²⁴and they turned and went up into the mountains, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. ²⁵And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us back word, and said: 'Good is the land which the Lord our God giveth unto us.' ²⁶Yet ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God; ²⁷and ye murmured in your tents, and said: 'Because the Lord hated us, He hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. ²⁸Whither are we going up? our brethren have made our heart to melt, saying: The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.' ²⁹Then I said unto you: 'Dread not, neither be afraid of them. ³⁰The Lord your God who goeth before you, He shall fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes; ³¹and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bore thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came unto this place. ³²Yet in this thing ye do not believe the Lord your God, ³³Who went before you in the way, to seek you out a place to pitch your tents in: in fire by night, to show you by what way ye should go, and in the cloud by day.'

      ³⁴And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and swore, saying: ³⁵'Surely there shall not one of these men, even this evil generation, see the good land, which I swore to give unto your fathers, ³⁶save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, he shall see it; and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children; because he hath wholly followed the Lord.' ³⁷Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying: Thou also shalt not go in thither; ³⁸Joshua the son of Nun, who standeth before thee, he shall go in thither; encourage thou him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. ³⁹Moreover your little ones, that ye said should be a prey, and your children, that this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. ⁴⁰But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.' ⁴¹Then ye answered and said unto me: 'We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us.' And ye girded on every man his weapons of war, and deemed it a light thing to go up into the hill-country. ⁴²And the Lord said unto me: 'Say unto them: Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.' ⁴³So I spoke unto you, and ye hearkened not; but ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill-country. ⁴⁴And the Amorites, that dwell in that hill-country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even unto Hormah. ⁴⁵And ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord hearkened not to your voice, nor gave ear unto you. ⁴⁶So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.

      2Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke unto me; and we compassed mount Seir many days.

      ²And the Lord spoke unto me, saying: ³'Ye have compassed this mountain long enough; turn you northward. ⁴And command thou the people, saying: Ye are to pass through the border of your brethren the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you; take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore; ⁵contend not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. ⁶Ye shall purchase food of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink. ⁷For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the work of thy hand; He hath known thy walking through this great wilderness; these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.' ⁸So we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah, from Elath and from Ezion-geber.

      And we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. ⁹And the Lord said unto me: 'Be not at enmity with Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give thee of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.— ¹⁰The Emim dwelt therein aforetime, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim; ¹¹these also are accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim. ¹²And in Seir dwelt the Horites aforetime, but the children of Esau succeeded them; and they destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the Lord gave unto them.— ¹³Now rise up, and get you over the brook Zered.' And we went over the brook Zered. ¹⁴And the days in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, were thirty and eight years; until all the generation, even the men of war, were consumed from the midst of the camp, as the Lord swore unto them. ¹⁵Moreover the hand of the Lord was against them, to discomfit them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed.

      ¹⁶So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, ¹⁷that the Lord spoke unto me saying: ¹⁸'Thou art this day to pass over the border of Moab, even Ar; ¹⁹and when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, harass them not, nor contend with them; for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.—²⁰That also is accounted a land of Rephaim: Rephaim dwelt therein aforetime; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, ²¹a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead; ²²as He did for the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day; ²³and the Avvim, that dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, that came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.—²⁴Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of Arnon; behold, I have given into thy hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. ²⁵This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who, when they hear the report of thee, shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.'

      ²⁶And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying: ²⁷'Let me pass through thy land; I will go along by the highway, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left. ²⁸Thou shalt sell me food for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink; only let me pass through on my feet; ²⁹as the children of Esau that dwell in Seir, and the Moabites that dwell in Ar, did unto me; until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God giveth us.'

      ³⁰But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.

      ³¹And the Lord said unto me: 'Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before thee; begin to possess his land.' ³²Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, unto battle at Jahaz. ³³And the Lord our God delivered him up before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. ³⁴And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every city, the men, and the women, and the little ones; we left none remaining; ³⁵only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken. ³⁶From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even unto Gilead, there was not a city too high for us: the Lord our God delivered up all before us. ³⁷Only to the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill-country, and wheresoever the Lord our God forbade us.

       3Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, unto battle at Edrei. ²And the Lord said unto me: 'Fear him not; for I have delivered him,