Succession, Deposition, and Recitation of Text

31 And Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, “I am ⌊a hundred and twenty years old⌋a ⌊today⌋;b I am not able to go out and to come in any longer, and Yahweh said to me, ‘You may not cross this Jordan.’ 3 Yahweh your God is about to cross ⌊before you⌋;c he will destroy these nations ⌊before you⌋,d and you shall dispossess them. Joshua will be crossing ⌊before you⌋,e just as Yahweh ⌊promised⌋.f 4 And Yahweh will do to them just as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and to their land, which he destroyed with them. 5 And Yahweh ⌊will deliver them to you before you⌋,g and you shall do to them according to every commandment that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and be courageous; you should not be afraid, and you ⌊should not be in dread from their presence⌋,h for Yahweh your God is the one going with you; he will not leave you alone and he will not forsake you.”

7 Then Moses summoned Joshua, and he said to him ⌊in the presence of all Israel⌋,i “Be strong and be courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that Yahweh swore to their ancestorsj to give to them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance. 8 Yahweh is the one going ⌊before you⌋;k he will be with you, and he will not leave you alone, and he will not forsake you; you shall not be afraid, and you shall not be discouraged.” 9 So Moses wrote this law, and he gave it to the priests, the descendantsl of Levi, the ones carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel.

10 Then Moses commanded them, ⌊saying⌋,m “At the end of seven years, in the time of the year for canceling debts during the Feast of Booths, 11 ⌊when all Israel comes to appear before⌋n Yahweh their God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel ⌊in their hearing⌋.o 12 Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little children and your aliens that are in your ⌊towns⌋,p so that they may hear and so that they may learn and they may revere Yahweh your God, and ⌊they shall diligently observe⌋q all the words of this law. 13 And then their children,r who have not known, they too may hear, and they may learn to revere Yahweh their God all the days ⌊that you live⌋s on the land that you are crossing the Jordan ⌊to get there⌋t to take possession of it.”

14 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Look, ⌊you are about to die⌋;u call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of assembly,v so that I may instruct him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves inw the tent of assembly.x 15 And Yahweh appeared in the tent in a column of cloud, and the column of the cloud stood at the entrance of the tent. 16 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Look, you are about to lie down with your ancestors,y and this people will arise and theyz will play the prostitute after ⌊the foreign gods⌋a of the land ⌊to which they are going⌋.b 17 And ⌊my anger shall flare up against them⌋c on that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and theyd shall become as prey, and disasters and troubles shall finde them,f and theyg shall say on that day, ‘Is it not because ourh God is not in ouri midst that these disasters have foundj us?’k 18 But I will certainly hide my face on that day, because of all of the evil that theyl did because theym turned to other gods.

19 “And so then write this song for yourselves and teach it to the ⌊Israelites⌋;n put it in their mouth, so that this song may be for me as a witness against the ⌊Israelites⌋.o 20 For when I bring themp into the land that I swore to theirq ancestors,r a land flowing with milk and honey, ⌊they will eat their fill⌋,s and theyt will become fat, and then theyu will turn to other gods, and they will serve them, and they will spurn me, and theyv will break my covenant. 21 ⌊And then⌋w many disasters and troubles will come upon them,x and this song will give evidence before themy as a witness, because it will not be forgotten from out of the mouth of their descendants,z for I know theira inclination that theyb are having ⌊today⌋c before I have brought themd into the land that I swore.” 22 And Moses wrote this song on that day and taught it to the ⌊Israelites⌋.e

23 Then hef told Joshua the son of Nun, and said to him, “Be strong and be courageous, for you shall bring the ⌊Israelites⌋g into the land that I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

24 ⌊And then when Moses finished writing⌋h the words of this law on the scroll ⌊until they were complete⌋,i 25 then Moses commanded the Levites carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, ⌊saying⌋,j 26 “Take the scroll of this law and put it at the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, and it will be there as a witness against you. 27 For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck even now while I am still alive with you ⌊today⌋,k rebelling against Yahweh, and ⌊how much more⌋l after my death. 28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officials, so that I may speak in their ears these words, and that I may call as witness against them heaven and earth. 29 For I know that after my death you will certainly act corruptly, and you will turn aside from the way that I have commanded you, and the disaster in the future days will befall you, because you will do evilm in the eyes of Yahweh, ⌊provoking him with the work of your hands⌋.”n 30 So Moses spoke into the ears of the assembly of Israel the words of this song ⌊until they were complete⌋.o

The Song of Moses

32 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,

and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

2 May my teaching trickle like the dew,

my words like rain showers on tender grass,

and like spring showers on new growth.

