Deuteronomy 31:1-13

English Standard Version

Joshua to Succeed Moses

31 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. ² And he said to them, “I am ^(A)120 years old today. I am no longer able to ^(B)go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, ^(C)‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ ³ The Lord your God ^(D)himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, ^(E)as the Lord has spoken. ⁴ And the Lord will do to them ^(F)as he did to Sihon ^(G)and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. ⁵ And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them ^(H)according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. ^6 (I)Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, ^(J)for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. ^(K)He will not leave you or forsake you.”

⁷ Then ^(L)Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ^(M)“Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. ⁸ It is the Lord ^(N)who goes before you. He will be with you; ^(O)he will not leave you or forsake you. ^(P)Do not fear or be dismayed.”

The Reading of the Law

⁹ Then Moses ^(Q)wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, ^(R)who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰ And Moses commanded them, ^(S)“At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at ^(T)the Feast of Booths, ¹¹ when all Israel comes ^(U)to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, ^(V)you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ^12 (W)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, ¹³ and that their children, ^(X)who have not known it, ^(Y)may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, ^(Z)as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”