²⁸ Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak ^(A)these words in their ears and ^(B)call heaven and earth to witness against them.

²⁶ I ^(A)call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed.

¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, ^(A)blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,

⁴⁰ He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, ^(A)the very stones would cry out.”

The Wickedness of Judah

^12 (A)Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law,

¹⁰ “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes,^[a] your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel,

Elders Appointed to Aid Moses

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me ^(A)seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and ^(B)officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. ^17 (C)And I will come down and talk with you there. And ^(D)I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and ^(E)they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.

^25 (A)Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.