Deuteronomy 33–34

¹And this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death, ²and he saith:—‘Jehovah from Sinai hath come, And hath risen from Seir for them; He hath shone from mount Paran, And hath come with myriads of holy ones; At His right hand are springs for them. ³Also He is loving the peoples; All His holy ones are in thy hand, And they—they sat down at thy foot, Each He lifteth up at thy words. ⁴A law hath Moses commanded us, A possession of the assembly of Jacob. ⁵And he is in Jeshurun king, In the heads of the people gathering together, The tribes of Israel!

⁶Let Reuben live, and not die, And let his men be a number. ⁷And this is for Judah; and he saith:—Hear, O Jehovah, the voice of Judah, And unto his people do Thou bring him in; His hand hath striven for him, And an help from his adversaries art Thou.

⁸And of Levi he said:—Thy Thummim and thy Urim are for thy pious one, Whom Thou hast tried in Massah, Thou dost strive with Him at the waters of Meribah; ⁹Who is saying of his father and his mother, I have not seen him; And his brethren he hath not discerned, And his sons he hath not known; For they have observed Thy saying, And Thy covenant they keep. ¹⁰They teach Thy judgments to Jacob, And Thy law to Israel; They put perfume in Thy nose, And whole burnt-offering on Thine altar. ¹¹Bless, O Jehovah, his strength, And the work of his hands Thou acceptest, Smite the loins of his withstanders, And of those hating him—that they rise not!

¹²Of Benjamin he said:—The beloved of Jehovah doth tabernacle confidently by him, Covering him over all the day; Yea, between his shoulders He doth tabernacle. ¹³And of Joseph he said:—Blessed of Jehovah is his land, By precious things of the heavens, By dew, and by the deep crouching beneath, ¹⁴And by precious things—fruits of the sun, And by precious things—cast forth by the moons, ¹⁵And by chief things—of the ancient mountains, And by precious things—of the age-during heights, ¹⁶And by precious things—of earth and its fulness, And the good pleasure Of Him who is dwelling in the bush,—Let it come for the head of Joseph, And for the crown of him Who is separate from his brethren. ¹⁷His honour is a firstling of his ox, And his horns are horns of a reem; By them peoples he doth push together To the ends of earth; And they are the myriads of Ephraim, And they are the thousands of Manasseh.

¹⁸And of Zebulun he said:—Rejoice, O Zebulun, in thy going out, And, O Issachar, in thy tents; ¹⁹Peoples to the mountain they call, There they sacrifice righteous sacrifices; For the abundance of the seas they suck, And hidden things hidden in the sand. ²⁰And of Gad he said:—Blessed of the Enlarger is Gad, As a lioness he doth tabernacle, And hath torn the arm—also the crown! ²¹And he provideth the first part for himself, For there the portion of the lawgiver is covered, And he cometh with the heads of the people; The righteousness of Jehovah he hath done, And His judgments with Israel.

²²And of Dan he said:—Dan is a lion’s whelp; he doth leap from Bashan. ²³And of Naphtali he said:—O Naphtali, satisfied with pleasure, And full of the blessing of Jehovah, West and south possess thou. ²⁴And of Asher he said:—Blessed with sons is Asher, Let him be accepted by his brethren, And dipping in oil his foot. ²⁵Iron and brass are thy shoes, And as thy days—thy strength.

²⁶There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Riding the heavens in thy help, And in His excellency the skies. ²⁷A habitation is the eternal God, And beneath are arms age-during. And He casteth out from thy presence the enemy, and saith, ‘Destroy!’ ²⁸And Israel doth tabernacle in confidence alone; The eye of Jacob is unto a land of corn and wine; Also His heavens drop down dew. ²⁹O thy happiness, O Israel! who is like thee? A people saved by Jehovah, The shield of thy help, And He who is the sword of thine excellency: And thine enemies are subdued for thee, And thou on their high places dost tread.’

Chapter 34

¹And Moses goeth up from the plains of Moab unto mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which is on the front of Jericho, and Jehovah sheweth him all the land—Gilead unto Dan, ²and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah unto the further sea, ³and the south, and the circuit of the valley of Jericho, the city of palms, unto Zoar. ⁴And Jehovah saith unto him, ‘This is the land which I have sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To thy seed I give it; I have caused thee to see with thine eyes, and thither thou dost not pass over.’

⁵And Moses, servant of the Lord, dieth there, in the land of Moab, according to the command of Jehovah; ⁶and He burieth him in a valley in the land of Moab, over-against Beth-Peor, and no man hath known his burying place unto this day. ⁷And Moses is a son of a hundred and twenty years when he dieth; his eye hath not become dim, nor hath his moisture fled. ⁸And the sons of Israel bewail Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; and the days of weeping and mourning for Moses are completed.

⁹And Joshua son of Nun is full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him, and the sons of Israel hearken unto him, and do as Jehovah commanded Moses. ¹⁰And there hath not arisen a prophet any more in Israel like Moses, whom Jehovah hath known face unto face, ¹¹in reference to all the signs and the wonders which Jehovah sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, ¹²and in reference to all the strong hand, and to all the great fear which Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.

Chapter 1