Hæc sunt verba quæ locutus est Moyses ad omnem Israël trans Jordanem in solitudine campestri, contra mare Rubrum, inter Pharan et Tophel et Laban et Haseroth, ubi auri est plurimum:

These are the words, which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan, in the plain wilderness, over against the Red Sea, between Pharan and Thophel and Laban and Haseroth, where there is very much gold:

It was thus Moses spoke to the people of Israel while they were still on the other side of Jordan, in the desert plain that looks towards the Red Sea, with Pharan and Thophel and Laban and Haseroth, a country where gold abounds, for its frontiers;

undecim diebus de Horeb per viam montis Seir usque ad Cadesbarne.

Eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir to Cadesbarne.

the plain that is spanned by a journey of eleven days from Horeb to Cades-Barne, by way of mount Seir.

Quadragesimo anno, undecimo mense, prima die mensis, locutus est Moyses ad filios Israël omnia quæ præceperat illi Dominus, ut diceret eis,

In the fortieth year, the eleventh month, the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel all that the Lord had commanded him to say to them:

It was the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year, when Moses handed on to the Israelites the commands which the Lord had entrusted to him.

postquam percussit Sehon regem Amorrhæorum, qui habitabat in Hesebon, et Og regem Basan, qui mansit in Astaroth, et in Edrai,

After that he had slain Sehon king of the Amorrhites, who dwelt in Hesebon: and Og king of Basan who abode in Astaroth, and in Edrai,

He had now given them victory over Sehon, king of the Amorrhites, that lived at Hesebon, and Og, king of Basan, that lived at Astaroth and Edrai,

trans Jordanem in terra Moab. Cœpitque Moyses explanare legem, et dicere:

Beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab. And Moses began to expound the law, and to say:

still beyond the Jordan, in the Moabite country.Moses, then, began to expound the law, with these words:

Dominus Deus noster locutus est ad nos in Horeb, dicens: Sufficit vobis quod in hoc monte mansistis:

The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: You have stayed long enough in this mountain:

We were still at Horeb when the Lord our God said to us, This mountain has been your home long enough;

revertimini, et venite ad montem Amorrhæorum, et ad cetera quæ ei proxima sunt campestria atque montana et humiliora loca contra meridiem, et juxta littus maris, terram Chananæorum, et Libani usque ad flumen magnum Euphraten.

Turn you, and come to the mountain of the Amorrhites, and to the other places that are next to it, the plains and the hills and the vales towards the south, and by the sea shore, the land of the Chanaanites, and of Libanus, as far as the great river Euphrates.

it is time for you to turn back, and make your way to the hill country of the Amorrhites and its neighbourhood. Low ground and high ground, southern plain and sea-coast, all Chanaan including mount Lebanon, right up to the great river Euphrates,

En, inquit, tradidi vobis: ingredimini et possidete eam, super qua juravit Dominus patribus vestris Abraham, Isaac, et Jacob, ut daret illam eis, et semini eorum post eos.

Behold, said he, I have delivered it to you: go in and possess it, concerning which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it to them, and to their seed after them.

I have given it all (said he) into your hands; go in and take possession of it; it is the home the Lord promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their posterity after them.

Dixique vobis illo in tempore:

And I said to you at that time:

It was at this time, too, that I said to you,

Non possum solus sustinere vos: quia Dominus Deus vester multiplicavit vos, et estis hodie sicut stellæ cæli, plurimi.

I alone am not able to bear you: for the Lord your God hath multiplied you, and you are this day as the stars of heaven, for multitude.

The charge of you is too heavy for my own strength, such increase has the Lord your God given you. To-day, you are countless as the stars in heaven;

(Dominus Deus patrum vestrorum addat ad hunc numerum multa millia, et benedicat vobis sicut locutus est.)

(The Lord God of your fathers add to this number many thousands, and bless you as he hath spoken.)

may the Lord, the God of your fathers, add many thousands yet to your number, and grant you the blessing he has promised!

Non valeo solus negotia vestra sustinere, et pondus ac jurgia.

