Deuteronomy 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 6 7a 7b 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16a 16b 17 18 19 20 21a 21b 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29a 29b 30 31 32 33 34
The Book of Deuteronomy
Sedra 1, Devarim
Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22
Called Deuteronomy (from a Greek word meaning "second"), because we have already been told everything that is in this book, from the account of the journey through the wilderness to the laws and instructions given by Mosheh. An alternate, perhaps a better title, might be "Mosheh's Farewell Address To His Nation" - and we might expect, in such a context, that it will be a pep-talk, full of praise for making it through forty years of wilderness, of thirst and hunger, of tent-sleeping and sand-latrines, of Amelekite attacks and volcanic dust-clouds, of having to bury your family-dead in dunes without memorial markers; but congratulations for overcoming all of this, and now, as you stand poised, your new leaders are ready, our army is strong, our laws are in place, go, my good people, with my blessing... It is, is it not, what we would expect? Now let's go see.
Chapter 1
1:1. ELEH HA DEVARIM ASHER DIBER MOSHEH EL KOL YISRA-EL BE EVER HA YARDEN BA MIDBAR BA ARAVAH MOL SUPH BEYN PA'RAN U VEYN TOPHEL VE LAVAN VA CHATSEROT VE DI ZAHAV
Sedra 1, Devarim
Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22
Called Deuteronomy (from a Greek word meaning "second"), because we have already been told everything that is in this book, from the account of the journey through the wilderness to the laws and instructions given by Mosheh. An alternate, perhaps a better title, might be "Mosheh's Farewell Address To His Nation" - and we might expect, in such a context, that it will be a pep-talk, full of praise for making it through forty years of wilderness, of thirst and hunger, of tent-sleeping and sand-latrines, of Amelekite attacks and volcanic dust-clouds, of having to bury your family-dead in dunes without memorial markers; but congratulations for overcoming all of this, and now, as you stand poised, your new leaders are ready, our army is strong, our laws are in place, go, my good people, with my blessing... It is, is it not, what we would expect? Now let's go see.
Chapter 1
1:1. ELEH HA DEVARIM ASHER DIBER MOSHEH EL KOL YISRA-EL BE EVER HA YARDEN BA MIDBAR BA ARAVAH MOL SUPH BEYN PA'RAN U VEYN TOPHEL VE LAVAN VA CHATSEROT VE DI ZAHAV
אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר מֹשֶׁה אֶל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן בַּמִּדְבָּר בָּעֲרָבָה מוֹל סוּף בֵּין פָּארָן וּבֵין תֹּפֶל וְלָבָן וַחֲצֵרֹת וְדִי זָהָב
BN (BibleNet translation): These are the words which Mosheh spoke to all Yisra-El beyond the Yarden, in the desert, in the Aravah, over against Suph, between Pa'ran and Tophel, and Lavan, and Chatserot, and Di Zahav.
Why is it necessary to name all these places? And which "side" dies he mean anyway - west or east?
ARAVAH: We think of the Mosaic journey as having taken place in the Sinai desert, around the Red Sea, but actually, since the start of the Book of Numbers, the Beney Yisra-El have been well to the east of this - east of the Dead Sea let alone the Red Sea - and well to the north of it as well, and are now somewhere around the southern foothills of Mo-Av, preparing to enter Kena'an from the east by way of Yerecho (Jericho) - see the green arrows in the map at verse 20, below. On contemporary maps, the area called Aravah would be on the western side of the Dead Sea only; here it appears that the eastern side was also known as Aravah in Biblical times.
SUPH: The word means "reeds", and we know from the texts of Exodus that the "Sea of Reeds" was not the Red Sea at all, but the marshy delta of the Nile, which the land of Goshen, and whence the Beney Yisra-El began their journey. However, Yam Suph came to be the name for the Red Sea, and you will have to go back to my commentaries in the Book of Exodus to see the arguments for and against this probable error.
PA'RAN: The Wilderness of Pa'ran is reckoned to be the section of the Sinai desert immediately to the west of Eilat, which is on the right prong of the Red Sea - see the map at Numbers 13:17. However, there is also Mount Pa'ran, which is a little way north-east of Eilat, and rather more in the Wilderness of Tsin - see the map at verse 20, below. Both maps are highly scholarly renditions, based on detailed study of the Biblical texts; both cannot be correct.
TOPHEL: See the link. South-east of the Dead Sea, so perhaps the naming of all these places is a way of saying that he continued to give the laws and instructions at every stage of the journey, and the order of these names follows the order of the journey.
LAVAN: Not a place that has ever been mentioned before - though we have encountered the root many times, as Ya'akov's uncle Lavan in Genesis, as the colour "white", and as HA LAVANAH, one of the names for the moon.
CHATSEROT: The word simply means "towns" - see my note at Numbers 35:5 - so these could be anywhere (though probably not in the middle of the Sinai desert!)
KJ: After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:
BN: After he had defeated Sichon the king of the Emori, who dwelt in Cheshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who dwelt in Ashtarot, at Edre'i;
1:5 BE EVER HA YARDEN BE ERETS MO-AV HO'IL MOSHEH BE'ER HA TORAH HA ZOT LEMOR
KJ: On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
BN: Beyond the Yarden, in the land of Mo-Av, Mosheh took it upon himself to expound this law, saying:
1:6 YHVH ELOHEYNU DIBER ELEYNU BE CHOREV LEMOR RAV LACHEM SHEVET BA HAR HA ZEH
KJ: The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:
BN: YHVH our god spoke to us on Chorev, saying: You have dwelt long enough on this mountain...
These words were not recorded at the time!
1:7 PENU VE SE'U LACHEM U VO'U HAR HA EMORI VE EL KOL SHECHENAV BA ARAVAH VA HAR U VA SHEPHELAH U VA NEGEV U VE CHOPH HA YAM ERETS HA KENA'ANI VE HA LEVANON AD HA NAHAR HA GADOL NEHAR PRAT
KJ: Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
BN: Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Emori, and to all the places nearby it, in the Aravah, in the hill-country, and in the lowlands of the Shephelah, and in the south, and by the sea-shore; the land of the Kena'ani, and Levanon, as far as the great river, the river Perat...
SHEPHELAH: The fertile plains in the western centre of Kena'an, the ultimate goal no doubt, but not stated until, at the very earliest, the time of the spies (Numbers 13).
PERAT: Levanon? Euphrates? Were these parts of the 40-year journey? No, but their inclusion here allows many Jews to claim them as part of the homeland.
1:12 EYCHAH ESEH LEVADI TARCHACHEM U MASACHEM VE RIVECHEM
KJ: How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?
BN: How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?
Despite my satirical remarks at verse 9, note the negative tone that is in these statement from the outset: "how can I alone provide you with the basic necessities of life: food, water, latrines, a pillow for your heads at night?" But that isn't what he says. He complains about their complaining that he failed to do so, and berates them for complaining: them being a "cumbrance", "burden", "strife", rather than his concern for their "hunger", "thirst" and "homelessness", which latter might have been the words suggested by a script-writer. My translation of verse 9 was generous to Mosheh - the King James is much more strictly accurate. He hates these people! Let us not beat about the bush. He has come to despise and detest them, and he is about to unleash a vent of truly venomous proportions against them, culminating in a series of curses unmatched anywhere in literature. What we are about to read is not simply a re-giving of the laws, but the last thoughts of a deeply disappointed and embittered man, who has dedicated his life to one achievement, and through his own errors has now been denied participation in it (which of course, given that this is literature, not history, also makes for another superb metaphor).
1:13 HAVU LACHEM ANASHIM CHACHAMIM U NEVONIM VI YEDU'IM LE SHIVTEYCHEM VA ASIMEM BE RASHEYCHEM
KJ: Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.
BN: Bring from each of your tribes wise men, men of understanding and full of knowledge, and I will make them heads over you.
Which eventually he did (see Exodus 24), though he continued to maintain dictatorial powers.
1:14 VA TA'ANU OTI VA TOMRU TOV HA DAVAR ASHER DIBARTA LA'ASOT
KJ: And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.
BN: And you answered me, and said: The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do.
A rigged election! Not that he needed to rig it, having Erdoganned his political opponents and Putinned his internal rivals.
1:15 VA EKACH ET RASHEY SHIVTEYCHEM ANASHIM CHACHAMIM VI YEDU'IM VA ETEN OTAM RASHIM ALEYCHEM SAREY ALAPHIM VE SAREY ME'OT VE SAREY CHAMISHIM VE SAREY ASARIM VE SHOTRIM LE SHIVTEYCHEM
KJ: So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.
BN: So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and full of knowledge, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, tribe by tribe.
The military structure, rather than anything for legislative or judicial or secular purposes.
