TRV
Translation
King James Version
Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
Complete Jewish Bible
"Also, because of you ADONAI was angry with me and said, 'You too will not go in there.
Berean Standard Bible
The LORD was also angry with me on your account, and He said, “Not even you shall enter the land.
American Standard Version
Also Jehovah was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither:
World English Bible Messianic
Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, “You also shall not go in there.
Geneva Bible (1599)
Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not goe in thither,
Young's Literal Translation
`Also with me hath Jehovah been angry for your sake, saying, Also, thou dost not go in thither;
See also
In the KJVVerse 4,930 of 31,102
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Commentary on Deuteronomy 1 verses 19–46
19 ¶ 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.
20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.
21 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.
22 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.
23 And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:
24 And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.
25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.
26 Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
27 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.
28 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.
29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
30 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;
31 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.
32 Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,
33 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.
34 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers,
36 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.
37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
38 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.
39 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.
40 But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
41 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.
42 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.
43 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.
44 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.
45 And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.
46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.
Moses here makes a large rehearsal of the fatal turn which was given to their affairs by their own sins, and God's wrath, when, from the very borders of Canaan, the honour of conquering it, and the pleasure of possessing it, the whole generation was hurried back into the wilderness, and their carcases fell there. It was a memorable story; we read it Num. 13 and 14, but divers circumstances are found here which are not related there.
I. He reminds them of their march from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea (Deu 1:19), through that great and terrible wilderness. This he takes notice of, 1. To make them sensible of the great goodness of God to them, in guiding them through so great a wilderness, and protecting them from the mischiefs they were surrounded with in such a terrible wilderness. The remembrance of our dangers should make us thankful for our deliverances. 2. To aggravate the folly of those who, in their discontent, would have gone back to Egypt through the wilderness, though they had forfeited, and had no reason to expect, the divine guidance, in such a retrograde motion.
II. He shows them how fair they stood for Canaan at that time, Deu 1:20, Deu 1:21. He told them with triumph, the land is set before you, go up and possess it. He lets them see how near they were to a happy settlement when they put a bar in their own door, that their sin might appear the more exceedingly sinful. It will aggravate the eternal ruin of hypocrites that they were not far from the kingdom of God and yet came short, Mar 12:34.
III. He lays the blame of sending the spies upon them, which did not appear in Numbers, there it is said (Deu 13:1, Deu 13:2) that the Lord directed the sending of them, but here we find that the people first desired it, and God, in permitting it, gave them up to their counsels: You said, We will send men before us, Deu 1:22. Moses had given them God's word (Deu 1:20, Deu 1:21), but they could not find in their hearts to rely upon that: human policy goes further with them than divine wisdom, and they will needs light a candle to the sun. As if it were not enough that they were sure of a God before them, they must send men before them.
IV. He repeats the report which the spies brought of the goodness of the land which they were sent to survey, Deu 1:24, Deu 1:25. The blessings which God has promised are truly valuable and desirable, even the unbelievers themselves being judges: never any looked into the holy land, but they must own it a good land. Yet they represented the difficulties of conquering it as insuperable (Deu 1:28); as if it were in vain to think of attacking them either by battle, "for the people are taller than we," or by siege, "for the cities are walled up to heaven," an hyperbole which they made use of to serve their ill purpose, which was to dishearten the people, and perhaps they intended to reflect on the God of heaven himself, as if they were able to defy him, like the Babel-builders, the top of whose tower must reach to heaven, Gen 11:4. Those places only are walled up to heaven that are compassed with God's favour as with a shield.
V. He tells them what pains he took with them to encourage them, when their brethren had said so much to discourage them (Deu 1:29): Then I said unto you, Dread not. Moses suggested enough to have stilled the tumult, and to have kept them with their faces towards Canaan. He assured them that God was present with them, and president among them, and would certainly fight for them, Deu 1:30. And for proof of his power over their enemies he refers them to what they had seen done in Egypt, where their enemies had all possible advantages against them and yet were humbled and forced to yield, Deu 1:30. And for proof of God's goodwill to them, and the real kindness which he intended them, he refers them to what they had seen in the wilderness (Deu 1:31, Deu 1:33), through which they had been guided by the eye of divine wisdom in a pillar of cloud and fire (which guided both their motions and their rests), and had been carried in the arms of divine grace with as much care and tenderness as were ever shown to any child borne in the arms of a nursing father. And was there any room left to distrust this God? Or were they not the most ungrateful people in the world, who, after such sensible proofs of the divine goodness, hardened their hearts in the day of temptation? Moses had complained once that God had charged him to carry this people as a nursing father doth the sucking child (Num 11:12); but here he owns that it was God that so carried them, and perhaps this is alluded to (Act 13:18), where he is said to bear them, or to suffer their manners.