I alone am not able to bear your business, and the charge of you and your differences.

But I have not strength to bear, alone, the weight of all your affairs, all your quarrels;

Date ex vobis viros sapientes et gnaros, et quorum conversatio sit probata in tribubus vestris, ut ponam eos vobis principes.

Let me have from among you wise and understanding men, and such whose conversation is approved among your tribes, that I may appoint them your rulers.

you must give me men of ripe wisdom and quick minds, high in repute among their fellow-tribesmen, to be appointed your rulers.

Tunc respondistis mihi: Bona res est, quam vis facere.

Then you answered me: The thing is good which thou meanest to do.

And when I had your answer, approving my design,

Tulique de tribubus vestris viros sapientes et nobiles, et constitui eos principes, tribunos, et centuriones, et quinquagenarios ac decanos, qui docerent vos singula.

And I took out of your tribes men wise and honourable, and appointed them rulers, tribunes, and centurions, and officers over fifties, and over tens, who might teach you all things.

I chose out of all your tribes men of wisdom and repute, and I appointed them to be your rulers, with powers over a thousand men, or a hundred, or fifty, or ten together, issuing commands to you as need arose.

Præcepique eis, dicens: Audite illos, et quod justum est judicate: sive civis sit ille, sive peregrinus.

And I commanded them, saying: Hear them, and judge that which is just: whether he be one of your country, or a stranger.

And this was the charge I gave them: Listen to the pleadings of each man, and give a just award to citizen and to stranger alike.

Nulla erit distantia personarum: ita parvum audietis ut magnum, nec accipietis cujusquam personam, quia Dei judicium est. Quod si difficile vobis visum aliquid fuerit, referte ad me, et ego audiam.

There shall be no difference of persons, you shall hear the little as well as the great: neither shall you respect any man’s person, because it is the judgment of God. And if any thing seem hard to you, refer it to me, and I will hear it.

Listen impartially to great and small, without undue regard for any man; it is God’s justice you are administering. If any quarrel seems hard to decide, refer it to me, and I will take cognisance of it myself.

Præcepique omnia quæ facere deberetis.

And I commanded you all things that you were to do.

At this time, too, I gave you all the commandments you were to follow.

Profecti autem de Horeb, transivimus per eremum terribilem et maximam, quam vidistis, per viam montis Amorrhæi, sicut præceperat Dominus Deus noster nobis. Cumque venissemus in Cadesbarne,

And departing from Horeb, we passed through the terrible and vast wilderness, which you saw, by the way of the mountain of the Amorrhite, as the Lord our God had commanded us. And when we were come into Cadesbarne,

So we left Horeb, and traversed that wide desert whose terrible aspect is well known to you, on the way to the hill country of the Amorrhites, as the Lord bade us. And when we reached Cades-Barne

dixi vobis: Venistis ad montem Amorrhæi, quem Dominus Deus noster daturus est nobis:

I said to you: You are come to the mountain of the Amorrhite, which the Lord our God will give to us.

I told you, Now you have made your way to these mountains of the Amorrhites, which the Lord means to give you for your own.

vide terram, quam Dominus Deus tuus dat tibi: ascende et posside eam, sicut locutus est Dominus Deus noster patribus tuis: noli timere, nec quidquam paveas.

See the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord our God hath spoken to thy fathers: fear not, nor be any way discouraged.

The land you see before you is the Lord’s gift to you, a divine gift; march in and take possession of it, in fulfilment of the promises he made to your fathers; let there be no cowardice, no shrinking here.

Et accessistis ad me omnes, atque dixistis: Mittamus viros qui considerent terram: et renuntient per quod iter debeamus ascendere, et ad quas pergere civitates.

And you came all to me, and said: Let us send men who may view the land, and bring us word what way we shall go up, and to what cities we shall go.

Whereupon you all preferred a request to me that men should be sent out to view the land, and bring back word how best to approach it, what cities you should first assail;

Cumque mihi sermo placuisset, misi ex vobis duodecim viros, singulos de tribubus suis.

