Life after Moses

²⁴ Once Moses had finished writing in their entirety all the words of this Instruction scroll, ²⁵ he commanded the Levites who carry the chest containing the Lord’s covenant as follows:

²⁶ “Take this Instruction scroll and put it next to the chest containing the Lord your God’s covenant. It must remain there as a witness against you ²⁷ because I know how rebellious and hardheaded you are. If you are this rebellious toward the Lord while I’m still alive, it’s bound to get worse once I’m dead! ²⁸ Assemble all of your tribes’ elders and your officials in front of me, so I can speak these words in their hearing, and so I can call heaven and earth as my witnesses against them, ²⁹ because I know that after I’m dead, you will ruin everything, departing from the path I’ve commanded you. Terrible things will happen to you in the future because you will do evil in the Lord’s eyes, aggravating him with the things your hands have made.”