VI. He charges them with the sin which they were guilty of upon this occasion. Though those to whom he was now speaking were a new generation, yet he lays it upon them: You rebelled, and you murmured; for many of these were then in being, though under twenty years old, and perhaps were engaged in the riot; and the rest inherited their fathers' vices, and smarted for them. Observe what he lays to their charge. 1. Disobedience and rebellion against God's law: You would not go up, but rebelled, Deu 1:26. The rejecting of God's favours is really a rebelling against his authority. 2. Invidious reflections upon God's goodness. They basely suggested: Because the Lord hated us, he brought us out of Egypt, Deu 1:27. What could have been more absurd, more disingenuous, and more reproachful to God? 3. An unbelieving heart at the bottom of all this: You did not believe the Lord your God, Deu 1:32. All your disobedience to God's laws, and distrust of his power and goodness, flow from a disbelief of his word. A sad pass it has come to with us when the God of eternal truth cannot be believed.
VII. He repeats the sentence passed upon them for this sin, which now they had seen the execution of. 1. They were all condemned to die in the wilderness, and none of them must be suffered to enter Canaan except Caleb and Joshua, Deu 1:34-38. So long they must continue in their wanderings in the wilderness that most of them would drop off of course, and the youngest of them should be cut off. Thus they could not enter in because of unbelief. It was not the breach of any of the commands of the law that shut them out of Canaan, no, not the golden calf, but their disbelief of that promise which was typical of gospel grace, to signify that no sin will ruin us but unbelief, which is a sin against the remedy. 2. Moses himself afterwards fell under God's displeasure for a hasty word which they provoked him to speak: The Lord was angry with me for your sakes, Deu 1:37. Because all the old stock must go off, Moses himself must not stay behind. Their unbelief let death into the camp, and, having entered, even Moses falls within his commission. 3. Yet here is mercy mixed with wrath. (1.) That, though Moses might not bring them into Canaan, Joshua should (v. 38): Encourage him; for he would be discouraged from taking up a government which he saw Moses himself fall under the weight of; but let him be assured that he shall accomplish that for which he is raised up: He shall cause Israel to inherit it. Thus what the law could not do, in that it was weak, Jesus, our Joshua, does by bringing in the better hope. (2.) That, though this generation should not enter into Canaan, the next should, Deu 1:39. As they had been chosen for their fathers' sakes, so their children might justly have been rejected for their sakes. But mercy rejoiceth against judgement.
VIII. He reminds them of their foolish and fruitless attempt to get this sentence reversed when it was too late. 1. They tried it by their reformation in this particular; whereas they had refused to go up against the Canaanites, now they would go up, aye, that they would, in all haste, and they girded on their weapons of war for that purpose, Deu 1:41. Thus, when the door is shut, and the day of grace is over, there will be found those that stand without and knock. But this, which looked like a reformation, proved but a further rebellion. God, by Moses, prohibited the attempt (Deu 1:42): yet they went presumptuously up to the hill (Deu 1:43), acting now in contempt of the threatening, as before in contempt of the promise, as if they were governed by a spirit of contradiction; and it sped accordingly (Deu 1:44): they were chased and destroyed; and, by this defeat which they suffered when they provoked God to leave them, they were taught what success they might have had if they had kept themselves in his love. 2. They tried by their prayers and tears to get the sentence reversed: They returned and wept before the Lord, Deu 1:45. While they were fretting and quarrelling, it is said (Num 14:1): They wept that night; those were tears of rebellion against God, these were tears of repentance and humiliation before God. Note, Tears of discontent must be wept over again; the sorrow of the world worketh death, and is to be repented of; it is not so with godly sorrow, that will end in joy. But their weeping was all to no purpose. The Lord would not harken to your voice, because you would not harken to his; the decree had gone forth, and, like Esau, they found no place of repentance, though they sought it carefully with tears.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 19–46. Public domain.