1:16 VA ATSAVEY ET SHOFTEYCHEM BA ET HA HI LEMOR SHAMA BEYN ACHEYCHEM U SHEPHATETEM TSEDEK BEYN ISH U VEYN ACHIV U VEYN GERO
KJ: And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
BN: And I charged your judges at that time, saying: Hear the causes between your kinsmen, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
SHOPHTEYCHEM: An important linguistic distinction that the scholars have yet to resolve: there are Shoftim, as here, but there are also Dayanim (דיינים). One contemporary suggestion (click here) uses the American parallel: "In the US, a Supreme Court justice is both shofeit and dayan, but the judge of the local courthouse is a dayan alone." I am not sure this is an absolute parallel, but definitely close. The problem is that the Shoftim include oracular priestesses like Devorah (Deborah), and military-political warlords like Gid'on (Gideon), while the Dayanim tend to be Rabbinical rather than secular.
ACHIV: or ACHAV? The spelling suggests the former but traditionally the pronunciation is the latter.
1:17 LO TAKIYRU PHANIM BA MISHPAT KA KATAN KA GADOL TISHMA'UN LO TAGURU MI PENEY ISH KI HA MISHPAT LE ELOHIM HU VE HA DAVAR ASHER YIKSHEH MIKEM TAKRIVUN ELAY U SHEMATIV
KJ: Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
BN: You shall not show favour to anyone in passing judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of any man; for the judgment comes from Elohim; and the cause that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.
LO TAKIYRU PHANIM: King James has this one very badly wrong - or the words it chooses meant something different back then. The whole point is that you absolutely must "respect persons in judgement"- but that you must do so equally, and not more for this one because he's family, or left a padded brown envelope on your desk, and less for that one because he's a business rival to your next-door-neighour, or putting him in jail will make his wife available for private visits.
Note that this an Elohim verse, even though the text until now has been explicitly YHVH.
1:18 VA ATSAVEH ET'CHEM BA ET HA HI ET KOL HA DEVARIM ASHER TA'ASUN
KJ: And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.
BN: And I instructed you at that time in all the things which you should do.
1:19 VA NISA MEY CHOREV VA NELECH ET KOL HA MIDBAR HA GADOL VE HA NORA HA HU ASHER RE'ITEM DERECH HAR HA EMORI KA ASHER TSIVAH YHVH ELOHEYNU OTANU U NAVO AD KADESH BARNE'A
KJ: And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea.
BN: And we journeyed from Chorev, and went through all that great and dreadful wilderness which you saw, on the way to the hill-country of the Emori, as YHVH our god instructed us; and we came to Kadesh Barne'a.
HA GADOL VE HA NORA: A phrase more associated with YHVH than the desert - from the opening line of the Amidah; and oddly, another parallel with the Book of Nehemiah, a man whose last years, after so much dedicated work, collapsed into similar levels of anger with his people, when he returned to Yeru-Shalayim to see what progress had been made, and found what he found (Nehemiah 13); the chapter in fact begins by reading this very Book of Deuteronomy, but the real anger is from verse 6; note especially verses 17 and 18, but read the whole chapter. I can easily imagine the Book of Deuteronomy being commissioned and published by Nechem-Yah at that time, as a way of saying what follows to his people, but through the voice of Mosheh.
1:20 VA OMAR ALEYCHEM BATEM AD HAR HA EMORI ASHER YHVH ELOHEYNU NOTEN LANU
KJ: And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.
BN: And I said to you: You have come into the hill-country of the Emori, which YHVH our god is giving us.
1:21 RE'EH NATAN YHVH ELOHEYCHA LEPHANEYCHA ET HA ARETS ALEH RESH KA ASHER DIBER YHVH ELOHEY AVOTEYCHA LACH AL TIRA VE AL TECHAT
KJ: Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
BN: Behold, YHVH your god has set the land before you; go up, take possession, as YHVH, the god of your ancestors, has spoken to you. Go without fear. Do not allow setbacks to discourage you.
1:26 VE LO AVITEM LA'ALOT VA TAMRU ET PI YHVH ELOHEYCHEM
KJ: Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
BN: Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the instruction of YHVH your god;
This is either completely disingenuous, or we have two versions of the story, and they conflict. The full account of the mission of the spies can be found in Numbers 13.
And note how, just a few verses ago, when the people did what he wanted them to, it was he who was obeying the wisdom of the people, but when they don't, it's them rebelling against the instruction of the deity. Ecce Homo Politicianus.
1:27 VA TERAGNU VE AHALEYCHEM VA TOMRU BE SINAT YHVH OTANU HOTSI'ANU MEY ERETS MITSRAYIM LATET OTANU BE YAD HA EMORI LE HASHMIDEYNU
KJ: And 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.
BN: And you murmured in your tents, and said: Because YHVH hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Mitsrayim, to deliver us into the hand of the Emori, to destroy us.
Every leader, even the small leaders like school Headmasters, at some point fantasise standing up in front of their people and telling them the truth, straight, dugri as they say in Ivrit, like Mosheh is doing now; but no one ever does it, because it is a stupidity. What positives does Mosheh think he is going to get out of telling them that their parents and grandparents were a bunch of snivelling cowards et cetera?
1:28 ANAH ANACHNU OLIM ACHEYNU HEYMASU ET LEVAVEYNU LEMOR AM GADOL VE RAM MIMEYNU ARIM GEDOLOT U VETSUROT BA SHAMAYIM VE GAM BENEY ANAKIM RA'INU SHAM
KJ: Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.
BN: To where are we going up? Our kinsmen have made our hearts melt, saying: The people there are more powerful, and much taller, than us; their cities are magnificent, and fortified up to the skies; and what is more, we have seen the Beney Anakim there.
BENEY ANAKIM: See the link. I think BENEY ANAKIM is a textual error; it should be either BENEY ANAK (as, say "the people of Britain"), or plain ANAKIM (as, say "the British"), but not both (which would equivalate to "the people of British").
1:29 VA OMAR ALEYCHEM LO TA'ARTSUN VE LO TIYRE'UN MEY HEM
KJ: Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
BN: Then I said to you: Have no fear, do not be afraid of them...
1:30 YHVH ELOHEYCHEM HA HOLECH LIPHNEYCHEM HU YILACHEM LACHEM KE CHOL ASHER ASAH IT'CHEM BE MITSRAYIM LE EYNEYCHEM
KJ: The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;
BN: YHVH your god who goes before you, he shall fight for you, just as he did for you in Mitsrayim before your eyes...
1:31 U VA MIDBAR ASHER RA'ITA ASHER NESA'ACHA YHVH ELOHEYCHA KA ASHER YISA ISH ET BENO BE CHOL HA DERECH ASHER HALACHTEM AD BO'ACHEM AD HA MAKOM HA ZEH
KJ: And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
BN: And in the desert, where you have seen how YHVH your god carried you, as a man carries his son, along the whole the way that you went, until you came to this place.
The other problem with "you" is that is never "we". Mosheh is distancing himself from his own people; I superior leader, you inferior... and you would be even less than you are, which is anyway nothing, were it not for super-YHVH... I find myself disliking him more and more with each chapter of his life that I read (and still having to remind myself, again and again, that this is literature, not history, that literary tales are metaphors, not accounts of literal events. As YHVH is always the explanation of whatever happens in Life, so Mosheh is always the epitome, the allegory, both before and after he is just the man).
1:32 U VA DAVAR HA ZEH EYNCHEM MA'AMINIM BA YHVH ELOHEYCHEM
KJ: Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,
BN: Yet in this thing you do not believe YHVH your god.
1:33 HA HOLECH LIPHNEYCHEM BA DERECH LATUR LACHEM MAKOM LACHANOT'CHEM BA EYSH LAILAH LAROT'CHEM BA DERECH ASHER TELCHU VAH U VE ANAN YOMAM
KJ: Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.
BN: Who went ahead of you along the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents: as fire by night, to show you by which way you should go, and as a cloud by day.
1:42 VA YOMER YHVH ELAY EMOR LAHEM LO TA'ALU VE LO TILACHAMU KI AYNEYNI BE KIRBECHEM VE LO TINAGPHU LIPHNEY OYEVEYCHEM
KJ: And 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.
BN: Then YHVH said to me: Say to them: Do not go up, and do not fight either; for I am not among you; lest you be smitten before your enemies.
See Numbers 14:40 ff.
1:43 VA ADABER ALEYCHEM VE LO SHEMATEM VA TAMRU ET PI YHVH VA TAZIDU VA TA'ALU HA HARAH
KJ: So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.
BN: So I spoke to you, but you did not listen to me. You rebelled against YHVH's instruction and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill-country.
