Deuteronomy 31:14–23

Joshua Commissioned to Lead Israel

¹⁴And the Lord said to Moses, ^b“Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that ^cI may commission him.” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. ¹⁵And ^dthe Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.

¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses, ^b“Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and ^ewhore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will ^fforsake me and ^gbreak my covenant that I have made with them. ¹⁷Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and ^hI will forsake them and ⁱhide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ^j‘Have not these evils come upon us because ^kour God is not among us?’ ¹⁸And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because ^lthey have turned to other gods.

¹⁹“Now therefore write ^mthis song and ⁿteach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be ^oa witness for me against the people of Israel. ²⁰For when I have brought them into the land ^pflowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and ^qgrown fat, ^rthey will turn to other gods and serve them, and ^sdespise me and ^gbreak my covenant. ²¹And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as ^ta witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For ^uI know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.” ²²So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.

^23vAnd the Lord¹ commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, ^w“Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. ^xI will be with you.”