Deuteronomy 31
31
Joshua is appointed the leader of Israel
1Moses again spoke to the whole nation of Israel:
2I am a hundred and twenty years old, and I am no longer able to be your leader. And besides that, the LORD your God has told me that he won't let me cross the River Jordan.#Nu 20.12. 3-5But he has promised that he and Joshua will lead you across the Jordan to attack the nations that live on the other side. The LORD will destroy those nations just as he destroyed Sihon and Og, those two Amorite kings. Just remember—whenever you capture a place, kill everyone who lives there.#Nu 21.21-35.
6Be brave and strong! Don't be afraid of the nations on the other side of the Jordan. The LORD your God will always be at your side, and he will never abandon you.
7Then Moses called Joshua up in front of the crowd and said:
Joshua, be brave and strong as you lead these people into their land. The LORD made a promise long ago to Israel's ancestors that this land would some day belong to Israel. That time has now come, and you must divide up the land among the people. 8The LORD will lead you into the land. He will always be with you and help you, so don't ever be afraid of your enemies.#Js 1.5; He 13.5.
Read these laws
9Moses wrote down all these laws and teachings and gave them to the priests and the leaders of Israel. The priests were from the Levi tribe, and they carried the sacred chest that belonged to the LORD. 10-11Moses told these priests and leaders:#Dt 15.12; Dt 16.13-15.
Each year the Israelites must come together to celebrate the Festival of Shelters at the place where the LORD chooses to be worshipped. You must read these laws and teachings to the people at the festival every seventh year, the year when loans do not need to be repaid.#31.10,11 every seventh year…repaid: See 15.1,2 and the note there. 12-13Everyone must come—men, women, children, and even the foreigners who live in your towns. And each new generation will listen and learn to worship the LORD their God with fear and trembling and to do exactly what is said in God's Law.
Israel will reject the Lord
14The LORD told Moses, “You will soon die, so bring Joshua to the sacred tent, and I will appoint him the leader of Israel.”
Moses and Joshua went to the sacred tent, 15and the LORD appeared in a thick cloud right over the entrance to the tent. 16The LORD said:
Moses, you will soon die. But Israel is going into a land where other gods are worshipped, and Israel will reject me and start worshipping these gods. The people will break the agreement I made with them, 17and I will be so furious that I will abandon them and ignore their prayers. I will send disasters and suffering that will nearly wipe them out. Finally, they will realize that the disasters happened because I abandoned them. 18They will pray to me, but I will ignore them because they were evil and started worshipping other gods.
19Moses and Joshua, I am going to give you the words to a new song. Write them down and teach the song to the Israelites. If they learn it, they will know what I want them to do, and so they will have no excuse for not obeying me. 20I am bringing them into the land that I promised their ancestors. It is a land rich with milk and honey, and the Israelites will have more than enough food to eat. But they will get fat and turn their backs on me and start worshipping other gods. The Israelites will reject me and break the agreement that I made with them.
21When I punish the Israelites and their descendants with suffering and disasters, I will remind them that they know the words to this song, so they have no excuse for not obeying me.
I will give them the land that I promised, but I know the way they are going to live later on.
22Moses wrote down the words to the song#31.22 the words to the song: See 32.1-43. straight away, and he taught it to the Israelites.
23The LORD told Joshua, “Be brave and strong! I will help you lead the people of Israel into the land that I have promised them.”#Nu 27.23; Js 1.6.
24Moses wrote down all these laws and teachings in a book, 25then he went to the Levites who carried the sacred chest and said:
26This is The Book of God's Law. Keep it beside the sacred chest that holds the agreement the LORD your God made with Israel. This book is proof that you know what the LORD wants you to do. 27I know how stubborn and rebellious you and the rest of the Israelites are. You have rebelled against the LORD while I have been alive, and it will only get worse after I am gone. 28So call together the leaders and officials of the tribes of Israel. I will bring this book and read every word of it to you, and I will call the sky and the earth as witnesses that all of you know what you are supposed to do.
29I am going to die soon, and I know that in the future you will stop caring about what is right and what is wrong, and so you will disobey the LORD and stop living the way I told you to live. The LORD will be angry, and terrible things will happen to you.
