Deuteronomy 31:24–30; Deuteronomy 32; Deuteronomy 33; Deuteronomy 34

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Deuteronomy 31:24–30

24 When Moses had finished ywriting the words of this law in a book to the very end, 25 Moses commanded zthe Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, 26 Take this Book of the Law aand put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for ba witness against you. 27 For I know how rebellious and cstubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, dyou have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death! 28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak ethese words in their ears and fcall heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death gyou will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And hin the days to come ievil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, jprovoking him to anger through the work of your hands.

The Song of Moses

30 Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel:


Deuteronomy 32

Give ear, kO heavens, and I will speak,

and let lthe earth hear the words of my mouth.

May mmy teaching drop as the rain,

my speech distill as the dew,

like gentle rain upon the tender grass,

and nlike showers upon the herb.

For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;

ascribe ogreatness to our God!

pThe Rock, qhis work is perfect,

for rall his ways are justice.

A God of faithfulness and swithout iniquity,

just and upright is he.

They have dealt corruptly with him;

they are no longer his children tbecause they are blemished;

they are ua crooked and twisted generation.

Do you thus repay the Lord,

you foolish and senseless people?

Is not he vyour father, who wcreated you,

who xmade you and established you?

yRemember the days of old;

consider the years of many generations;

zask your father, and he will show you,

your elders, and they will tell you.

When the Most High agave to the nations their inheritance,

when he bdivided mankind,

he fixed the borders1 of the peoples

according to the number of the sons of God.2

But the Lord’s portion is his people,

Jacob his allotted heritage.

10  He found him cin a desert land,

and in the howling waste of the wilderness;

he dencircled him, he cared for him,

he ekept him as the apple of his eye.

11  fLike an eagle that stirs up its nest,

that flutters over its young,

spreading out its wings, catching them,

bearing them on its pinions,

12  gthe Lord alone guided him,

hno foreign god was with him.

13  iHe made him ride on the high places of the land,

and he ate the produce of the field,

and he suckled him with jhoney out of the rock,

and koil out of lthe flinty rock.

14  Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,

with fat3 of lambs,

rams of Bashan and goats,

with the very finest4 of the wheat

and you drank foaming wine made from mthe blood of the grape.

15  But nJeshurun grew fat, and okicked;

pyou grew fat, stout, and sleek;

qthen he forsook God rwho made him

and scoffed at sthe Rock of his salvation.

16  tThey stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;

with abominations they provoked him to anger.

17  uThey sacrificed to demons that were no gods,

to gods they had never known,

to vnew gods that had come recently,

whom your fathers had never dreaded.

18  You were unmindful of wthe Rock that bore5 you,

and you xforgot the God who gave you birth.

19  yThe Lord saw it and spurned them,

because of the provocation of zhis sons and his daughters.

20  And he said, aI will hide my face from them;

I will see what their end will be,

for they are a perverse generation,

children in whom is no faithfulness.

21  bThey have made me jealous with what is no god;

they have provoked me to anger cwith their idols.

So dI will make them jealous with those who are no people;

I will provoke them to anger with ea foolish nation.

22  For fa fire is kindled by my anger,

and it burns to gthe depths of Sheol,

devours the earth and its increase,

and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23  And I will heap disasters upon them;

hI will spend my arrows on them;

24  they shall be wasted with hunger,

and devoured by plague

and poisonous pestilence;

I will send ithe teeth of beasts against them,

with the venom of jthings that crawl in the dust.

25  kOutdoors the sword shall bereave,

and indoors terror,

for young man and woman alike,

the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

26  lI would have said, I will cut them to pieces;

mI will wipe them from human memory,

27  had I not feared provocation by the enemy,

lest their adversaries should misunderstand,

lest they should say, nOur hand is triumphant,

it was not the Lord who did all this.

28  For they are a nation void of counsel,

and there is ono understanding in them.

29  pIf they were wise, they would understand this;

they would qdiscern their latter end!

30  How could rone have chased a thousand,

and two have put ten thousand to flight,

unless their Rock shad sold them,

and the Lord had given them up?