As noted in commentary at the time, the biggest disaster to befall the Beney Yisra-El during the desert wandering was the slaughter of the old and the women and the children at the rear of the camp by hordes of Amalekites (Numbers 14:43 ff). So horrible was it, the Amalekites were condemned in the divine court of justice for war crimes, and sentenced to be exterminated by the Beney Yisra-El later on as a punishment (see 1 Samuel 15:1 ff). And how was such a disaster possible, if Mosheh, the leader, and his hierarchy of elders and Kohanim and military clan-chieftains had organised the camp properly? They organised it quite beautifully for the guarding of the Ark. But when the disaster befalls them, rather than accepting responsibility and owning up (we can't expect him to resign: he was divinely appointed), he blames the people.
1:44 VA YETSE HA EMORI HA YOSHEV BA HAR HA HU LIKRAT'CHEM VA YIRDEPHU ET'CHEM KA ASHER TA'ASEYNAH HA DEVORIM VA YAKTU ET'CHEM BE SE'IR AD CHARMAH
KJ: And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
BN: And the Emori, who dwell in that hill-country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Se'ir, all the way to Charmah.
Is it not an odd coincidence that the detour taken in Numbers 21, to fight the king of Arad and defeat the Kena'ani, should have taken place at what cannot have been that very same Charmah - see my notes to Numbers 21:3 and 4 especially? If it was the same Charmah, then Mosheh had led his people into the very heart of Kena'an, which we know he had not done; and the Beney Amalek were desert Bedou. So there were two places with the same name; and the only two important battles. Very odd coincidence.
1:45 VA TASHUVU VA TIVKU LIPHNEY YHVH VE LO SHAMA YHVH BE KOLCHEM VE LO HE'EZIN ALEYCHEM
KJ: So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.
BN: So you stayed in Kadesh for many days - however many days it was that you stayed there.
A very dismissive last phrase, and that is the original, not my translation.
CHATSEROT: The word simply means "towns" - see my note at Numbers 35:5 - so these could be anywhere (though probably not in the middle of the Sinai desert!)
DI ZEHAV: The name means "abounding with gold", so it too could be anywhere (though this time it probably is in the middle of the Sinai desert: click here.)
1:2. ECHAD ASAR YOM MEY CHOREV DERECH HAR SE'IR AD KADESH BARNE'A
KJ: (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)
BN: It is eleven days journey from Chorev to Kadesh Barne'a by the way of Mount Se'ir.
Or 40 years, if you take Mosheh's route! And anyway: how do you calculate it? One man on a donkey, sent out to calculate it for mapping purposes, will take very much less time than an army on the march, and still more for 2 million wandering nomads, with sheep and cattle, with babies and the elderly. And it still depends upon which route you take.
Numbers 33:36 says that Kadesh was renamed Merivah, because it was there thast Mosheh struck the rock to give water to the people, the sin for which he is now denied entry with them into Kena'an. Exodus 30:17 likewise named it as the final point of the desert journey. Can we then assume that Kadesh and Kadesh Barne'a are in fact the same place?
1:3 VA YEHI BE ARBA'IM SHANAH BE ASHTEY-ASAR CHODESH BE ECHAD LA CHODESH DIBER MOSHEH EL BENEY YISRA-EL KE CHOL ASHER TSIVAH YHVH OTO ALEYHEM
KJ: And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;
BN: And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Mosheh spoke to the Beney Yisra-El about everything that YHVH had instructed him about them.
Arguably the most poorly written verse in the entire Tanach!
1:2. ECHAD ASAR YOM MEY CHOREV DERECH HAR SE'IR AD KADESH BARNE'A
אַחַד עָשָׂר יוֹם מֵחֹרֵב דֶּרֶךְ הַר שֵׂעִיר עַד קָדֵשׁ בַּרְנֵעַ
KJ: (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)
BN: It is eleven days journey from Chorev to Kadesh Barne'a by the way of Mount Se'ir.
Or 40 years, if you take Mosheh's route! And anyway: how do you calculate it? One man on a donkey, sent out to calculate it for mapping purposes, will take very much less time than an army on the march, and still more for 2 million wandering nomads, with sheep and cattle, with babies and the elderly. And it still depends upon which route you take.
Numbers 33:36 says that Kadesh was renamed Merivah, because it was there thast Mosheh struck the rock to give water to the people, the sin for which he is now denied entry with them into Kena'an. Exodus 30:17 likewise named it as the final point of the desert journey. Can we then assume that Kadesh and Kadesh Barne'a are in fact the same place?
1:3 VA YEHI BE ARBA'IM SHANAH BE ASHTEY-ASAR CHODESH BE ECHAD LA CHODESH DIBER MOSHEH EL BENEY YISRA-EL KE CHOL ASHER TSIVAH YHVH OTO ALEYHEM
וַיְהִי בְּאַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה בְּעַשְׁתֵּי עָשָׂר חֹדֶשׁ בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ דִּבֶּר מֹשֶׁה אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה אֹתוֹ אֲלֵהֶם
BN: And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Mosheh spoke to the Beney Yisra-El about everything that YHVH had instructed him about them.
Arguably the most poorly written verse in the entire Tanach!
The eleventh month is Shevat. Is there any coincidence that Shevat was the month in which Nechem-Yah (Nehemiah) starts? Why is 1st Shevat not a major festival today?
And if not, then is there any other significance? The eleventh month is when the year of mourning starts to end (click here, though the full explanation can be found in the Shulchan Aruch), not yet complete but preparing to resume normal life - a perfect metaphor for this stage of the pilgrim-journey, especially when we consider the place-names in those last chapters of the Book of Numbers, all of them suggesting that this pilgrimage through the life of the earth-god has witnessed his death, his burial, his descent into the Underworld - and now the mourning-period comes to an end.
And if not, then is there any other significance? The eleventh month is when the year of mourning starts to end (click here, though the full explanation can be found in the Shulchan Aruch), not yet complete but preparing to resume normal life - a perfect metaphor for this stage of the pilgrim-journey, especially when we consider the place-names in those last chapters of the Book of Numbers, all of them suggesting that this pilgrimage through the life of the earth-god has witnessed his death, his burial, his descent into the Underworld - and now the mourning-period comes to an end.
1:4 ACHAREY HAKOTO ET SICHON MELECH HA EMORI ASHER YOSHEV BE CHESHBON VE ET OG MELECH HA BASHAN ASHER YOSHEV BE ASHTEROT BE EDRE'I
אַחֲרֵי הַכֹּתוֹ אֵת סִיחֹן מֶלֶךְ הָאֱמֹרִי אֲשֶׁר יוֹשֵׁב בְּחֶשְׁבּוֹן וְאֵת עוֹג מֶלֶךְ הַבָּשָׁן אֲשֶׁר יוֹשֵׁב בְּעַשְׁתָּרֹת בְּאֶדְרֶעִי
BN: After he had defeated Sichon the king of the Emori, who dwelt in Cheshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who dwelt in Ashtarot, at Edre'i;
The tale is told at Numbers 21; see my notes there.
1:5 BE EVER HA YARDEN BE ERETS MO-AV HO'IL MOSHEH BE'ER HA TORAH HA ZOT LEMOR
בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן בְּאֶרֶץ מוֹאָב הוֹאִיל מֹשֶׁה בֵּאֵר אֶת הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת לֵאמֹר
KJ: On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
BN: Beyond the Yarden, in the land of Mo-Av, Mosheh took it upon himself to expound this law, saying:
1:6 YHVH ELOHEYNU DIBER ELEYNU BE CHOREV LEMOR RAV LACHEM SHEVET BA HAR HA ZEH
יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ דִּבֶּר אֵלֵינוּ בְּחֹרֵב לֵאמֹר רַב לָכֶם שֶׁבֶת בָּהָר הַזֶּה
KJ: The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:
BN: YHVH our god spoke to us on Chorev, saying: You have dwelt long enough on this mountain...
These words were not recorded at the time!
1:7 PENU VE SE'U LACHEM U VO'U HAR HA EMORI VE EL KOL SHECHENAV BA ARAVAH VA HAR U VA SHEPHELAH U VA NEGEV U VE CHOPH HA YAM ERETS HA KENA'ANI VE HA LEVANON AD HA NAHAR HA GADOL NEHAR PRAT
פְּנוּ וּסְעוּ לָכֶם וּבֹאוּ הַר הָאֱמֹרִי וְאֶל כָּל שְׁכֵנָיו בָּעֲרָבָה בָהָר וּבַשְּׁפֵלָה וּבַנֶּגֶב וּבְחוֹף הַיָּם אֶרֶץ הַכְּנַעֲנִי וְהַלְּבָנוֹן עַד הַנָּהָר הַגָּדֹל נְהַר פְּרָת
KJ: Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
BN: Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Emori, and to all the places nearby it, in the Aravah, in the hill-country, and in the lowlands of the Shephelah, and in the south, and by the sea-shore; the land of the Kena'ani, and Levanon, as far as the great river, the river Perat...
SHEPHELAH: The fertile plains in the western centre of Kena'an, the ultimate goal no doubt, but not stated until, at the very earliest, the time of the spies (Numbers 13).
