Deuteronomy 31–34

CHAPTER 31

Be Strong and Courageous

¹So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.

²And he said to them, “I am ^a120 years old today; ^bI am no longer able to come and go, and Yahweh has said to me, ‘^cYou shall not cross this Jordan.’

³“^aIt is Yahweh your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. ^bJoshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just as Yahweh has spoken.

⁴“And Yahweh will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them.

⁵“^aAnd Yahweh will give them over before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you.

⁶“^aBe strong and courageous. ^bDo not be afraid or be in dread of them, for ^cYahweh your God is the one who goes with you. ^dHe will not fail you or forsake you.”

⁷Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “^aBe strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.

⁸“^aAnd Yahweh is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. ^bHe will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

⁹So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi ^awho carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel.

¹⁰Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of ^athe year of the remission of debts, at the ^bFeast of Booths,

¹¹when all Israel comes ^ato appear before Yahweh your God at ^bthe place which He will choose, ^cyou shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.

¹²“Assemble the people, the men and the women and little ones and ¹the sojourner who is within your gates, so that they may hear and so that they may ^alearn and fear Yahweh your God and be careful to do all the words of this law.

¹³“And their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear Yahweh your God, all the days you live on the land ¹which you are about to cross the Jordan to ²possess.”

Yahweh Has Moses Write a Song

¹⁴Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, ^1athe time for you to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.” ^bSo Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

^15aAnd Yahweh appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the doorway of the tent.

¹⁶And Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, ^ayou are about to lie down with your fathers; and ^bthis people will arise and play the harlot with the foreign gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and they ^cwill forsake Me and break My covenant which I have cut with them.

¹⁷“^aThen My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and ^bI will forsake them and ^chide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will find them, so that they will say in that day, ‘^dIs it not because our God is not among us that these evils have found us?’

¹⁸“But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods.

¹⁹“So now, ^awrite this song for yourselves and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it in their mouths, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel.

²⁰“^aFor when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and ^bbecome fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them and spurn Me and break My covenant.

²¹“Then it will be, ^awhen many evils and troubles have found them, that this song will answer them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the mouths of their seed); for ^bI know their intent which they are ¹developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.”

^22aSo Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the sons of Israel.

Joshua Is Commissioned

^23aThen He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, “^bBe strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and ^cI will be with you.”

²⁴And it happened, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete,

²⁵that Moses commanded the Levites ^awho carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, saying,

²⁶“Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, that it may be there as a witness against you.

²⁷“For I know ^ayour rebellion and ^byour ¹stiff-neck; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against Yahweh; how much more, then, after my death?

²⁸“Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and ^acall the heavens and the earth to witness against them.

²⁹“For I know that after my death you will ^aact corruptly and turn away from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the last days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

The Song of Moses

³⁰Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were complete:

CHAPTER 32

¹“^aGive ear, O heavens, and let me speak;

And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

²“^aLet what I have learned drop as the rain,

My speech distill as the dew,

^bAs the droplets on the fresh grass

And as the showers on the herb.

³“^aFor I proclaim the name of Yahweh;

^bAscribe greatness to our God!

⁴“^aThe Rock! His work is ¹perfect,

^bFor all His ways are ²just;

^cA God of faithfulness and without injustice,

Righteous and upright is He.

⁵“^1aThey have acted corruptly toward Him,

They are not His children because of their defect;

^bBut are a perverse and crooked generation.

⁶“Do you thus ^arepay Yahweh,

^bO people who are wickedly foolish and without wisdom?

^cIs not He your Father who has bought you?

^dHe has made you and established you.

⁷“Remember the ancient days,

Consider the years from generation to generation.

^aAsk your father, and he will declare to you,

Your elders, and they will speak to you.

⁸“^aWhen the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,

When He separated the sons of ¹man,

He set the boundaries of the peoples

^bAccording to the number of the ²sons of Israel.

⁹“^aFor Yahweh’s portion is His people;

Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.

¹⁰“^aHe found him in a desert land,

And in the howling waste of a wilderness;

He encircled him; He cared for him;

He guarded him as ^bthe pupil of His eye.

¹¹“^aLike an eagle that stirs up its nest,

That hovers over its young,

^bHe spread His wings and caught them;

He carried them on His pinions.

¹²“^aYahweh alone guided him,

^bAnd there was no foreign god with him.

¹³“^aHe made him ride on the high places of the earth,

And he ate the produce of the field;

^bAnd He made him suck honey from the rock,

And ^coil from the flinty rock,

¹⁴Curds of cows, and milk of the flock,

With fat of lambs,

And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats,

^aWith the finest of the wheat—

And of the ^bblood of grapes you drank wine.

¹⁵“^aBut ¹Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—

You grew fat, thick, and sleek—

^bThen he abandoned God ^cwho made him,

And treated ^dthe Rock of his salvation with wicked foolishness.

¹⁶“^aThey made Him jealous with strange gods;

^bWith abominations they provoked Him to anger.

¹⁷“^aThey sacrificed to demons who were not God,

^bTo gods whom they have not known,

^cNew gods who came lately,

Whom your fathers did not dread.

¹⁸“You neglected ^athe Rock who begot you,

^bAnd forgot the God who brought you forth.

¹⁹“^aAnd Yahweh saw this and spurned them

^bBecause of the provocation of His sons and daughters.

²⁰“Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them;

^aI will see what their end shall be;

^bFor they are a perverse generation,

^cSons in whom is no faithfulness.

²¹‘^aThey have made Me jealous with what is not God;

They have provoked Me to anger with their ^1bidols.

^cSo I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;

I will provoke them to anger with a wickedly foolish nation,

^22aFor a fire is kindled in My anger,

And it burns to the lowest part of Sheol,

^bAnd it consumes the earth with its produce,

And it sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

²³‘^aI will heap calamities on them;

^bI will exhaust My arrows on them.

²⁴‘^aThey will be wasted by famine, and consumed by ¹plague

^bAnd bitter destruction;

^cAnd the teeth of beasts I will send upon them,

^dWith the venom of crawling things of the dust.

²⁵‘^aOutside the sword will bereave,

And inside terror—

^bBoth choice man and virgin,

The nursing baby with the man of gray hair.

²⁶‘I would have said, “^aI will cut them to pieces;

^bI will cause the memory of them to cease from men,”

²⁷Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,

Lest their adversaries misjudge,

Lest they say, “^aOur hand is ¹triumphant,

And Yahweh has not done all this.” ’

²⁸“^aFor they are a nation where counsel perishes,

And there is no discernment in them.

²⁹“^aWould that they were wise, that they had insight into this,

^bThat they would understand their ¹future!

³⁰“^aHow could one pursue one thousand,

And two put ten thousand to flight,

Unless their ^bRock had sold them,

And Yahweh had handed them over?

³¹“Indeed their rock is not like our Rock,

^aEven our enemies ¹themselves judge this.

³²“For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,

And from the fields of Gomorrah;

Their grapes are grapes of ^apoison,

Their clusters, bitter.

³³“Their wine is the venom of ¹serpents,

And the ²deadly poison of cobras.

³⁴‘^aIs it not laid up in store with Me,

Sealed up in My treasuries?

³⁵‘^aVengeance is Mine, and retribution,

^bIn due time their foot will stumble;

^cFor the day of their disaster is near,

And the impending things are hastening upon them.’

³⁶“^aFor Yahweh will render justice to His people,

^bAnd will have compassion on His slaves,

When He sees that their ¹strength is gone,

And there is none remaining, bond or free.

^…