And because the saying pleased me, I sent of you twelve men, one of every tribe:

and I, listening to your words with approval, chose out twelve such men, one from each tribe.

Qui cum perrexissent, et ascendissent in montana, venerunt usque ad Vallem botri: et considerata terra,

Who, when they had set forward and had gone up to the mountains, came as far as the valley of the cluster: and having viewed the land,

These set out, and traversed the hill country as far as the Valley of Grapes; viewed the whole land,

sumentes de fructibus ejus, ut ostenderent ubertatem, attulerunt ad nos, atque dixerunt: Bona est terra, quam Dominus Deus noster daturus est nobis.

Taking of the fruits thereof, to shew its fertility, they brought them to us, and said: The land is good, which the Lord our God will give us.

and brought back with them such sample of its fruits as would show us how fertile it was; This is a fair land, they said, that the Lord means to give us.

Et noluistis ascendere, sed increduli ad sermonem Domini Dei nostri,

And you would not go up, but being incredulous to the word of the Lord our God,

But you had no heart for the enterprise, put no trust in the promises of the Lord your God.

murmurastis in tabernaculis vestris, atque dixistis: Odit nos Dominus, et idcirco eduxit nos de terra Ægypti, ut traderet nos in manu Amorrhæi, atque deleret.

You murmured in your tents, and said: The Lord hateth us, and therefore he hath brought us out of the land of Egypt, that he might deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and destroy us.

The whisper went round in your tents, The Lord wishes us ill; that is why he has brought us away from Egypt, to leave us at the mercy of the Amorrhites, and so make an end of us.

Quo ascendemus? nuntii terruerunt cor nostrum, dicentes: Maxima multitudo est, et nobis statura procerior; urbes magnæ, et ad cælum usque munitæ: filios Enacim vidimus ibi.

Whither shall we go up? the messengers have terrified our hearts, saying: The multitude is very great, and taller than we: the cities are great, and walled up to the sky, we have seen the sons of the Enacims there.

What enterprise is this? The messengers we sent have taken the heart out of us, with their tales of a great multitude of men, taller in stature than we are, of cities walled up to the skies, of the sons of Enac they saw there.

Et dixi vobis: Nolite metuere, nec timeatis eos:

And I said to you: Fear not, neither be ye afraid of them:

And I reasoned with you, Do not be afraid, do not shrink before them;

Dominus Deus, qui ductor est vester, pro vobis ipse pugnabit, sicut fecit in Ægypto cunctis videntibus.

The Lord God, who is your leader, himself will fight for you, as he did in Egypt in the sight of all.

will not the Lord God who is your leader fight on your side, as he did in Egypt for all to see?

Et in solitudine (ipse vidisti) portavit te Dominus Deus tuus, ut solet homo gestare parvulum filium suum, in omni via per quam ambulastis, donec veniretis ad locum istum.

And in the wilderness (as thou hast seen) the Lord thy God hath carried thee, as a man is wont to carry his little son, all the way that you have come, until you came to this place.

Your own eyes have witnessed how the Lord your God carried you through the desert as a man carries his little son, all the long road you have travelled to reach this spot.

Et nec sic quidem credidistis Domino Deo vestro,

And yet for all this you did not believe the Lord your God,

But even so you had no confidence in the Lord your God,

qui præcessit vos in via, et metatus est locum in quo tentoria figere deberetis, nocte ostendens vobis iter per ignem, et die per columnam nubis.

Who went before you in the way, and marked out the place, wherein you should pitch your tents, in the night shewing you the way by fire, and in the day by the pillar of a cloud.

that had led you on the march and marked out your encampments for you, guiding you on your journey in fire by night, in cloud by day.

Cumque audisset Dominus vocem sermonum vestrorum, iratus juravit, et ait:

And when the Lord had heard the voice of your words, he was angry and swore, and said:

Listening to this talk of yours, the Lord was angry with you, and he took an oath

Non videbit quispiam de hominibus generationis hujus pessimæ terram bonam, quam sub juramento pollicitus sum patribus vestris,

Not one of the men of this wicked generation shall see the good land, which I promised with an oath to your fathers:

that none of that worthless generation should live to see the fair land that was his promised gift to your fathers,

præter Caleb filium Jephone: ipse enim videbit eam, et ipsi dabo terram, quam calcavit, et filiis ejus, quia secutus est Dominum.