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Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Deuteronomy 1:37 presents Moses' poignant recounting of God's decree that he, too, would not enter the Promised Land. This verse, embedded within Moses' final address to the new generation of Israelites, reveals a profound theological truth: while Moses' exclusion was a direct consequence of his own act of disobedience at Meribah, he frames God's anger towards him as intertwined with the cumulative effect of the Israelites' persistent rebellion and lack of faith. It underscores the universal nature of divine judgment, the weighty burden of leadership, and the immutable holiness of God's character.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Deuteronomy 1:37 employs several significant literary devices that amplify its theological and emotional impact. Retrospective Narration is central, as Moses recounts past events to the new generation, framing the historical narrative as a didactic lesson for their future obedience. The verse also utilizes Direct Address ("for your sakes"), making the audience directly implicated in the narrative's emotional and theological weight, fostering a sense of shared responsibility. There is a profound sense of Pathos and Irony in this statement: the very leader who faithfully guided Israel through the wilderness for forty years, who mediated the covenant and longed to see the fulfillment of God's promise, is himself barred from entering the Promised Land. This creates a tragic dimension to Moses' farewell. Furthermore, Moses' attribution of God's anger towards him "for your sakes" can be understood as a form of Hyperbole or Figurative Language. While his sin at Meribah was undeniably his own, this phrasing vividly conveys the immense spiritual and emotional burden placed upon him by the people's persistent rebellion, suggesting that their unfaithfulness contributed to the atmosphere that led to his moment of failure. The Repetition of the theme of exclusion from the land, applied both to the disobedient generation and to Moses, powerfully underscores the severity of God's judgment on unbelief and disobedience.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Deuteronomy 1:37 profoundly impacts our understanding of divine justice and human accountability. It reveals that God's holiness demands obedience from all, regardless of status or past faithfulness. Moses' exclusion serves as a stark reminder that even a single act of disobedience, particularly one that dishonors God publicly, carries severe consequences. The verse also highlights the intricate relationship between individual sin and corporate influence. While Moses was personally responsible for his actions at Meribah, his statement "for your sakes" suggests a recognition that the constant provocation and unbelief of the community can wear down even the strongest leaders, creating an environment where sin becomes more likely. This emphasizes the importance of mutual encouragement and spiritual support within the community of faith.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Deuteronomy 1:37 offers a sobering yet deeply practical lesson for believers today. It calls us to a profound humility, recognizing that no one, regardless of their spiritual stature or years of service, is beyond the reach of divine accountability. Moses' experience reminds us that even righteous frustration, if not managed according to God's commands, can lead to actions that dishonor Him and carry lasting consequences. For those in leadership, it underscores the immense spiritual burden of guiding others, especially in challenging environments. It prompts us to consider how the spiritual health of a community can both support and strain its leaders, emphasizing the need for mutual encouragement and prayer rather than constant complaint. Ultimately, this verse challenges us to cultivate a heart of unwavering obedience and reverence for God's holiness, understanding that His standards are immutable and His justice is perfect. It encourages us to examine our own hearts for any areas of impatience, unbelief, or subtle rebellion that might hinder our walk with God and our ability to enter into the fullness of His promises.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Did Moses really blame the people for his sin?
Answer: No, not directly. The text doesn't say Moses blamed them for his sin, but rather that God's anger towards him was "for their sakes." This phrase suggests that the people's persistent rebellion and lack of faith created an environment of immense pressure and provocation that contributed to Moses' moment of impatience and disobedience at Meribah. It highlights the heavy burden of leadership and the interconnectedness of the community's spiritual state. Moses acknowledges his personal failure, but frames it within the context of the people's constant testing of God and their leader.
Was God's punishment of Moses fair?
Answer: From a human perspective, it might seem harsh given Moses' lifelong faithfulness and immense service. However, from God's perspective, it was perfectly just. At Meribah, Moses struck the rock twice in anger instead of speaking to it as commanded, and declared, "Must we bring you water out of this rock?" This act not only displayed a moment of personal impatience but also failed to sanctify God's name before the people, implying that Moses, not God, was the source of the miracle. God's holiness demands perfect obedience, especially from those who represent Him. This judgment served as a powerful lesson to all Israel about the seriousness of disobedience and the absolute nature of God's holy character.
How does this verse relate to God's mercy?
Answer: While this verse emphasizes God's justice and the consequences of sin, it does not negate His mercy. Throughout the wilderness wanderings, God repeatedly showed mercy to Israel despite their rebellion, providing for them and not utterly destroying them. In Moses' case, while he was barred from entering the earthly Promised Land, he was still allowed to see it from Mount Nebo (Deuteronomy 34:1-4). More profoundly, Moses, along with Elijah, later appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, demonstrating that his relationship with God was not ultimately severed, and he entered into an even greater "promised land" in God's presence. God's justice is always tempered by His covenant faithfulness and ultimate redemptive plan.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Deuteronomy 1:37, with its poignant account of Moses' exclusion from the earthly Promised Land, powerfully foreshadows the ultimate fulfillment of God's promises in Jesus Christ. Moses, the great lawgiver and mediator of the old covenant, could not bring the people into the fullness of their inheritance because, like all humanity, he was imperfect and subject to the consequences of sin. His failure at Meribah, though seemingly minor, underscored the truth that entry into God's ultimate rest requires perfect obedience and holiness, which no human could achieve. This points directly to Jesus, the perfect Son of God, who alone fulfilled all righteousness and perfectly obeyed the Father, even to the point of death on the cross (Philippians 2:8). Unlike Moses, who could only lead the people to the border, Jesus, our great High Priest, has opened the way for all believers to enter into the true spiritual rest and heavenly Promised Land through His atoning sacrifice. He is the one who truly takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), providing the perfect righteousness that Moses, and indeed all humanity, lacked. Thus, Moses' exclusion serves as a powerful type, highlighting the absolute necessity of a perfect Mediator to bring God's people into His eternal inheritance, a role fully and finally accomplished by Christ.