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31 When Moses had finished giving all the words of this whole covenant to the people of Israel, 2 he spoke to them.
Moses: I’m now 120 years old. I’m not physically able to lead you anymore, and the Eternal has told me, “You’re not going to cross the Jordan River.” 3 Instead, it will be the Eternal your God who leads you across the Jordan. He’ll clear out the nations who live there, and you’ll take their place. As my successor and the Eternal’s representative, Joshua will lead you across, just as He has said. 4 The Eternal will do to those nations just what He did to Sihon and Og, the Amorite kings, and their land when He destroyed them. 5 He will defeat them for you. Then you must do to them exactly what I’ve commanded you to do. 6 Be strong and brave, and don’t tremble in fear of them, because the Eternal your God is going with you. He’ll never fail you or abandon you!
7 Then Moses spoke to Joshua, with all of Israel looking on.
Moses: Be strong and brave! You’re going to lead these people into the land the Eternal promised their ancestors He’d give them. You’ll give it to them, and they’ll give it to their descendants. 8 And He will be leading you. He’ll be with you, and He’ll never fail you or abandon you. So don’t be afraid!
9 Then Moses wrote down everything in this law and gave it to the priests (the descendants of Levi who transported the Eternal’s covenant chest) and to the elders of Israel. 10 He gave them these instructions:
Moses: At the end of every seven years, as I’ve already told you, you’re going to cancel all debts. In that same year, during the Feast of Shelters, 11 when all the people of Israel come into the presence of the Eternal your God, at the place He’ll choose, read this law aloud to them. 12 Assemble everyone—men, women, children, and any foreigners who are living in the cities with you—so they can listen and learn and fear Him and carefully obey every word of this law. 13 If you do this every seven years, their descendants, who otherwise wouldn’t know these things, will hear the law and learn to fear Him, and the nation will be faithful to Him for as long as you live in the land you’re going to take possession of when you cross the Jordan River.
Eternal One (to Moses): 14 It’s almost time for you to die. Call Joshua and stand with him by the congregation tent, where I’ll formally install him and give him his instructions.
So Moses and Joshua went and waited at the congregation tent. 15 The Eternal came and met them at the door of the tent, appearing in the form of a cloud pillar.
Eternal One (to Moses): 16 You’re about to leave this world to lie down with your ancestors in death. After you’re gone, these people are going to be unfaithful to Me. They’re going to worship foreign gods, the gods of the land they’re going into. They’re going to abandon Me and break the covenant I made with them. 17 When they do, I’ll be furious with them and abandon them. I won’t look on them when they pray. I won’t protect them, and they’ll be eaten alive. They’ll be in so much trouble and distress then that they’ll say, “We must be in all this trouble because our God isn’t with us anymore!” 18 And they’ll be right. In those days, I won’t look at them when they pray because they’ll have done such an evil thing by turning to other gods. 19 So I want you to write down this song and teach it to the children of Israel. Teach them to sing it, so it can be a witness for Me against them. 20-21 I know what they’re already inclined to do before I’ve even brought them into the land I promised them. I know that when I’ve brought them into the land I promised to give to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey, when they have had more than enough to eat and they’ve grown fat, they’ll turn to other gods and worship them. They’ll reject Me and break My covenant. Then, when they’re in so much trouble and distress, this song will testify against them since their descendants will still be singing it.
22 So Moses wrote down this song that day, and he taught it to the children of Israel.
The Lord commissions Moses to write a song that will serve as an enduring witness of His covenant with the people of Israel. It is to be passed down from generation to generation; and even if it cannot last quite as long as the sky and the land, so long as it does last it will speak in a way that they cannot. Of course, since the song is recorded in the Scriptures the people of God will always cherish it as they do all of His Word!
23 Then the Eternal formally installed Joshua (Nun’s son) and gave him instructions.
Eternal One: Be strong and brave, because you’re going to lead the children of Israel into the land I promised them. I am going with you!
24 Then Moses wrote down each word of this law in a book. When he finished, 25 he gave instructions to the Levites who carried the Eternal’s covenant chest.
Moses: 26 Take this book of the law, and put it next to the covenant chest of the Eternal your God, so it will be there as a witness against you. 27 I know how stubborn and rebellious you are. Even now, while I’m still alive and here with you, you’ve been rebelling against the Eternal. I can only imagine what you’ll do when I’m dead! 28 Bring all the tribes’ elders and representatives here so they can listen to everything I must say, and so I can call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against them. 29 I know that after I’m dead you’ll become corrupt and stop doing what I’ve commanded. You’ll have all kinds of trouble there because you’ll have done what the Eternal sees as wrong. You’ll make Him furious by your deeds, crafting idols and worshiping them!
30 Then Moses presented this whole song, while everyone in Israel was listening.
32 Moses: Listen, O sky, so I may speak!
Pay attention, O earth, to what I say!