PERAT: Levanon? Euphrates? Were these parts of the 40-year journey? No, but their inclusion here allows many Jews to claim them as part of the homeland.
But it is significant for another reason: they are in Mo-Av, east of the Yarden, and being told to turn west, into Kena'an, which does indeed extend northwards into the Levanon - but the Perat, the Euphrates, is a thousand miles to the east, and it makes no sense at all for Mosheh, who has never been there and probably has never heard of it, to mention it... whereas Ezra, writing this down, and Nechem-Yah, who has come here as the Persian governor, to establish rebuilt Yehudah as a garrison-town in the Medean empire...
1:8 RE'EH NATATI LIPHNEYCHEM ET HA ARETS BO'U U RESHU ET HA ARETS ASHER NISHBA YHVH LA AVOTEYCHEM LE AV-RAHAM LE YITSCHAK U LE YA'AKOV LATET LAHEM U LE ZARAM ACHAREYHEM
KJ: Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.
BN: Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which YHVH swore to your fathers, to Av-Raham, to Yitschak, and to Ya'akov, to give to them and to their seed after them.
1:9 VA AMAR ALEYCHEM BA ET HA HI LEMOR LO UCHAL LEVADAY SE'ET ET'CHEM
KJ: And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:
BN: And I spoke to you at that time, saying: I am not able to bear this responsibility on my own;
Well, actually, no he didn't. a) he didn't speak to them, he spoke to their grand-parents, all of whom are dead (Numbers 14:30), which of course means they aren't in a position to dispute his words (and it's precisely because those grandparents are all dead that he needs to re-give them the laws now); and b) this issue of his inability to bear the burden of leadership alone, which he is now admitting, has been precisely the main problem since Yitro told him (Exodus 18:14 ff) to delegate, and he failed to do so; after which YHVH himself instructed him to do so, and he established the 70 elders of the proto-Sanhedrin, and the clan chieftains, and all the rest of the hierarchy - but then found himself mutinied against, by Korach and co (Numbers 16), even by Aharon and Mir-Yam (Numbers 12), because he still insisted on micro-managing everything, and ruling like a despot - just like his mentor YHVH.
1:8 RE'EH NATATI LIPHNEYCHEM ET HA ARETS BO'U U RESHU ET HA ARETS ASHER NISHBA YHVH LA AVOTEYCHEM LE AV-RAHAM LE YITSCHAK U LE YA'AKOV LATET LAHEM U LE ZARAM ACHAREYHEM
רְאֵה נָתַתִּי לִפְנֵיכֶם אֶת הָאָרֶץ בֹּאוּ וּרְשׁוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיַעֲקֹב לָתֵת לָהֶם וּלְזַרְעָם אַחֲרֵיהֶם
KJ: Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.
BN: Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which YHVH swore to your fathers, to Av-Raham, to Yitschak, and to Ya'akov, to give to them and to their seed after them.
1:9 VA AMAR ALEYCHEM BA ET HA HI LEMOR LO UCHAL LEVADAY SE'ET ET'CHEM
וָאֹמַר אֲלֵכֶם בָּעֵת הַהִוא לֵאמֹר לֹא אוּכַל לְבַדִּי שְׂאֵת אֶתְכֶם
KJ: And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:
BN: And I spoke to you at that time, saying: I am not able to bear this responsibility on my own;
Well, actually, no he didn't. a) he didn't speak to them, he spoke to their grand-parents, all of whom are dead (Numbers 14:30), which of course means they aren't in a position to dispute his words (and it's precisely because those grandparents are all dead that he needs to re-give them the laws now); and b) this issue of his inability to bear the burden of leadership alone, which he is now admitting, has been precisely the main problem since Yitro told him (Exodus 18:14 ff) to delegate, and he failed to do so; after which YHVH himself instructed him to do so, and he established the 70 elders of the proto-Sanhedrin, and the clan chieftains, and all the rest of the hierarchy - but then found himself mutinied against, by Korach and co (Numbers 16), even by Aharon and Mir-Yam (Numbers 12), because he still insisted on micro-managing everything, and ruling like a despot - just like his mentor YHVH.
So we need to be aware, as we continue reading this, that this is a "special broadcast by the Prime Minister", who is going to tell us what he wants us to hear, delivered in a form that will maximise his popularity and obtain the optimum number of votes, and it may not include any lies or distortions, but it will be the truth as it is expedient and convenient to report it, and there will no doubt be gaps and omissions.
So we also need to be aware that this is a Book that was written at a different moment of history from the other books, by a different author, for a different purpose; and I have said "written", not "written down"; all five were probably "written down" at or soon after the time of Ezra, but what was available to him to do so was mostly oral tradition, which is infinitely variable, and such written documents as had survived the total destruction of Yeru-Shala'im and its environs, first at the time of Nebuchadnezzar, then in the Greco-Persian wars of their own day.
So we can anticipate that some of what we read will clash with, conflict with, even contradict, some of what we have been told before; I shall note these as they occur, and leave it to the orthodox to provide the theological explications.
1:10 YHVH ELOHEYCHEM HIRBAH ET'CHEM VE HINCHEM HA YOM KE CHOCHVEY HA SHAMAYIM LA RAV
KJ: The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
BN: YHVH your god has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
1:10 YHVH ELOHEYCHEM HIRBAH ET'CHEM VE HINCHEM HA YOM KE CHOCHVEY HA SHAMAYIM LA RAV
יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם הִרְבָּה אֶתְכֶם וְהִנְּכֶם הַיּוֹם כְּכוֹכְבֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם לָרֹב
KJ: The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
BN: YHVH your god has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
A massive underestimation of the stellar regions... but still an interesting simile to have chosen, as the wilderness journey (see my notes throughout Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers) appears to be a mythological traversing of the heavens and only an earthly journey in the sense of pilgrimage and liturgy.
And actually, if we go back to the second census (Numbers 26), and compare it with the first (Numbers 1 ff), their numbers are not terribly different today from when they left Egypt (and yes, someone has actually produced a full analysis, with bar-graphs - click here).
1:11 YHVH ELOHEY AVOTEYCHEM YOSEPH ALEYCHEM CACHEM ELEPH PE'AMIM VI YEVARECH ET'CHEM KA ASHER DIBER LACHEM
KJ: (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!).
BN: YHVH, the god of your ancestors, will make you a thousand times more than you are now, and bless you, as he has promised you.
Please, no - that would be 2 billion people: the main cause of global warming is massive over-population of the planet... but this is a fertility god, so the proof of his magnificence lies in baby-making... we are doomed!
1:11 YHVH ELOHEY AVOTEYCHEM YOSEPH ALEYCHEM CACHEM ELEPH PE'AMIM VI YEVARECH ET'CHEM KA ASHER DIBER LACHEM
יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵכֶם יֹסֵף עֲלֵיכֶם כָּכֶם אֶלֶף פְּעָמִים וִיבָרֵךְ אֶתְכֶם כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר לָכֶם
KJ: (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!).
BN: YHVH, the god of your ancestors, will make you a thousand times more than you are now, and bless you, as he has promised you.
Please, no - that would be 2 billion people: the main cause of global warming is massive over-population of the planet... but this is a fertility god, so the proof of his magnificence lies in baby-making... we are doomed!
1:12 EYCHAH ESEH LEVADI TARCHACHEM U MASACHEM VE RIVECHEM
אֵיכָה אֶשָּׂא לְבַדִּי טָרְחֲכֶם וּמַשַּׂאֲכֶם וְרִיבְכֶם
KJ: How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?
BN: How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?
Despite my satirical remarks at verse 9, note the negative tone that is in these statement from the outset: "how can I alone provide you with the basic necessities of life: food, water, latrines, a pillow for your heads at night?" But that isn't what he says. He complains about their complaining that he failed to do so, and berates them for complaining: them being a "cumbrance", "burden", "strife", rather than his concern for their "hunger", "thirst" and "homelessness", which latter might have been the words suggested by a script-writer. My translation of verse 9 was generous to Mosheh - the King James is much more strictly accurate. He hates these people! Let us not beat about the bush. He has come to despise and detest them, and he is about to unleash a vent of truly venomous proportions against them, culminating in a series of curses unmatched anywhere in literature. What we are about to read is not simply a re-giving of the laws, but the last thoughts of a deeply disappointed and embittered man, who has dedicated his life to one achievement, and through his own errors has now been denied participation in it (which of course, given that this is literature, not history, also makes for another superb metaphor).
TARCHACHEM: "Loathing", in Isaiah 1:14, which sounds remarkably similar to Mosheh here. But... those who remain dubious and sceptical about my stellar speculations need to check the etymology of this word, which only occurs three times in theentire Tanach, here, the Isaiah, and... TARACH is the root. Nothing to do with Av-Ram's dad, who spelled his name with a Tav (תרח), not a Tet (טרח), though there is an interesting overlap at the mythological level too: Av-Ram, the sun-god in human form, the "Great Father" (Yo-Pater or Jupiter in Latin, Brahma in Sanskrit, etc), making Terach the Chronos to his Zeus... and guess what, TARACH with a Tet occurs in Job 37:11 as the "thick rain-cloud" cast down by the deity, in order to obscure the sun and spoil the day on Earth.
