Parashat Devarim — Words (these are the words)

דְּבָרִים

Torah portion 44 of 54 · Book of Deuteronomy · pronounced deh-vah-REEM

Devarim (דְּבָרִים) means "words (these are the words)" — taken, as every parashah name is, from the portion's opening words in the Hebrew.

Next read: August 7, 2027 · then July 29, 2028

The Readings

What Happens in Devarim

These are the words — devarim — which Moshe spoke to all Yisrael across the Yarden in the wilderness: the whole book of Deuteronomy is his voice, the Torah expounded to the children of those who left Egypt. The time-stamp is exact and devastatingly quiet: in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month — set beside the note that it is eleven days' journey from Chorev by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-Barnea. Eleven days that took forty years: the distance between promise and possession measured in unbelief. With Sichon and Og already defeated, Moshe begins to explain this Torah, retelling the road so the new generation owns its own story.

He starts at Chorev: you have dwelt long enough at this mountain; turn and take your journey. He recalls the burden of a multiplied people and the appointing of wise, understanding, and known men as heads over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, with the judges charged to fear no man, for the judgment is God's. Then Kadesh-Barnea, told without flinching: the spies sent at the people's own request, the good report of the fruit — it is a good land which YHVH our God gives us — and the rebellion in the tents: because YHVH hated us, He brought us out of Egypt. Against it, Moshe's plea then: in the wilderness you saw how YHVH your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went. Yet in this thing you did not believe YHVH your God. The oath falls — not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land — Kalev and Yehoshua excepted, and even Moshe's own exclusion is remembered. The presumptuous charge up the hill ends with Israel chased like bees and weeping before an unhearing heaven.

Then the long turning: many days circling Mount Seir, until the word comes — you have circled this mountain long enough; turn northward. Three brother-nations are placed off limits, each with its own divine land grant: Esav in Seir, Moav, and Ammon — for YHVH assigns even the nations their borders. The old generation of fighting men wastes away; then the tide turns at the Arnon. Sichon king of Cheshbon, his spirit hardened by YHVH, refuses passage and attacks, and Israel takes everything from Aroer to Gilad; Og king of Bashan — last of the Refaim, whose iron bedstead measured nine cubits — falls at Edrei, and sixty fortified cities with him. The east bank is allotted to Reuven, Gad, and half of Menashe, on the pledge that their fighting men cross over armed before their brothers. And the portion closes with Moshe strengthening Yehoshua: your eyes have seen all that YHVH your God has done to these two kings... You shall not fear them, for YHVH your God — He is the one who fights for you.

Main Themes

Torah expounded — the covenant retold to the children Eleven days that became forty years Remembering failure honestly The nations' borders set by YHVH He who fights for you — courage for the crossing

Key Events

· Moshe begins his farewell address

· The appointment of judges recalled

· Kadesh-Barnea and the spies retold

· The wilderness generations pass

· Sichon and Og defeated; the east bank allotted

· Yehoshua encouraged for the conquest

Key People

Moshe Yehoshua Kalev Sichon Og

Key Verses

← Parashat Masei  ·  Parashat Vaetchanan →

All 54 Torah portions → · Open the Torah Portion tool in Hebrew Explorer

Open Hebrew Explorer — 30+ free study tools →