The Bible

Deuteronomy Chapter 31

¹Moses continued and spoke these words to all Israel: ²He said to them, "I am one hundred twenty years old today. I can't come and go any more. Yahweh has told me, 'You won't go over this Jordan.' ³Yahweh your God will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you'll dispossess them. Joshua will cross over and lead you, [just] as Yahweh has said. ⁴Yahweh will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. ⁵Yahweh will deliver them to you, and you'll do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. ⁶Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid or scared of them, for Yahweh your God is the one who is going with you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you."

⁷Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you are to go with this people into the land which Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you'll cause them to inherit it. ⁸It is Yahweh himself that is going before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed."

⁹Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of Yahweh's covenant, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰Moses commanded them, saying, "At the end of [every] seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of temporary-shelters, ¹¹when all Israel has come to appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he chooses, you are to read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ¹²Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and the foreigners within your gates, that they may hear, and learn to fear Yahweh your God, and observe to do all the words of this law, ¹³and that their children, who have not known it, may hear, and learn to fear Yahweh your God, as long as you live in the land which you are crossing the Jordan to possess."

¹⁴Yahweh said to Moses, "See, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him." Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁵Yahweh appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the Tent's door. ¹⁶Yahweh said to Moses, "See, you will sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land where they are going to be among them, and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they'll be devoured, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that in that day they will say, 'Haven't these evils come on us because our God is not among us?' ¹⁸I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they've done, because they've turned to other gods.

¹⁹"Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. ²⁰For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat, then they'll turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. ²¹When many evils and troubles have come on them, this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their offspring; for I know their ways and what they are doing today, before I have brought them into the land which I promised."

²²So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel.

²³He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, "Be strong and courageous; for you'll bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore [to give them]. I will be with you."

²⁴When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, until they were [completely] finished, ²⁵Moses commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of Yahweh's covenant, saying, ²⁶"Take this book of the law, and put it beside the ark of Yahweh your God's covenant, that it may be there as a witness against you. ²⁷For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. Look, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. How much more after my death? ²⁸Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn away from the path which I have commanded you; and evil will happen to you in the latter days, because you will do what is evil in Yahweh's sight, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands."

³⁰Moses spoke the words of this song in the ears of all the assembly of Israel, until they were finished.