1:13 HAVU LACHEM ANASHIM CHACHAMIM U NEVONIM VI YEDU'IM LE SHIVTEYCHEM VA ASIMEM BE RASHEYCHEM
הָבוּ לָכֶם אֲנָשִׁים חֲכָמִים וּנְבֹנִים וִידֻעִים לְשִׁבְטֵיכֶם וַאֲשִׂימֵם בְּרָאשֵׁיכֶם
KJ: Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.
BN: Bring from each of your tribes wise men, men of understanding and full of knowledge, and I will make them heads over you.
Which eventually he did (see Exodus 24), though he continued to maintain dictatorial powers.
1:14 VA TA'ANU OTI VA TOMRU TOV HA DAVAR ASHER DIBARTA LA'ASOT
וַתַּעֲנוּ אֹתִי וַתֹּאמְרוּ טוֹב הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ לַעֲשׂוֹת
KJ: And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.
BN: And you answered me, and said: The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do.
A rigged election! Not that he needed to rig it, having Erdoganned his political opponents and Putinned his internal rivals.
1:15 VA EKACH ET RASHEY SHIVTEYCHEM ANASHIM CHACHAMIM VI YEDU'IM VA ETEN OTAM RASHIM ALEYCHEM SAREY ALAPHIM VE SAREY ME'OT VE SAREY CHAMISHIM VE SAREY ASARIM VE SHOTRIM LE SHIVTEYCHEM
וָאֶקַּח אֶת רָאשֵׁי שִׁבְטֵיכֶם אֲנָשִׁים חֲכָמִים וִידֻעִים וָאֶתֵּן אוֹתָם רָאשִׁים עֲלֵיכֶם שָׂרֵי אֲלָפִים וְשָׂרֵי מֵאוֹת וְשָׂרֵי חֲמִשִּׁים וְשָׂרֵי עֲשָׂרֹת וְשֹׁטְרִים לְשִׁבְטֵיכֶם
KJ: So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.
BN: So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and full of knowledge, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, tribe by tribe.
The military structure, rather than anything for legislative or judicial or secular purposes.
1:16 VA ATSAVEY ET SHOFTEYCHEM BA ET HA HI LEMOR SHAMA BEYN ACHEYCHEM U SHEPHATETEM TSEDEK BEYN ISH U VEYN ACHIV U VEYN GERO
וָאֲצַוֶּה אֶת שֹׁפְטֵיכֶם בָּעֵת הַהִוא לֵאמֹר שָׁמֹעַ בֵּין אֲחֵיכֶם וּשְׁפַטְתֶּם צֶדֶק בֵּין אִישׁ וּבֵין אָחִיו וּבֵין גֵּרוֹ
KJ: And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
BN: And I charged your judges at that time, saying: Hear the causes between your kinsmen, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
SHOPHTEYCHEM: An important linguistic distinction that the scholars have yet to resolve: there are Shoftim, as here, but there are also Dayanim (דיינים). One contemporary suggestion (click here) uses the American parallel: "In the US, a Supreme Court justice is both shofeit and dayan, but the judge of the local courthouse is a dayan alone." I am not sure this is an absolute parallel, but definitely close. The problem is that the Shoftim include oracular priestesses like Devorah (Deborah), and military-political warlords like Gid'on (Gideon), while the Dayanim tend to be Rabbinical rather than secular.
ACHIV: or ACHAV? The spelling suggests the former but traditionally the pronunciation is the latter.
1:17 LO TAKIYRU PHANIM BA MISHPAT KA KATAN KA GADOL TISHMA'UN LO TAGURU MI PENEY ISH KI HA MISHPAT LE ELOHIM HU VE HA DAVAR ASHER YIKSHEH MIKEM TAKRIVUN ELAY U SHEMATIV
לֹא תַכִּירוּ פָנִים בַּמִּשְׁפָּט כַּקָּטֹן כַּגָּדֹל תִּשְׁמָעוּן לֹא תָגוּרוּ מִפְּנֵי אִישׁ כִּי הַמִּשְׁפָּט לֵאלֹהִים הוּא וְהַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר יִקְשֶׁה מִכֶּם תַּקְרִבוּן אֵלַי וּשְׁמַעְתִּיו
KJ: Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
BN: You shall not show favour to anyone in passing judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of any man; for the judgment comes from Elohim; and the cause that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.
LO TAKIYRU PHANIM: King James has this one very badly wrong - or the words it chooses meant something different back then. The whole point is that you absolutely must "respect persons in judgement"- but that you must do so equally, and not more for this one because he's family, or left a padded brown envelope on your desk, and less for that one because he's a business rival to your next-door-neighour, or putting him in jail will make his wife available for private visits.
Note that this an Elohim verse, even though the text until now has been explicitly YHVH.
1:18 VA ATSAVEH ET'CHEM BA ET HA HI ET KOL HA DEVARIM ASHER TA'ASUN
וָאֲצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם בָּעֵת הַהִוא אֵת כָּל הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשׂוּן
BN: And I instructed you at that time in all the things which you should do.
1:19 VA NISA MEY CHOREV VA NELECH ET KOL HA MIDBAR HA GADOL VE HA NORA HA HU ASHER RE'ITEM DERECH HAR HA EMORI KA ASHER TSIVAH YHVH ELOHEYNU OTANU U NAVO AD KADESH BARNE'A
וַנִּסַּע מֵחֹרֵב וַנֵּלֶךְ אֵת כָּל הַמִּדְבָּר הַגָּדוֹל וְהַנּוֹרָא הַהוּא אֲשֶׁר רְאִיתֶם דֶּרֶךְ הַר הָאֱמֹרִי כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ אֹתָנוּ וַנָּבֹא עַד קָדֵשׁ בַּרְנֵעַ
BN: And we journeyed from Chorev, and went through all that great and dreadful wilderness which you saw, on the way to the hill-country of the Emori, as YHVH our god instructed us; and we came to Kadesh Barne'a.
HA GADOL VE HA NORA: A phrase more associated with YHVH than the desert - from the opening line of the Amidah; and oddly, another parallel with the Book of Nehemiah, a man whose last years, after so much dedicated work, collapsed into similar levels of anger with his people, when he returned to Yeru-Shalayim to see what progress had been made, and found what he found (Nehemiah 13); the chapter in fact begins by reading this very Book of Deuteronomy, but the real anger is from verse 6; note especially verses 17 and 18, but read the whole chapter. I can easily imagine the Book of Deuteronomy being commissioned and published by Nechem-Yah at that time, as a way of saying what follows to his people, but through the voice of Mosheh.
1:20 VA OMAR ALEYCHEM BATEM AD HAR HA EMORI ASHER YHVH ELOHEYNU NOTEN LANU
וָאֹמַר אֲלֵכֶם בָּאתֶם עַד הַר הָאֱמֹרִי אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ נֹתֵן לָנוּ
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| Thanks to Steve Rudd for posting the map |
KJ: And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.
BN: And I said to you: You have come into the hill-country of the Emori, which YHVH our god is giving us.
1:21 RE'EH NATAN YHVH ELOHEYCHA LEPHANEYCHA ET HA ARETS ALEH RESH KA ASHER DIBER YHVH ELOHEY AVOTEYCHA LACH AL TIRA VE AL TECHAT
רְאֵה נָתַן יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְפָנֶיךָ אֶת הָאָרֶץ עֲלֵה רֵשׁ כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֶיךָ לָךְ אַל תִּירָא וְאַל תֵּחָת
KJ: Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
BN: Behold, YHVH your god has set the land before you; go up, take possession, as YHVH, the god of your ancestors, has spoken to you. Go without fear. Do not allow setbacks to discourage you.
Yes, this is what we want to hear. Now. But he is speaking of 38 years ago, when their grand-parents came to him, and he sent the spies, and ten of the spies preached discouragement, and Mosheh surrendered to them.
1:22 VA TIKREVUN ELAY KULCHEM VA TOMRU NISHLECHAH ANASHIM LEPHANEYNU VE YACHPERU LANU ET HA ARETS VA YASHIVU OTANU DAVAR ET HA DERECH ASHER NA'ALEH BAH VE ET HE ARIM ASHER NAVO ALEYHEN
KJ: And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
BN: And you came near to me, every one of you, and said: Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us back word of the way by which we must go up, and the cities unto which we shall come.
Another false memory? Was the sending of the spies the result of a plebiscite or referendum, a march and demonstration by the people? "We want spies. Send spies now". I am unable to link back to any text that even hints at this. The Commander-in-Chief sent spies.