2 Let my teaching fall on you like raindrops;
let what I say collect like the dew,
Like rain sprinkling the grass,
like showers on the green plants.
3 I will proclaim the name of the Eternal;
I will utter greatness to our God.
4 He’s the Rock, and His work is perfect; everything He does is right.
He’s the God who can be trusted, who never does wrong
because He’s righteous and upright.
5 But a perverse and crooked generation has broken its word to Him.
They are not counted as His children—not with such deficiencies.
6 Is this how you repay the Eternal,
you foolish, unwise people?
Isn’t He your Father who produced you,
who made you and established you?
7 Remember the days long ago;
consider the years of past generations.
Ask your father, and he’ll explain it to you;
ask the elders, and they’ll tell you:
8 When God, the Most High in heaven gave all the nations their inherited territory,
when He divided the descendants of Adam into nations,
When He established the boundaries of the peoples,
as the number of the sons of God,
9 Because the Eternal’s territory is His people;
and Jacob is the territory of God’s inheritance.
10 The Eternal found Jacob out in the wilderness,
out in an empty, windswept desert wasteland.
He put His arms around him and took care of him;
He protected him as the apple of His eye.
11 Just as an eagle stirs up its nest, encouraging its young to fly,
and then hovers over them in case they need help,
And spreads its wings and catches them if they fall,
and carries them up high on its wings;
12 So the Eternal guided Jacob through the wilderness
without the help of any foreign god.
13 He set him on the heights of the land
and fed him from the produce of the fields.
He even fed him honey from the rocks
and oil from flinty stones,
14 Butter from his cows and milk from his flocks,
fattened young lambs, rams raised in Bashan, and goats,
the finest fatty kernels of wheat, and wine from the lifeblood of grapes.
15 But Jeshurun—my upright ones of Israel—got fat and kicked back—
yes, you were fat and bloated and stuffed.
He abandoned the God who made him
and disdained the Rock of his salvation.
16 They made Him jealous by worshiping foreign gods;
they infuriated Him with their disgusting idols.
17 They offered sacrifices to demons that are not God;
they worshiped gods they hadn’t known,
New ones that had just appeared,
gods their ancestors had never been acquainted with.
18 You ignored the Rock who bore you
and forgot the God who gave birth to you.
Earlier Moses has described the Eternal One as Israel’s “Father” (verse 6). Now he uses the image of a mother going into labor and giving birth to describe the Eternal One’s tender affection and sacrificial love for the nation.
19 Moses: The Eternal saw this and rejected them
because His sons and daughters had made Him so angry.
20 Eternal One: I won’t look at them when they pray;
I’ll just watch and see what happens to them
Because they’re a perverse generation,
children who are unfaithful.
21 They’ve made Me jealous by worshiping something that isn’t God,
and they’ve angered Me with their idols!
So I’ll make them jealous by favoring those who aren’t a people;
I’ll infuriate them with a godless nation.[a]
22 My anger will start a fire that will burn down to the land of the dead.
It will consume the land and all its crops
and set the mountains ablaze, right down to their foundations.
23 I’ll pile disasters on them
and use all My arrows against them.
24 They’ll be emaciated by famine
and consumed by fevers and destroyed by bitter pestilence.
I’ll attack them with the fangs of wild animals
and the venom of snakes that crawl in the dust.
25 While the sword is killing their children outside,
they’ll be huddling in terror inside their homes.
Everyone will be destroyed: young men and women,
infants and old people with gray hair.
26 I thought I would smash them in pieces
until no one remembered they ever existed,
27 But I was afraid of how their enemies would gloat,
how their opponents would get the wrong impression and say,
“We conquered them by our own power;
the Eternal didn’t do all of this!”
8 That’s why I keep telling you not to be intimidated. If you identify unashamedly with Me before others, I, the Son of Man, will affirm you before God and all the heavenly messengers. 9 But if you deny Me before others, you will be denied before God and all the heavenly messengers. 10 People can speak a word against Me, the Son of Man, and the sin is forgivable. But they can go too far, slandering the testimony of the Holy Spirit by rejecting His message about Me, and they won’t be forgiven for that.
11 So you can anticipate that you will be put on trial before the synagogues and religious officials. Don’t worry how you’ll respond, and don’t worry what you should say. 12 The Holy Spirit will give you the words to say at the moment when you need them.
In the kingdom of God, money is valued in a very different way. In fact, concern for money can easily turn the spiritual life into a lukewarm, halfhearted affair.
13 A person in the crowd got Jesus’ attention.
Person in the Crowd: Teacher, intervene and tell my brother to share the family inheritance with me.
Jesus: 14 Since when am I your judge or arbitrator?
15 Then He used that opportunity to speak to the crowd.
Jesus: You’d better be on your guard against any type of greed, for a person’s life is not about having a lot of possessions.