3 For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh;

ascribe greatness to our God!

4 The Rock, his work is perfect,

for all his ways are just;

he is a faithful God, and ⌊without injustice⌋;a

righteous and upright is he.

5 They have behaved corruptly towardb him;

they are not his children; this is their flaw,

a generation crooked and perverse.

6 Like this do you treat Yahweh,

foolish and ⌊unwise⌋c people?

Has he not, your father, created you?

He made you, and he established you.

7 Remember the old days, ⌊the years long past⌋;d

ask your father, and he will inform you,

your elders and they will tell you.e

8 ⌊When the Most High apportioned⌋f the nations,

at his dividing up of the sons of humankind,

he fixed the boundaries of the peoples,

according to the number of the sons of God.g

9 For Yahweh’s portion was his people,

Jacob the share of his inheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land,

and in a howling, desert wasteland;

he ⌊encircled him⌋,h he cared for him,

he protected him like the ⌊apple⌋i of his eye.

11 As an eagle stirs up its nest,

hovers over its young,

spreads out its wings, takes them,j

carries themk on its pinions,l

12 so Yahweh alone guided him,m

and ⌊there was no foreign god accompanying him⌋.n

13 And he set him on the high places of the land,

and he fed him the cropso of the field,

and he nursed him with honey from crags,p

and with oil from flinty rock,

14 With curdsq from the herd,

and with milk from the flock,

with the fat of young rams,

and rams, the offspring of Bashan,

and with goats along with the finest kernels of wheat,

and from the blood of grapesr you drank fermented wine.s

15 And Jeshurun grew fat, and he kicked;

you grew fat, you bloated, and you became obstinate;

and he abandoned God, his maker,

and he scoffed at the rock of his salvation.

16 They made him jealous with strange gods;

with detestable things they provoked him.

17 They sacrificed to the demons, not God,

to gods whomt they had not known,

new gods whou came from recent times;

⌊their ancestors had not known them⌋.v

18 The rock whow bore you, you neglected,

and you forgot God, the one giving you birth.

19 Then Yahweh saw, and he spurned them,

because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

20 So he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;

I will see what will be their end,

for they are a generation of perversity,

⌊children in whom there is no faithfulness⌋.x

21 They annoyed me with what is not a god;

they provoked me with their idols.

So I will make them jealous with those not a people,

with a foolish nation I will provoke them.

22 For a fire was kindledy by my anger,

and it burned ⌊up to the depths of Sheol⌋,z

and it devoured the earth and its produce,

and it set afire the foundation of the mountains.

23 I will heap disasters upon them;

my arrows I will spend on them.

24 They will become weakened by famine,

and consumed by plague and bitter pestilence;

and the teeth of wild animals I will send against them,

with the poison of the creeping things in the dust;

25 From outside her boundaries the sword will make her childless,

and from inside, terror;

both for the young man and also the young woman,

the infant along with the gray-headed man.

26 I thought, “I will wipe them out;

⌊I will make people forget they ever existed⌋.”a

27 If I had not feared a provocation of the enemy,

lest their foes might misunderstand, b

lest they should say, c “Our hand is

⌊triumphant⌋,d and Yahweh did not do all this.” ’

28 For ⌊they are a nation void of sense⌋,e

and there is not any understanding in them.

29 If only they were wise, they would understand this;

they would discern ⌊for themselves their end⌋.f

30 How could one chase a thousand

and two could cause a myriad to flee,

if their Rock had not sold them,

and Yahweh had not given them up?

31 For the fact of the matter is,

their rock is not like our Rock,

and our enemies recognizeg this.

32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,

and from the terraces of Gomorrah;

their grapes are grapes of poison;

⌊their clusters are bitter⌋.h

33 Their wine is the poison of snakes,

and the deadly poison of horned vipers.

34 ‘Is not this stored up with me,

sealed in my treasuries?’i

35 ⌊Vengeance belongs to me⌋j and also recompense,

⌊for at the time their foot slips⌋,k

because the …