1:22 VA TIKREVUN ELAY KULCHEM VA TOMRU NISHLECHAH ANASHIM LEPHANEYNU VE YACHPERU LANU ET HA ARETS VA YASHIVU OTANU DAVAR ET HA DERECH ASHER NA'ALEH BAH VE ET HE ARIM ASHER NAVO ALEYHEN
וַתִּקְרְבוּן אֵלַי כֻּלְּכֶם וַתֹּאמְרוּ נִשְׁלְחָה אֲנָשִׁים לְפָנֵינוּ וְיַחְפְּרוּ לָנוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ וְיָשִׁבוּ אֹתָנוּ דָּבָר אֶת הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר נַעֲלֶה בָּהּ וְאֵת הֶעָרִים אֲשֶׁר נָבֹא אֲלֵיהֶן
KJ: And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
BN: And you came near to me, every one of you, and said: Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us back word of the way by which we must go up, and the cities unto which we shall come.
Another false memory? Was the sending of the spies the result of a plebiscite or referendum, a march and demonstration by the people? "We want spies. Send spies now". I am unable to link back to any text that even hints at this. The Commander-in-Chief sent spies.
Nor was it "them". "They" are all dead. Unless - and this is an entirely viable reading - it isn't 40 years but only 2 or maybe 3 since they left Egypt...
1:23 VA YIYTAV BE EYNAY HA DAVAR VA EKACH MIKEM SHNEYM ASAR ANASHIM ISH ECHAD LA SHAVET
KJ: And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:
BN: And the thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men from among you, one man for every tribe;
This provides us with a wonderful example of the ways in which we choose to remember what suits our self-image best, even in contradiction of the evidence of history, even of our own recorded history. Mosheh making his last great speech, the one that will be remembered by posterity, presenting himself as the great democrat, the listening leader who never once simply told the people, this is how it's going to be because YHVH has told me so, but who asked the people their advice, and listened attentively (especially to Yitro, and Korach, and Mir-Yam...) and never once got angry with his people, no, on the contrary...
The constant use of "you" begins to irritate. "They". They who are dead, every last one of them. Your parents and grand-parents, but not "you".
1:24 VA YIPHNU VA YA'ALU HA HARAH VA YAVO'U AD NACHAL ESHKOL VA YERAGLU OTAH
KJ: And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought itdown unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.
BN: And they gathered some of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us back word, and said: The land which YHVH our god is giving us is good.
Which, given that they went through the Negev desert, and the mountains around Timna, which are a small-scale equivalent of the Grand Canyon, and no further north than the valley of Eshkol, is a surprising conclusion anyway, because it was mostly scrub desert (when it wasn't sand desert).
1:23 VA YIYTAV BE EYNAY HA DAVAR VA EKACH MIKEM SHNEYM ASAR ANASHIM ISH ECHAD LA SHAVET
וַיִּיטַב בְּעֵינַי הַדָּבָר וָאֶקַּח מִכֶּם שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר אֲנָשִׁים אִישׁ אֶחָד לַשָּׁבֶט
KJ: And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:
BN: And the thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men from among you, one man for every tribe;
This provides us with a wonderful example of the ways in which we choose to remember what suits our self-image best, even in contradiction of the evidence of history, even of our own recorded history. Mosheh making his last great speech, the one that will be remembered by posterity, presenting himself as the great democrat, the listening leader who never once simply told the people, this is how it's going to be because YHVH has told me so, but who asked the people their advice, and listened attentively (especially to Yitro, and Korach, and Mir-Yam...) and never once got angry with his people, no, on the contrary...
The constant use of "you" begins to irritate. "They". They who are dead, every last one of them. Your parents and grand-parents, but not "you".
1:24 VA YIPHNU VA YA'ALU HA HARAH VA YAVO'U AD NACHAL ESHKOL VA YERAGLU OTAH
וַיִּפְנוּ וַיַּעֲלוּ הָהָרָה וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד נַחַל אֶשְׁכֹּל וַיְרַגְּלוּ אֹתָהּ
KJ: And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.
BN: And they set out, and went up into the mountains, and came to the valley of Eshkol, and reconnoitered it.
1:25 VA YIK'CHU VE YADAM MI PERI HA ARETS VA YORIDU ELEYNU VA YASHIVU OTANU DAVAR VA YOMRU TOVAH HA ARETS ASHER YHVH ELOHEYNU NOTEN LANU
BN: And they set out, and went up into the mountains, and came to the valley of Eshkol, and reconnoitered it.
1:25 VA YIK'CHU VE YADAM MI PERI HA ARETS VA YORIDU ELEYNU VA YASHIVU OTANU DAVAR VA YOMRU TOVAH HA ARETS ASHER YHVH ELOHEYNU NOTEN LANU
וַיִּקְחוּ בְיָדָם מִפְּרִי הָאָרֶץ וַיּוֹרִדוּ אֵלֵינוּ וַיָּשִׁבוּ אֹתָנוּ דָבָר וַיֹּאמְרוּ טוֹבָה הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ נֹתֵן לָנוּ
KJ: And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought itdown unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.
BN: And they gathered some of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us back word, and said: The land which YHVH our god is giving us is good.
Which, given that they went through the Negev desert, and the mountains around Timna, which are a small-scale equivalent of the Grand Canyon, and no further north than the valley of Eshkol, is a surprising conclusion anyway, because it was mostly scrub desert (when it wasn't sand desert).
1:26 VE LO AVITEM LA'ALOT VA TAMRU ET PI YHVH ELOHEYCHEM
וְלֹא אֲבִיתֶם לַעֲלֹת וַתַּמְרוּ אֶת פִּי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
KJ: Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
BN: Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the instruction of YHVH your god;
This is either completely disingenuous, or we have two versions of the story, and they conflict. The full account of the mission of the spies can be found in Numbers 13.
And note how, just a few verses ago, when the people did what he wanted them to, it was he who was obeying the wisdom of the people, but when they don't, it's them rebelling against the instruction of the deity. Ecce Homo Politicianus.
1:27 VA TERAGNU VE AHALEYCHEM VA TOMRU BE SINAT YHVH OTANU HOTSI'ANU MEY ERETS MITSRAYIM LATET OTANU BE YAD HA EMORI LE HASHMIDEYNU
וַתֵּרָגְנוּ בְאָהֳלֵיכֶם וַתֹּאמְרוּ בְּשִׂנְאַת יְהוָה אֹתָנוּ הוֹצִיאָנוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם לָתֵת אֹתָנוּ בְּיַד הָאֱמֹרִי לְהַשְׁמִידֵנוּ
BN: And you murmured in your tents, and said: Because YHVH hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Mitsrayim, to deliver us into the hand of the Emori, to destroy us.
Every leader, even the small leaders like school Headmasters, at some point fantasise standing up in front of their people and telling them the truth, straight, dugri as they say in Ivrit, like Mosheh is doing now; but no one ever does it, because it is a stupidity. What positives does Mosheh think he is going to get out of telling them that their parents and grandparents were a bunch of snivelling cowards et cetera?
1:28 ANAH ANACHNU OLIM ACHEYNU HEYMASU ET LEVAVEYNU LEMOR AM GADOL VE RAM MIMEYNU ARIM GEDOLOT U VETSUROT BA SHAMAYIM VE GAM BENEY ANAKIM RA'INU SHAM
אָנָה אֲנַחְנוּ עֹלִים אַחֵינוּ הֵמַסּוּ אֶת לְבָבֵנוּ לֵאמֹר עַם גָּדוֹל וָרָם מִמֶּנּוּ עָרִים גְּדֹלֹת וּבְצוּרֹת בַּשָּׁמָיִם וְגַם בְּנֵי עֲנָקִים רָאִינוּ שָׁם
BN: To where are we going up? Our kinsmen have made our hearts melt, saying: The people there are more powerful, and much taller, than us; their cities are magnificent, and fortified up to the skies; and what is more, we have seen the Beney Anakim there.
BENEY ANAKIM: See the link. I think BENEY ANAKIM is a textual error; it should be either BENEY ANAK (as, say "the people of Britain"), or plain ANAKIM (as, say "the British"), but not both (which would equivalate to "the people of British").
1:29 VA OMAR ALEYCHEM LO TA'ARTSUN VE LO TIYRE'UN MEY HEM
וָאֹמַר אֲלֵכֶם לֹא תַעַרְצוּן וְלֹא תִירְאוּן מֵהֶם
BN: Then I said to you: Have no fear, do not be afraid of them...
TA'ARTSUN...TIYRE'UN: what is the exact difference between these two words? Isaiah 2:19 and 21, as well as Psalm 10:18, use the former (all three with a splendid word-play between ARATS and ERETS, one with an Ayin the other with an Aleph), and it seems to be the stronger of the two, terror rather than fear.
