page_title: Devarim (parsha)
section_title: Fourth reading — Deuteronomy 1:39–2:1
hierarchical_section_title: Devarim (parsha) / Readings / Fourth reading — Deuteronomy 1:39–2:1
caption_attribution_description: Satellite image of Jordan in November 2003.
context_page_description: Devarim, D'varim, or Debarim is the 44th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22. The parashah recounts how Moses appointed chiefs, the episode of the Twelve Spies, encounters with the Edomites and Ammonites, the conquest of Sihon and Og, and the assignment of land for the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh.
  The parashah is made up of 5,972 Hebrew letters, 1,548 Hebrew words, 105 verses, and 197 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews generally read it in July or August. It is always read on Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath just before Tisha B'Av.
context_section_description: In the fourth reading (עליה, aliyah), God continued that the little ones — whom the Israelites said would be carried off — would also enter and possess the land. The Israelites replied that now they would go up and fight, just as God commanded them, but God told Moses to warn them not to, as God would not travel in their midst and they would be routed by their enemies. Moses told them, but they would not listen, but flouted God's command and willfully marched into the hill country. Then the Amorites who lived in those hills came out like so many bees and crushed the Israelites at Hormah in Seir.
  The Israelites remained at Kadesh a long time, marched back into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds, and then skirted the hill country of Seir a long time. The fourth reading ends here, with the end of the first closed portion (סתומה, setumah).
caption: Satellite image of the land east of the Jordan River — ancient Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Gilead — present-day Jordan and vicinity
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