Deuteronomy 31-33

1When Moses had finished speaking these words to all Israel,

2he said to them, “I am now a hundred and twenty years old; I am no longer able to come and go, and the LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’

3The LORD your God Himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will cross ahead of you, as the LORD has said.

4And the LORD will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, when He destroyed them along with their land.

5The LORD will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you.

6Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

7Then Moses called for Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.

8The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

9So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.

10Then Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of remission of debt, during the Feast of Tabernacles,

11when all Israel comes before the LORD your God at the place He will choose, you are to read this law in the hearing of all Israel.

12Assemble the people—men, women, children, and the foreigners within your gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and to follow carefully all the words of this law.

13Then their children who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

14Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the time of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.

15Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.

16And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

17On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’

18And on that day I will surely hide My face because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.

19Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them.

20When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.

21And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”

22So that very day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites.

23Then the LORD commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land that I swore to give them, and I will be with you.”

24When Moses had finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end,

25he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD:

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 already rebelling against the LORD while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after my death!

28Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officers so that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them.

29For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. And in the days to come, disaster will befall you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger by the work of your hands.”

30Then Moses recited aloud to the whole assembly of Israel the words of this song from beginning to end:

1Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.

3For I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God!

4He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

5His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the blemish on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.

6Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?

7Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.

8When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.

9But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.

10He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.

11As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.

12The LORD alone led him, and no foreign god was with him.

13He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from the flinty crag,

14with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes you drank the wine.

15But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked— becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.

16They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.

17They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.

18You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

19When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.

20He said: “I will hide My face from them; I will see what will be their end. For they are a perverse generation— children of unfaithfulness.

21They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.

22For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

23I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them.

24They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.

25Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.

26I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,

27if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”

28Israel is a nation devoid of counsel, with no understanding among them.

29If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.

30How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?

31For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies concede.

32But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.

33Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.

34“Have I not stored up these things, sealed up within My vaults?

35Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”

36For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.

37He will say: “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,

38which ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you; let them give you shelter!

39See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

40For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever,

41when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me.

42I will make My arrows drunk with blood, while My sword devours flesh— the blood of the slain and captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.”

43Rejoice, O heavens, with Him, and let all God’s angels worship Him. Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His children. He will take vengeance on His adversaries and repay those who hate Him; He will cleanse His land and His people.

44Then Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.

45When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel,

46he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.

47For they are not idle words to you, because they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

48On that same day the LORD said to Moses,

49“Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession.

50And there on the mountain that you climb, you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.

51For at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence.

52Although you shall see from a distance the land that I am giving the Israelites, you shall not enter it.”

1This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.

2He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.

3Surely You love the people; all the holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; each receives Your words—

4the law that Moses gave us, the possession of the assembly of Jacob.

5So the LORD became King in Jeshurun when the leaders of the people gathered, when the tribes of Israel came together.

6Let Reuben live and not die, nor his men be few.”

7And concerning Judah he said: “O LORD, hear the cry of Judah and bring him to his people. With his own hands he defends his cause, but may You be a help against his foes.”

8Concerning Levi he said: “Give Your Thummim to Levi and Your Urim to Your godly one, whom You tested at Massah and contested at the waters of Meribah.

9He said of his father and mother, ‘I do not consider them.’ He disregarded his brothers and did not know his own sons, for he kept Your word and maintained Your covenant.

10He will teach Your ordinances to Jacob and Your law to Israel; he will set incense before You and whole burnt offerings on Your altar.

11Bless his substance, O LORD, and accept the work of his hands. Smash the loins of those who rise against him, and of his foes so they can rise no more.”

12Concerning Benjamin he said: “May the beloved of the LORD rest secure in Him; God shields him all day long, and upon His shoulders he rests.”

13Concerning Joseph he said: “May his land be blessed by the LORD with the precious dew from heaven above and the deep waters that lie beneath,

14with the bountiful harvest from the sun and the abundant yield of the seasons,

15with the best of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills,

16with the choice gifts of the land and everything in it, and with the favor of Him who dwelt in the burning bush. May these rest on the head of Joseph and crown the brow of the prince of his brothers.

17His majesty is like a firstborn bull, and his horns are like those of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even to the ends of the earth. Such are the myriads of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh.”

18Concerning Zebulun he said: “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your journeys, and Issachar, in your tents.

19They will call the peoples to a mountain; there they will offer sacrifices of righteousness. For they will feast on the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.”

20Concerning Gad he said: “Blessed is he who enlarges the domain of Gad! He lies down like a lion and tears off an arm or a head.

21He chose the best land for himself, because a ruler’s portion was reserved for him there. He came with the leaders of the people; he administered the LORD’s justice and His ordinances for Israel.”

22Concerning Dan he said: “Dan is a lion’s cub, leaping out of Bashan.”

23Concerning Naphtali he said: “Naphtali is abounding with favor, full of the blessing of the LORD; he shall take possession of the sea and the south.”

24And concerning Asher he said: “May Asher be the most blessed of sons; may he be the most favored among his brothers and dip his foot in oil.

25May the bolts of your gate be iron and bronze, and may your strength match your days.”

26“There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your aid, and the clouds in His majesty.

27The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’

28So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew.

29Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is the shield that protects you, the sword in which you boast. Your enemies will cower before you, and you shall trample their high places.”