Deuteronomy 31
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Joshua Takes Moses’ Place
31 Then Moses continued to speak these[a] words to all Israel, 2 saying, “I am now 120 years old; I can no longer act as your leader.[b] The Lord has told me, ‘You will not cross this Jordan.’(A) 3 The Lord your God is the One who will cross ahead of you.(B) He will destroy these nations before you, and you will drive them out. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, as the Lord has said.(C) 4 The Lord will deal with them as He did Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and their land when He destroyed them.(D) 5 The Lord will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous;(E) don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For it is the Lord your God who goes with you;(F) He will not leave you or forsake you.”(G)
7 Moses then summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with[c] this people into the land the Lord swore to give to their fathers.(H) You will enable them to take possession of it. 8 The Lord is the One who will go before you.(I) He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you.(J) Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
9 Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of debt cancellation,(K) during the Festival of Booths,(L) 11 when all Israel assembles[d] in the presence of the Lord your God at the place He chooses, you are to read this law aloud before all Israel.(M) 12 Gather the people—men, women, children, and foreigners living within your gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear(N) the Lord your God and be careful to follow all the words of this law. 13 Then their children(O) who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
14 The Lord said to Moses, “The time of your death is now approaching. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting so that I may commission him.” When Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting, 15 the Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood at the entrance to the tent.(P)
16 The Lord said to Moses, “You are about to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon commit adultery with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will abandon Me and break the covenant(Q) I have made with them. 17 My anger will burn against them on that day; I will abandon them and hide My face from them so that they will become easy prey.[e] Many troubles and afflictions will come to them. On that day they will say, ‘Haven’t these troubles come to us because our God is no longer with us?’ 18 I will certainly hide My face on that day because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods. 19 Therefore write down this song(R) for yourselves and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it,[f] so that this song may be a witness for Me against the Israelites. 20 When I bring them into the land I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey,(S) they will eat their fill(T) and prosper.[g] They will turn to other gods and worship them, despising Me and breaking My covenant.(U) 21 And when many troubles and afflictions come to them, this song will testify against them, because[h] their descendants will not have forgotten it. For I know what they are prone to do,[i] even before I bring them into the land I swore to give them.” 22 So Moses wrote down this song on that day and taught it to the Israelites.
23 The Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I swore to them, and I will be with you.”(V)
Moses Warns the People
24 When Moses had finished writing down on a scroll every single word[j] of this law, 25 he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant, 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. 27 For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are rebelling against the Lord now, while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after I am dead! 28 Assemble all your tribal elders and officers before me so that I may speak these words directly to them and call heaven and earth as witnesses against them.(W) 29 For I know that after my death you will become completely corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. Disaster will come to you in the future, because you will do what is evil in the Lord’s sight, infuriating Him with what your hands have made.”(X) 30 Then Moses recited aloud every single word[k] of this song to the entire assembly of Israel:
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 31:1 Some Hb mss, DSS, LXX, Syr, Vg read all these
- Deuteronomy 31:2 Lit no longer go out or come in
- Deuteronomy 31:7 Some Hb mss, Sam, Syr, Vg read you will bring
- Deuteronomy 31:11 Lit comes to appear
- Deuteronomy 31:17 Lit will be for devouring
- Deuteronomy 31:19 Lit Israelites; put it in their mouths
- Deuteronomy 31:20 Lit be fat
- Deuteronomy 31:21 Lit because the mouths of
- Deuteronomy 31:21 Or know the plans they are devising
- Deuteronomy 31:24 Lit scroll the words to their completion
- Deuteronomy 31:30 Lit recited the words to their completion
Devarim 31
Orthodox Jewish Bible
31 And Moshe went and spoke these devarim unto kol Yisroel.
2 And he said unto them, I am me’ah v’esrim shanah today; I can no more go out and come in; also Hashem hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Yarden.
3 Hashem Eloheicha, He will go over before thee, and He will make shmad these Goyim from before thee, and thou shalt dispossess them; and Yehoshua (see Nechemyah 8:17 for Aramaic form, Yeshua), he shall go over before thee, as Hashem hath said.
4 And Hashem shall do unto them as He did to Sichon and to Og, melachim of the Emori, and unto the land of them, whom He made shmad.