The song of Moses
30Moses called a meeting of all the people of Israel, so he could teach them the words to the song that the LORD had given him. And here are the words:
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Deuteronomy 31: CEVUK
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Deuteronomy 31
31
Joshua Takes Moses’ Place
1Then Moses continued to speak these # Some Hb mss, DSS, LXX, Syr, Vg read all these words to all Israel, 2saying, “I am now 120 years old; # Jos 14:10 I can no longer act as your leader. # Lit no longer go out or come in The Lord has told me, ‘You will not cross this Jordan.’ # Dt 3:27 3The Lord your God is the One who will cross ahead of you. # Ex 23:31; Dt 9:3 He will destroy these nations before you, and you will drive them out. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, as the Lord has said. # Dt 3:28 4The Lord will deal with them as He did Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and their land when He destroyed them. # Nm 21:21-35; Dt 29:6; Jos 2:10 5The Lord will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you. 6Be strong and courageous; # Dt 31:23; Jos 1:6-7,9,18; 10:25 don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For it is the Lord your God who goes with you; # Dt 1:29; 7:21; 20:3 He will not leave you or forsake you.” # Heb 13:5
7Moses then summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with # Some Hb mss, Sam, Syr, Vg read you will bring this people into the land the Lord swore to give to their fathers. # Dt 1:8,35; 8:1; 11:9,21; 31:20; Ezk 20:42 You will enable them to take possession of it. 8The Lord is the One who will go before you. # Ex 23:23; 32:34; Dt 1:30; Jdg 4:14; Is 52:12 He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. # Jos 1:5; 1Ch 28:20; Heb 13:5 Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
9Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel. 10Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of debt cancellation, # Dt 15:1-2 during the Festival of Booths, # Lv 23:34; Dt 16:3 11when all Israel assembles # Lit comes to appear in the presence of the Lord your God at the place He chooses, # Dt 12:14; 14:23; 15:20; 16:2; 23:16 you are to read this law aloud before all Israel. # Jos 8:34; 2Kg 22:8; Neh 8:3,8,18; 9:3; Jr 2:8; Mal 2:1-9 12Gather the people — men, women, children, and foreigners living within your gates — so that they may listen and learn to fear # Dt 14:23; 17:19 the Lord your God and be careful to follow all the words of this law. 13Then their children # Dt 4:9-10 who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
14The Lord said to Moses, “The time of your death is now approaching. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting so that I may commission him.” When Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting, 15the Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, # Ex 13:21-22; 33:9-10; Ps 99:7 and the cloud stood at the entrance to the tent. # Nm 12:5
16The Lord said to Moses, “You are about to rest with your fathers, # Gn 47:30; 2Sm 7:12; 1Kg 2:10; 11:43; 14:20,31 and these people will soon commit adultery with the foreign gods # Jr 5:7; 7:9; Hs 3:1 of the land they are entering. They will abandon Me # Dt 28:20; Jg 10:19; 1Sm 8:8; 1Kg 11:33; 2Kg 22:17; Jr 1:16; 2:13; 5:7,19; 16:11; 19:4 and break the covenant # Dt 4:13,23; 5:2-3; 17:2; 29:1,9-14,21,25 I have made with them. 17My anger will burn against them on that day; # Nm 32:10; Is 13:9,13; Lm 1:12 I will abandon them and hide My face from them so that they will become easy prey. # Lit will be for devouring # Ps 63:10; Jr 2:14; Ezk 34:8 Many troubles and afflictions will come to them. On that day they will say, ‘Haven’t these troubles come to us because our God is no longer with us? ’ 18I will certainly hide My face on that day because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods. 19Therefore write down this song # Dt 32:1-43 for yourselves and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, # Lit Israelites; put it in their mouths so that this song may be a witness for Me against the Israelites. 20When I bring them into the land I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, # Dt 11:9 they will eat their fill # Dt 11:15 and prosper. # Lit be fat They will turn to other gods and worship them, despising Me # ** and breaking My covenant. # Lv 26:15,44; Dt 4:31; Jos 23:16 21And when many troubles and afflictions come to them, this song will testify against them, because # Lit because the mouths of their descendants will not have forgotten it. For I know what they are prone to do, # Or know the plans they are devising even before I bring them into the land I swore to give them.” 22So Moses wrote down this song on that day and taught it to the Israelites.
23The Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I swore to them, and I will be with you.” # Jos 1:1-9
Moses Warns the People
24When Moses had finished writing down on a scroll every single word # Lit scroll the words to their completion of this law, 25he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant, 26“Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God so that it may remain there as a witness against you. 27For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are rebelling against the Lord now, while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after I am dead! 28Assemble all your tribal elders and officers before me so that I may speak these words directly to them and call heaven and earth as witnesses against them. # Dt 4:26; 30:19 29For I know that after my death you will become completely corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. Disaster will come to you in the future, because you will do what is evil in the Lord’s sight, infuriating Him with what your hands have made.” # Dt 4:25; Jdg 2:6-13 30Then Moses recited aloud every single word # Lit recited the words to their completion of this song to the entire assembly of Israel:
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