Except Caleb the son of Jephone: for he shall see it, and to him I will give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath followed the Lord.

except Caleb the son of Jephone. He was to see it, he and his sons should have the gift of the ground his feet had trodden, because he had carried out the Lord’s will.

Nec miranda indignatio in populum, cum mihi quoque iratus Dominus propter vos dixerit: Nec tu ingredieris illuc:

Neither is his indignation against the people to be wondered at, since the Lord was angry with me also on your account, and said: Neither shalt thou go in thither.

And what marvel that the people should feel his displeasure, when the Lord was angry with me too for your sakes? There is no entering there, he told me, for thee either.

sed Josue filius Nun minister tuus, ipse intrabit pro te. Hunc exhortare et robora, et ipse sorte terram dividet Israëli.

But Josue the son of Nun, thy minister, he shall go in for thee: exhort and encourage him, and he shall divide the land by lot to Israel.

Josue the son of Nun, thy servant, shall go in instead of thee; bid him take heart and play the man; it shall be for him to apportion Israel its lands.

Parvuli vestri, de quibus dixistis quod captivi ducerentur, et filii qui hodie boni ac mali ignorant distantiam, ipsi ingredientur: et ipsis dabo terram, et possidebunt eam.

Your children, of whom you said that they should be led away captives, and your sons who know not this day the difference of good and evil, they shall go in: and to them I will give the land, and they shall possess it.

These little ones of yours, that were to pass, you thought, into captivity, these sons of yours, that cannot yet discern right from wrong, shall have leave to enter; theirs the land shall be, my promised gift.

Vos autem revertimini, et abite in solitudinem per viam maris Rubri.

But return you and go into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

As for you, turn your steps back towards the Red Sea again, back into the desert.

Et respondistis mihi: Peccavimus Domino: ascendemus et pugnabimus, sicut præcepit Dominus Deus noster. Cumque instructi armis pergeretis in montem,

And you answered me: We have sinned against the Lord: we will go up and fight, as the Lord our God hath commanded. And when you went ready armed unto the mountain,

Ah no, you answered me, we confess our fault against the Lord; we ourselves are ready to set forth and do battle, as the Lord our God would have us. And even as you were on your way to the hill country, all armed,

ait mihi Dominus: Dic ad eos: Nolite ascendere, neque pugnetis: non enim sum vobiscum: ne cadatis coram inimicis vestris.

The Lord said to me: Say to them: Go not up, and fight not, for I am not with you: lest you fall before your enemies.

the Lord gave me a message for you, Do not march to the attack, or you will be overthrown by your enemies; I am at your side no longer.

Locutus sum, et non audistis: sed adversantes imperio Domini, et tumentes superbia, ascendistis in montem.

I spoke, and you hearkened not: but resisting the commandment of the Lord, and swelling with pride, you went up into the mountain.

My warning went unheard; puffed up with pride, you disobeyed the Lord’s word and marched on into the hill country,

Itaque egressus Amorrhæus, qui habitabat in montibus, et obviam veniens, persecutus est vos, sicut solent apes persequi: et cecidit de Seir usque Horma.

And the Amorrhite that dwelt in the mountains coming out, and meeting you, chased you, as bees do: and made slaughter of you from Seir as far as Horma.

till the Amorrhite mountain-dwellers came out to meet you, and chased you away, thick as a swarm of bees, cut you down all the way from Seir to Horma.

Cumque reversi ploraretis coram Domino, non audivit vos, nec voci vestræ voluit acquiescere.

And when you returned and wept before the Lord, he heard you not, neither would he yield to your voice.

Many were the plaints you uttered in the Lord’s presence when you came back, but he would not listen to you,

Sedistis ergo in Cadesbarne multo tempore.

So you abode in Cadesbarne a long time.

and long you waited in idleness, there at Cades-Barne.