16 (then, beginning another parable) A wealthy man owned some land that produced a huge harvest. 17 He often thought to himself, “I have a problem here. I don’t have anywhere to store all my crops. What should I do? 18 I know! I’ll tear down my small barns and build even bigger ones, and then I’ll have plenty of storage space for my grain and all my other goods. 19 Then I’ll be able to say to myself, ‘I have it made! I can relax and take it easy for years! So I’ll just sit back, eat, drink, and have a good time!’”
20 Then God interrupted the man’s conversation with himself. “Excuse Me, Mr. Brilliant, but your time has come. Tonight you will die. Now who will enjoy everything you’ve earned and saved?”
21 This is how it will be for people who accumulate huge assets for themselves but have no assets in relation to God.
22 (then, to His disciples) This is why I keep telling you not to worry about anything in life—about what you’ll eat, about how you’ll clothe your body. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than fancy clothes. 24 Think about those crows flying over there: do they plant and harvest crops? Do they own silos or barns? Look at them fly. It looks like God is taking pretty good care of them, doesn’t it? Remember that you are more precious to God than birds! 25 Which one of you can add a single hour to your life or 18 inches[a] to your height by worrying really hard? 26 If worry can’t change anything, why do you do it so much?
27 Think about those beautiful wild lilies growing over there. They don’t work up a sweat toiling for needs or wants—they don’t worry about clothing. Yet the great King Solomon never had an outfit that was half as glorious as theirs!
28 Look at the grass growing over there. One day it’s thriving in the fields. The next day it’s being used as fuel. If God takes such good care of such transient things, how much more you can depend on God to care for you, weak in faith as you are. 29 Don’t reduce your life to the pursuit of food and drink; don’t let your mind be filled with anxiety. 30 People of the world who don’t know God pursue these things, but you have a Father caring for you, a Father who knows all your needs.
31 Since you don’t need to worry—about security and safety, about food and clothing—then pursue God’s kingdom first and foremost, and these other things will come to you as well.
32 My little flock, don’t be afraid. God is your Father, and your Father’s great joy is to give you His kingdom.
33 That means you can sell your possessions and give generously to the poor. You can have a different kind of savings plan: one that never depreciates, one that never defaults, one that can’t be plundered by crooks or destroyed by natural calamities. 34 Your treasure will be stored in the heavens, and since your treasure is there, your heart will be lodged there as well.
32 Even after all this, they continued to sin
and still did not trust in Him
or in the incredible things He did.
33 So He abruptly ended their time; they vanished like a breath;
He ended their years suddenly, with terror.
34 After He took some of their lives,
those left turned back and sought God wholeheartedly.
35 After all they had endured, they remembered that God, the Most High,
was their Rock, their Redeemer,
36 But even then they tried to deceive Him with their words
and fool Him with a web of lies.
37 They were not consistently faithful to Him,
and they were untrue to their covenant with Him.
38 Yet by His great compassion,
He forgave them
and decided not to put an end to them.
Most of the time, He held back His anger
and did not unleash His wrath against them.
39 He was mindful that they were human, frail and fleeting,
like a wind that touches one’s skin for a moment, then vanishes.
40 Oh, how often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness
and frustrated Him during their time in the desert!
41 Over and over again, they tested God’s patience
and caused great pain for Israel’s Holy One.
42 They failed to be mindful of His great strength.
They forgot all about the day He saved them from the enemy,
43 When He displayed all sorts of signs and wonders in Egypt,
and all the amazing things He did in the region of Zoan[a]
44 When He transformed their rivers into blood
so that they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent armies of flies to bite and torment them
and hordes of frogs to ruin and devastate them;
46 He handed over all of their crops to grasshoppers
and the fruit of all their labor to locusts;
47 He sent violent hailstorms, which smashed all their vines,
and ruined their sycamore-fig trees with biting frost.
48 He handed over all of their cattle to the hailstorms as well
and struck all their herds with lightning.
49 He poured His burning wrath upon them—
anger, resentment, and trouble—
sending a company of heavenly warriors to destroy them.
50 He carved out a road for His wrath;
He did not spare any from the sting of death
but handed them over to the fangs of the plague.
51 He killed all the firstborn of Egypt,
the first products of their manhood in the tents of Ham, the Egyptians’ ancestor.
52 But then He guided His people like sheep to safety
and led them like a flock into the desert to freedom;
53 He took them on a safe route so that they would not be afraid,
and He allowed the hungry sea to swallow all of their enemies.
54 He led them to His sacred land—
to this holy hill, which He had won by the power of His right hand.
55 He forced out the other nations which were living there before them,
and He redistributed the lands as an inheritance to His people;
He settled the tribes and families of Israel peaceably in their tents.
21 The right-living are not overcome with calamity,
but wrongdoers have their fill of it.
22 Lying lips disgust the Eternal,
but those who act faithfully delight Him.
23 A clever man is careful in revealing what he knows,
but a fool betrays his incompetence.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.