5 And Hashem shall give them up before your face, that ye may do unto them according unto kol hamitzvot which I have commanded you.
6 Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of their faces; for Hashem Eloheicha, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor abandon thee.
7 And Moshe called unto Yehoshua, and said unto him in the sight of kol Yisroel, Chazak! (be strong) and of a good courage; for thou must go with this people unto Ha’Aretz which Hashem hath sworn unto their avot to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. [See Yeshayah 49:8; Yn 14:1-3.]
8 And Hashem, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither abandon thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
9 And Moshe wrote this torah, and delivered it unto the kohanim, the Bnei Levi, which bore the Aron Brit Hashem and unto kol Ziknei Yisroel.
10 And Moshe commanded them, saying, At the end of every shevah shanim, in the mo’ed (appointed time) of the shnat hashemittah (year of release), in Chag HaSukkot,
11 When kol Yisroel is come to appear before Hashem Eloheicha in the place which He shall choose, thou shalt read this torah before kol Yisroel in their hearing.
12 Gather the people together, anashim and nashim, and banim, and ger that is within thy she’arim, in order that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear Hashem Eloheichem, and be shomer to do kol divrei hatorah hazot;
13 And that their banim, which have not known anything, may hear, and learn to fear Hashem Eloheichem, as long as ye live in ha’adamah whither ye go over Yarden to possess it.
14 And Hashem said unto Moshe, Behold, thy yamim approach that thou must die; call Yehoshua, and present yourselves in the Ohel Mo’ed, that I may give him a charge. And Moshe and Yehoshua went, and presented themselves in the Ohel Mo’ed.
15 And Hashem appeared in the Ohel in an ammud anan (pillar of cloud); and the ammud anan stood over the petach (entrance) of the Ohel.
16 And Hashem said unto Moshe, Behold, thou shalt sleep with Avoteicha; and this people will rise up, and play the harlot going after the elohei nekhar ha’aretz (g-ds of the foreigners of the land), whither they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break My Brit which I have cut them.
17 Then My anger shall be kindled against them in Yom Hahu, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured, and ra’ot rabbot (many evils) and tzarot (troubles) shall befall them; so that they will say in Yom Hahu, Are not these evils come upon us, because Elohai is not among us?
18 And I will surely hide My face in Yom Hahu for kol hara’ah which they shall have done, in that they are turned unto elohim acherim.
19 Now therefore write ye this shirah for you, and teach it the Bnei Yisroel; put it in their mouths, in order that this shirah may be an ed (witness) for Me against the Bnei Yisroel.
20 For when I shall have brought them into ha’adamah which I swore unto Avotav (their fathers), zavat cholov u’devash (that floweth with milk and honey); and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat; then will they turn unto elohim acherim, and serve them, and provoke Me, and break My Brit.
21 And it shall come to pass, when ra’ot rabbot and tzarot are befallen them, that this shirah shall testify against them as an ed (witness); for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their zera; for I know their yetzer (inclination) in which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into ha’aretz which I swore.
22 Moshe therefore wrote this shirah on that day, and taught it the Bnei Yisroel.
23 And he gave Yehoshua ben Nun a charge, and said, Chazak! And of a good courage; for thou shalt bring the Bnei Yisroel into Ha’Aretz which I swore unto them; and I will be with thee. [Isa 49:8]
24 And it came to pass, when Moshe had made an end of writing the divrei HaTorah hazot in a sefer, until they were finished,
25 That Moshe commanded the Levi’im, which bore the Aron Brit Hashem, saying,
26 Take this sefer haTorah, and put it at the side of the Aron Brit Hashem Eloheichem, that it may be there for an ed (witness) against thee.
27 For I know thy meri (rebellion), and thy oref hakasheh (stiff neck); behold, while I am yet alive with you today, ye have been mamrim (rebellious) against Hashem; and how much more after my death!
28 Gather unto me kol ziknei shvatim of you, and your shoterim, that I may speak these devarim in their hearing, and call Shomayim and Ha’Aretz to record as witnesses against them.
29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from HaDerech which I have commanded you; and hara’ah will befall you in the acharim hayamim; because ye will do rah (evil) in the sight of Hashem, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.
30 And Moshe spoke in the ears of kol Kahal Yisroel the divrei hashirah hazot (words of this song), until they were ended.
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