1:30 YHVH ELOHEYCHEM HA HOLECH LIPHNEYCHEM HU YILACHEM LACHEM KE CHOL ASHER ASAH IT'CHEM BE MITSRAYIM LE EYNEYCHEM
יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם הַהֹלֵךְ לִפְנֵיכֶם הוּא יִלָּחֵם לָכֶם כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אִתְּכֶם בְּמִצְרַיִם לְעֵינֵיכֶם
BN: YHVH your god who goes before you, he shall fight for you, just as he did for you in Mitsrayim before your eyes...
1:31 U VA MIDBAR ASHER RA'ITA ASHER NESA'ACHA YHVH ELOHEYCHA KA ASHER YISA ISH ET BENO BE CHOL HA DERECH ASHER HALACHTEM AD BO'ACHEM AD HA MAKOM HA ZEH
וּבַמִּדְבָּר אֲשֶׁר רָאִיתָ אֲשֶׁר נְשָׂאֲךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ כַּאֲשֶׁר יִשָּׂא אִישׁ אֶת בְּנוֹ בְּכָל הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר הֲלַכְתֶּם עַד בֹּאֲכֶם עַד הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה
KJ: And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
BN: And in the desert, where you have seen how YHVH your god carried you, as a man carries his son, along the whole the way that you went, until you came to this place.
The other problem with "you" is that is never "we". Mosheh is distancing himself from his own people; I superior leader, you inferior... and you would be even less than you are, which is anyway nothing, were it not for super-YHVH... I find myself disliking him more and more with each chapter of his life that I read (and still having to remind myself, again and again, that this is literature, not history, that literary tales are metaphors, not accounts of literal events. As YHVH is always the explanation of whatever happens in Life, so Mosheh is always the epitome, the allegory, both before and after he is just the man).
1:32 U VA DAVAR HA ZEH EYNCHEM MA'AMINIM BA YHVH ELOHEYCHEM
וּבַדָּבָר הַזֶּה אֵינְכֶם מַאֲמִינִם בַּיהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
KJ: Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,
BN: Yet in this thing you do not believe YHVH your god.
1:33 HA HOLECH LIPHNEYCHEM BA DERECH LATUR LACHEM MAKOM LACHANOT'CHEM BA EYSH LAILAH LAROT'CHEM BA DERECH ASHER TELCHU VAH U VE ANAN YOMAM
הַהֹלֵךְ לִפְנֵיכֶם בַּדֶּרֶךְ לָתוּר לָכֶם מָקוֹם לַחֲנֹתְכֶם בָּאֵשׁ לַיְלָה לַרְאֹתְכֶם בַּדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר תֵּלְכוּ בָהּ וּבֶעָנָן יוֹמָם
BN: Who went ahead of you along the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents: as fire by night, to show you by which way you should go, and as a cloud by day.
And maybe, if they had been given the responsibility for their own lives, instead of treated like this, and if they had done their own mapping, instead of YHVH doing it, and if they had been brought into the discussion about law and direction, maybe... you get the people you create by leading them in a certain way; you get... what you deserve... that's why the leaders never make this speech, because they are the ones who look and sound bad because of it. The great football manager, let down by his players! (see Bertolt Brecht's poem "The Solution", here).
1:34 VA YISHMA YHVH ET KOL DIVREYCHEM VA YIKTSOPH VA YISHAV'A LEMOR
KJ: And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
BN: And YHVH heard the words that you spoke against him, and was angry, and made a vow, saying:
VA YISHAV'A: translating it as "and swore", or "and sware" in the King James, may mislead people into thinking that the deity used an expletive - God forbid!
1:35: IM YIREH ISH BA ANASHIM HA ELEH HA DOR HA RA HA ZEH ET HA ARETS HA TOVAH ASHER NISHBATI LATET LA AVOTEYCHEM
KJ: Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers,
BN: Not one of these men, from this evil generation, shall see the good land, which I swore to give to your ancestors...
ISH BA ANASHIM appears to condone the women. Or do we read ISH here as meaning "men and women equally"? And if so, then does that also apply elsewhere?
1:36 ZULATI KALEV BEN YEPHUNEH HU YIREYNAH VE LO ETEN ET HA ARETS ASHER DARACH BAH, U LE VANAV YA'AN ASHER MIL'E ACHAREY YHVH
KJ: Save 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.
BN: Save Kalev ben Yephuneh - he shall see it. And to him I will give the land on which he has trodden, and to his children; because he has wholly followed YHVH.
1:34 VA YISHMA YHVH ET KOL DIVREYCHEM VA YIKTSOPH VA YISHAV'A LEMOR
וַיִּשְׁמַע יְהוָה אֶת קוֹל דִּבְרֵיכֶם וַיִּקְצֹף וַיִּשָּׁבַע לֵאמֹר
BN: And YHVH heard the words that you spoke against him, and was angry, and made a vow, saying:
VA YISHAV'A: translating it as "and swore", or "and sware" in the King James, may mislead people into thinking that the deity used an expletive - God forbid!
1:35: IM YIREH ISH BA ANASHIM HA ELEH HA DOR HA RA HA ZEH ET HA ARETS HA TOVAH ASHER NISHBATI LATET LA AVOTEYCHEM
אִם יִרְאֶה אִישׁ בָּאֲנָשִׁים הָאֵלֶּה הַדּוֹר הָרָע הַזֶּה אֵת הָאָרֶץ הַטּוֹבָה אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי לָתֵת לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם
BN: Not one of these men, from this evil generation, shall see the good land, which I swore to give to your ancestors...
ISH BA ANASHIM appears to condone the women. Or do we read ISH here as meaning "men and women equally"? And if so, then does that also apply elsewhere?
1:36 ZULATI KALEV BEN YEPHUNEH HU YIREYNAH VE LO ETEN ET HA ARETS ASHER DARACH BAH, U LE VANAV YA'AN ASHER MIL'E ACHAREY YHVH
זוּלָתִי כָּלֵב בֶּן יְפֻנֶּה הוּא יִרְאֶנָּה וְלוֹ אֶתֵּן אֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר דָּרַךְ בָּהּ וּלְבָנָיו יַעַן אֲשֶׁר מִלֵּא אַחֲרֵי יְהוָה
KJ: Save 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.
BN: Save Kalev ben Yephuneh - he shall see it. And to him I will give the land on which he has trodden, and to his children; because he has wholly followed YHVH.
KALEV BEN YEPHUNEH: See the link.
What about Yehoshu'a? see verse 38.
1:37 GAM BI HITANAPH YHVH BIGLALCHEM LEMOR GAM ATAH LO TAVO SHAM
KJ: Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
BN: And with me too YHVH was angry because of you, saying: Neither shall you go there.
This is even more disingenuous. He knows perfectly well that he is prohibited specifically because of the sin of Merivah (Numbers 20:11 ff).
1:38 YEHOSHU'A BIN NUN HA OMED LEPHANEYCHA HU YAVO SHAMAH OTO CHAZEK KI HU YANCHILEYNAH ET YISRA-EL
KJ: But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
BN: And Yehoshu'a bin Nun, who is standing here before you, he shall go there. Encourage him, for he shall be the means by which Yisra-El takes possession.
1:39 VE TAP'CHEM ASHER AMARTEM LAVAZ YIHEYEH U VENEYCHEM ASHER LO YADU HA YOM TOV VA RA HEMAH YAVO'U SHAMAH VE LAHEM ETNENAH VE HEM YIYRASHUHA
KJ: Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
BN: Moreover your little ones, who you worried would become a prey, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
And then there is the fact that he is berating people who aren't even there; if he had made this speech thirty-eight years ago, at least it would have been to the right audience. But these are the next generation, and all of these will be going in - if they live through the wars of conquest anyway. Or is he simply giving a historical narative, telling them what happened 38 years ago, and not berating them at all? But if so, why is he saying YOU and not THEY?
1:40 VE ATEM PENU LACHEM U SE'U HA MIDBARAH DERECH YAM SUPH
KJ: But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
BN: But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the desert by the way to the Red Sea.
The exact opposite direcion from the one in which they actually went. Or is he intending that they go back from where the are now to the Red Sea, march across the Sinai desert, and enter Kena'an that waym arrivingpresumably at Yerecho nonetheless. A bit like going from New York to Washington D.C. via Galveston.
And if I am misunderstanding, that he is still describing what they did in the past, and not what he wants them to do in the present - why is he not using the correct tense? Both PENU and SE'U are present vocatives, not preterites.
What about Yehoshu'a? see verse 38.
1:37 GAM BI HITANAPH YHVH BIGLALCHEM LEMOR GAM ATAH LO TAVO SHAM
גַּם בִּי הִתְאַנַּף יְהוָה בִּגְלַלְכֶם לֵאמֹר גַּם אַתָּה לֹא תָבֹא שָׁם
KJ: Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
BN: And with me too YHVH was angry because of you, saying: Neither shall you go there.
