Deuteronomy 31:1-8

New King James Version

Joshua the New Leader of Israel^(A)

31 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. ²And he said to them: “I ^(B)am one hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer ^(C)go out and come in. Also the Lord has said to me, ^(D)‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ ³The Lord your God ^(E)Himself crosses over before you; He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. ^(F)Joshua himself crosses over before you, just ^(G)as the Lord has said. ⁴^(H)And the Lord will do to them ^(I)as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites and their land, when He destroyed them. ⁵^(J)The Lord will give them over to you, that you may do to them according to every commandment which I have commanded you. ⁶^(K)Be strong and of good courage, ^(L)do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, ^(M)He is the One who goes with you. ^(N)He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

⁷Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ^(O)“Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. ⁸And the Lord, ^(P)He is the One who goes before you. ^(Q)He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

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Deuteronomy 31:14-15

New King James Version

Prediction of Israel’s Rebellion

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(A)“Behold, the days approach when you must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of meeting, that ^(B)I may ^[a]inaugurate him.”

So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle of meeting. ¹⁵Now ^(C)the Lord appeared at the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood above the door of the tabernacle.

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Footnotes

Deuteronomy 31:14 commission

Deuteronomy 31:23

New King James Version

²³^(A)Then He inaugurated Joshua the son of Nun, and said, ^(B)“Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

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Deuteronomy 31:23 in all English translations

Deuteronomy 31:16-22

New King James Version

¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses: “Behold, you will ^[a]rest with your fathers; and this people will ^(A)rise and ^(B)play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will ^(C)forsake Me and ^(D)break My covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷Then My anger shall be ^(E)aroused against them in that day, and ^(F)I will forsake them, and I will ^(G)hide My face from them, and they shall be ^[b]devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ^(H)‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is ^(I)not among us?’ ¹⁸And ^(J)I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.

¹⁹“Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be ^(K)a witness for Me against the children of Israel. ²⁰When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves ^(L)and grown fat, ^(M)then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant. ²¹Then it shall be, ^(N)when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for ^(O)I know the inclination ^(P)of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore to give them.”

²²Therefore Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel.

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Footnotes

Deuteronomy 31:16 Die and join your ancestors
Deuteronomy 31:17 consumed

Deuteronomy 31:24-32:47

New King James Version

²⁴So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, ²⁵that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying: ²⁶“Take this Book of the Law, ^(A)and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there ^(B)as a witness against you; ²⁷^(C)for I know your rebellion and your ^(D)stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord, then how much more after my death? ²⁸Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing ^(E)and call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹For I know that after my death you will ^(F)become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And ^(G)evil will befall you ^(H)in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”

The Song of Moses

³⁰Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended:

The Song of Moses

32 “Give ^(I)ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
And hear, O ^(J)earth, the words of my mouth.
²Let ^(K)my ^[a]teaching drop as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
^(L)As raindrops on the tender herb,
And as showers on the grass.
³For I proclaim the ^(M)name of the Lord:
^(N)Ascribe greatness to our God.
⁴He is ^(O)the Rock, ^(P)His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
^(Q)A God of truth and ^(R)without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.

⁵“They^(S) have corrupted themselves;
They are not His children,
Because of their blemish:
A ^(T)perverse and crooked generation.
⁶Do you thus ^(U)deal^[b] with the Lord,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is He not ^(V)your Father, who ^(W)bought you?
Has He not ^(X)made you and established you?

⁷“Remember^(Y) the days of old,
Consider the years of many generations.
^(Z)Ask your father, and he will show you;
Your elders, and they will tell you:
⁸When the Most High ^(AA)divided their inheritance to the nations,
When He ^(AB)separated the sons of Adam,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
According to the number of the ^[c]children of Israel.
⁹For ^(AC)the Lord’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

¹⁰“He found him ^(AD)in a desert land
And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;
He encircled him, He instructed him,
He ^(AE)kept him as the ^[d]apple of His eye.
¹¹^(AF)As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,
¹²So the Lord alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him.

¹³“He^(AG) made him ride in the heights of the earth,
That he might eat the produce of the fields;
He made him draw honey from the rock,
And oil from the flinty rock;
¹⁴Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock,
^(AH)With fat of lambs;
And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,
With the choicest wheat;
And you drank wine, the ^(AI)blood of the grapes.

¹⁵“But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
^(AJ)You grew fat, you grew thick,
You are obese!
Then he ^(AK)forsook God who ^(AL)made him,
And scornfully esteemed the ^(AM)Rock of his salvation.
¹⁶^(AN)They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;
With ^[e]abominations they provoked Him to anger.
¹⁷^(AO)They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
To gods they did not know,
To new gods, new arrivals
That your fathers did not fear.
¹⁸^(AP)Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,
And have ^(AQ)forgotten the God who fathered you.

¹⁹“And^(AR) when the Lord saw it, He spurned them,
Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
²⁰And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end will be,
For they are a perverse generation,
^(AS)Children in whom is no faith.
²¹^(AT)They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God;
They have moved Me to anger ^(AU)by their ^[f]foolish idols.
But ^(AV)I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation;
I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.
²²For ^(AW)a fire is kindled in My anger,
And shall burn to the ^[g]lowest ^[h]hell;
It shall consume the earth with her increase,
And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

²³‘I will ^(AX)heap disasters on them;
^(AY)I will spend My arrows on them.
²⁴They shall be wasted with hunger,
Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction;
I will also send against them the ^(AZ)teeth of beasts,
With the poison of serpents of the dust.
²⁵The sword shall destroy outside;
There shall be terror within
For the young man and virgin,
The nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
²⁶^(BA)I would have said, “I will dash them in pieces,
I will make the memory of them to cease from among men,”
²⁷Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy,
Lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
Lest they should say, ^(BB)“Our hand is high;
And it is not the Lord who has done all this.” ’

²⁸“For they are a nation void of counsel,
Nor is there any understanding in them.
²⁹^(BC)Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they would consider their ^(BD)latter end!
³⁰How could one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their Rock ^(BE)had sold them,
And the Lord had surrendered them?
³¹For their rock is not like our Rock,
^(BF)Even our enemies themselves being judges.
³²For ^(BG)their vine is of the vine of Sodom
And of the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of gall,
Their clusters are bitter.
³³Their wine is ^(BH)the poison of serpents,
And the cruel ^(BI)venom of cobras.

³⁴‘Is this not ^(BJ)laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up among My treasures?
³⁵^(BK)Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
^(BL)For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.’

³⁶“For^(BM) the Lord will judge His people
^(BN)And have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their power is gone,
And ^(BO)there is no one remaining, bond or free.
³⁷He will say: ^(BP)‘Where are their gods,
The rock in which they sought refuge?
³⁸Who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise and help you,
And be your refuge.

³⁹‘Now see that ^(BQ)I, even I, am He,
And ^(BR)there is no God besides Me;
^(BS)I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.
⁴⁰For I raise My hand to heaven,
And say, “As I live forever,
⁴¹^(BT)If I ^[i]whet My glittering sword,
And My hand takes hold on judgment,
I will render vengeance to My enemies,
And repay those who hate Me.
⁴²I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
And My sword shall devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” ’

⁴³“Rejoice,^(BU) O Gentiles, with His ^[j]people;
For He will ^(BV)avenge the blood of His servants,
And render vengeance to His adversaries;
He ^(BW)will provide atonement for His land and His people.”

⁴⁴So Moses came with ^[k]Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. ⁴⁵Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, ⁴⁶and he said to them: ^(BX)“Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your ^(BY)children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. ⁴⁷For it is not a ^[l]futile thing for you, because it is your ^(BZ)life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”