1-5. This book contains the speeches that Moses made while Israel was in the land of Moab, camped near the town of Suph in the desert east of the River Jordan. The town of Paran was in one direction from their camp, and the towns of Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab were in the opposite direction.Earlier, Moses had defeated the Amorite King Sihon of Heshbon. Moses had also defeated King Og of Bashan, who used to live in Ashtaroth for part of the year and in Edrei for the rest of the year.Although it takes only eleven days to walk from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea by way of the Mount Seir road, these speeches were not made until forty years after Israel left Egypt.The Lord had given Moses his laws for the people of Israel. And on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses began explaining those laws by saying:
6. People of Israel, when we were in our camp at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God told us:You have stayed here long enough.
7. Leave this place and go into the land that belongs to the Amorites and their neighbours the Canaanites. This land includes the valley of the River Jordan, the hill country, the western foothills, the Southern Desert, the Mediterranean coast, the Lebanon Mountains, and all the territory as far as the River Euphrates.
8. I give you this land, just as I promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now you must go and take the land.
9. Straight after the Lord commanded us to leave Mount Sinai, I told you:Israel, being your leader is too big a job for one person.
10. The Lord our God has blessed us, and so now there are as many of us as there are stars in the sky.
11. God has even promised to bless us a thousand times more, and I pray that he will.
12. But I cannot take care of all your problems and settle all your arguments alone.
13. Each tribe must choose some experienced men who are known for their wisdom and understanding, and I will make those men the official leaders of their tribes.
14. You answered, “That's a good idea!”
15. Then I took these men, who were already wise and respected leaders, and I appointed them as your official leaders. Some of them became military officers in charge of groups of a thousand, or a hundred, or fifty, or ten,