This is even more disingenuous. He knows perfectly well that he is prohibited specifically because of the sin of Merivah (Numbers 20:11 ff).
1:38 YEHOSHU'A BIN NUN HA OMED LEPHANEYCHA HU YAVO SHAMAH OTO CHAZEK KI HU YANCHILEYNAH ET YISRA-EL
יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן נוּן הָעֹמֵד לְפָנֶיךָ הוּא יָבֹא שָׁמָּה אֹתוֹ חַזֵּק כִּי הוּא יַנְחִלֶנָּה אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל
BN: And Yehoshu'a bin Nun, who is standing here before you, he shall go there. Encourage him, for he shall be the means by which Yisra-El takes possession.
1:39 VE TAP'CHEM ASHER AMARTEM LAVAZ YIHEYEH U VENEYCHEM ASHER LO YADU HA YOM TOV VA RA HEMAH YAVO'U SHAMAH VE LAHEM ETNENAH VE HEM YIYRASHUHA
וְטַפְּכֶם אֲשֶׁר אֲמַרְתֶּם לָבַז יִהְיֶה וּבְנֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדְעוּ הַיּוֹם טוֹב וָרָע הֵמָּה יָבֹאוּ שָׁמָּה וְלָהֶם אֶתְּנֶנָּה וְהֵם יִירָשׁוּהָ
BN: Moreover your little ones, who you worried would become a prey, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
And then there is the fact that he is berating people who aren't even there; if he had made this speech thirty-eight years ago, at least it would have been to the right audience. But these are the next generation, and all of these will be going in - if they live through the wars of conquest anyway. Or is he simply giving a historical narative, telling them what happened 38 years ago, and not berating them at all? But if so, why is he saying YOU and not THEY?
1:40 VE ATEM PENU LACHEM U SE'U HA MIDBARAH DERECH YAM SUPH
וְאַתֶּם פְּנוּ לָכֶם וּסְעוּ הַמִּדְבָּרָה דֶּרֶךְ יַם סוּף
KJ: But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
BN: But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the desert by the way to the Red Sea.
The exact opposite direcion from the one in which they actually went. Or is he intending that they go back from where the are now to the Red Sea, march across the Sinai desert, and enter Kena'an that waym arrivingpresumably at Yerecho nonetheless. A bit like going from New York to Washington D.C. via Galveston.
And if I am misunderstanding, that he is still describing what they did in the past, and not what he wants them to do in the present - why is he not using the correct tense? Both PENU and SE'U are present vocatives, not preterites.
1:41 VA TA'ANU VA TOMRU ELAY CHATANU LA YHVH ANACHNU NA'ALEH VE NILCHAMNU KE CHOL ASHER TSIVANU YHVH ELOHEYNU VA TACHGERU ISH ET KLEY MILCHAMTO VA TAHINU HA HARAH
KJ: Then 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 when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.
BN: Then you answered and said to me: We have sinned against YHVH. We will go up and fight, according to all that YHVH our god has instructed us. And every man among you girded on his weapons of war, and deemed it a light thing to go up into the hill-country.
Did he simply forget that their first battle was with the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8), and they were roundly slaughtered? A bit like remembering the glories of the Second World War, but leaving out Dunkirk!
וַתַּעֲנוּ וַתֹּאמְרוּ אֵלַי חָטָאנוּ לַיהוָה אֲנַחְנוּ נַעֲלֶה וְנִלְחַמְנוּ כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר צִוָּנוּ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ וַתַּחְגְּרוּ אִישׁ אֶת כְּלֵי מִלְחַמְתּוֹ וַתָּהִינוּ לַעֲלֹת הָהָרָה
KJ: Then 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 when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.
BN: Then you answered and said to me: We have sinned against YHVH. We will go up and fight, according to all that YHVH our god has instructed us. And every man among you girded on his weapons of war, and deemed it a light thing to go up into the hill-country.
Did he simply forget that their first battle was with the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8), and they were roundly slaughtered? A bit like remembering the glories of the Second World War, but leaving out Dunkirk!
1:42 VA YOMER YHVH ELAY EMOR LAHEM LO TA'ALU VE LO TILACHAMU KI AYNEYNI BE KIRBECHEM VE LO TINAGPHU LIPHNEY OYEVEYCHEM
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֵלַי אֱמֹר לָהֶם לֹא תַעֲלוּ וְלֹא תִלָּחֲמוּכִּי אֵינֶנִּי בְּקִרְבְּכֶם וְלֹא תִּנָּגְפוּ לִפְנֵי אֹיְבֵיכֶם
BN: Then YHVH said to me: Say to them: Do not go up, and do not fight either; for I am not among you; lest you be smitten before your enemies.
See Numbers 14:40 ff.
1:43 VA ADABER ALEYCHEM VE LO SHEMATEM VA TAMRU ET PI YHVH VA TAZIDU VA TA'ALU HA HARAH
וָאֲדַבֵּר אֲלֵיכֶם וְלֹא שְׁמַעְתֶּם וַתַּמְרוּ אֶת פִּי יְהוָה וַתָּזִדוּ וַתַּעֲלוּ הָהָרָה
KJ: So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.
BN: So I spoke to you, but you did not listen to me. You rebelled against YHVH's instruction and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill-country.
As noted in commentary at the time, the biggest disaster to befall the Beney Yisra-El during the desert wandering was the slaughter of the old and the women and the children at the rear of the camp by hordes of Amalekites (Numbers 14:43 ff). So horrible was it, the Amalekites were condemned in the divine court of justice for war crimes, and sentenced to be exterminated by the Beney Yisra-El later on as a punishment (see 1 Samuel 15:1 ff). And how was such a disaster possible, if Mosheh, the leader, and his hierarchy of elders and Kohanim and military clan-chieftains had organised the camp properly? They organised it quite beautifully for the guarding of the Ark. But when the disaster befalls them, rather than accepting responsibility and owning up (we can't expect him to resign: he was divinely appointed), he blames the people.
1:44 VA YETSE HA EMORI HA YOSHEV BA HAR HA HU LIKRAT'CHEM VA YIRDEPHU ET'CHEM KA ASHER TA'ASEYNAH HA DEVORIM VA YAKTU ET'CHEM BE SE'IR AD CHARMAH
וַיֵּצֵא הָאֱמֹרִי הַיֹּשֵׁב בָּהָר הַהוּא לִקְרַאתְכֶם וַיִּרְדְּפוּ אֶתְכֶם כַּאֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשֶׂינָה הַדְּבֹרִים וַיַּכְּתוּ אֶתְכֶם בְּשֵׂעִיר עַד חָרְמָה
BN: And the Emori, who dwell in that hill-country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Se'ir, all the way to Charmah.
Is it not an odd coincidence that the detour taken in Numbers 21, to fight the king of Arad and defeat the Kena'ani, should have taken place at what cannot have been that very same Charmah - see my notes to Numbers 21:3 and 4 especially? If it was the same Charmah, then Mosheh had led his people into the very heart of Kena'an, which we know he had not done; and the Beney Amalek were desert Bedou. So there were two places with the same name; and the only two important battles. Very odd coincidence.
1:45 VA TASHUVU VA TIVKU LIPHNEY YHVH VE LO SHAMA YHVH BE KOLCHEM VE LO HE'EZIN ALEYCHEM
וַתָּשֻׁבוּ וַתִּבְכּוּ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה וְלֹא שָׁמַע יְהוָה בְּקֹלְכֶם וְלֹא הֶאֱזִין אֲלֵיכֶם
KJ: And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.
BN: And you came back, and wept before YHVH; but YHVH refused to listen to your voice, nor gave ear to you.
BN: And you came back, and wept before YHVH; but YHVH refused to listen to your voice, nor gave ear to you.
YHVH, YHVH, El rachum ve chanun, erech apayim, ve rav chesed ve emet, notser chesed la alaphim, nos'e avon, va phesha, ve chata'ah, ve nakeh... the great words of Yom Kippur, derived from Exodus 34:6 and 7... but apparently they didn't apply on this occasion.
1:46 VA TESHVU VE KADESH YAMIM RABIM KA YAMIM ASHER YESHAVTEM
1:46 VA TESHVU VE KADESH YAMIM RABIM KA YAMIM ASHER YESHAVTEM
וַתֵּשְׁבוּ בְקָדֵשׁ יָמִים רַבִּים כַּיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר יְשַׁבְתֶּם
KJ: So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.
BN: So you stayed in Kadesh for many days - however many days it was that you stayed there.
A very dismissive last phrase, and that is the original, not my translation.
Deuteronomy 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 6 7a 7b 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16a 16b 17 18 19 20 21a 21b 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29a 29b 30 31 32 33 34
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