31  For ttheir rock is not as our Rock;

uour enemies are by themselves.

32  For their vine vcomes from the vine of Sodom

and from the fields of Gomorrah;

their grapes are grapes of wpoison;

their clusters are bitter;

33  their wine is the poison of xserpents

and the cruel venom of asps.

34  Is not this laid up in store with me,

ysealed up in my treasuries?

35  zVengeance is mine, and recompense,6

afor the time when their foot shall slip;

for bthe day of their calamity is at hand,

and their doom comes swiftly.

36  For cthe Lord will vindicate7 his people

dand have compassion on his servants,

when he sees that their power is gone

and there is none remaining, ebond or free.

37  Then he will say, fWhere are their gods,

gthe rock in which they took refuge,

38  who ate the fat of their sacrifices

and drank the wine of their drink offering?

Let them rise up and help you;

let them be your protection!

39  See now that hI, even I, am he,

and there is no god beside me;

iI kill and I make alive;

jI wound and I heal;

and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

40  For kI lift up my hand to heaven

and swear, As I live forever,

41  if I lsharpen my flashing sword8

and my hand takes hold on judgment,

I will take vengeance on my adversaries

and will repay those who hate me.

42  I will make my arrows drunk with blood,

and mmy sword shall devour flesh

with the blood of the slain and the captives,

from the nlong-haired heads of the enemy.

43  oRejoice with him, O heavens;9

bow down to him, all gods,10

for he pavenges the blood of his children11

and takes vengeance on his adversaries.

He repays those who hate him12

and cleanses13 his people’s land.14

44 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and qJoshua15 the son of Nun. 45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, rTake to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, sthat you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47 For it is no empty word for you, tbut your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.

Moses’ Death Foretold

48 That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, 49 Go up uthis mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. 50 And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as vAaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 wbecause you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. 52 For xyou shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.


Deuteronomy 33

Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel

This is the blessing with which Moses ythe man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. He said,

zThe Lord came from Sinai

and dawned from Seir upon us;1

he shone forth from Mount Paran;

he came afrom the ten thousands of holy ones,

with flaming fire2 at his right hand.

Yes, bhe loved his people,3

call his holy ones were in his4 hand;

dso they followed5 in your steps,

receiving direction from you,

when eMoses commanded us a law,

as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.

Thus the Lord6 fbecame king in gJeshurun,

when the heads of the people were gathered,

all the tribes of Israel together.

hLet Reuben live, and not die,

but let his men be few.

And this he said of Judah:

Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah,

and bring him in to his people.

With your hands contend7 for him,

and be a help against his adversaries.

And iof Levi he said,

Give to Levi8 jyour Thummim,

and your Urim to your godly one,

kwhom you tested at Massah,

with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah;

who said of his father and mother,

I regard them not;

lhe disowned his brothers

and ignored his children.

For mthey observed your word

and kept your covenant.

10  nThey shall teach Jacob your rules

and Israel your law;

othey shall put incense before you

and pwhole burnt offerings on your altar.

11  Bless, O Lord, his substance,

and qaccept the work of his hands;

crush the loins of his adversaries,

of those who hate him, that they rise not again.

12 rOf Benjamin he said,

The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety.

The High God9 surrounds him all day long,

and dwells between his shoulders.

13 And sof Joseph he said,

tBlessed by the Lord be his land,

with the choicest gifts of heaven uabove,10

and of the deep that crouches beneath,

14  with the choicest fruits of the sun

and the rich yield of the months,

15  with the finest produce of the ancient mountains

and the abundance of vthe everlasting hills,

16  with the best gifts of the earth and wits fullness

and the favor of xhim who dwells in the bush.

May these rest on the head of Joseph,

on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers.

17  yA firstborn bull11he has majesty,

and his horns are the horns of a zwild ox;

with them ahe shall gore the peoples,

all of them, to the ends of the earth;

bthey are the ten thousands of Ephraim,

and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

18 And of Zebulun he said,

cRejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,

and Issachar, in your tents.

19  They shall call peoples dto their mountain;

there they offer eright sacrifices;

for they draw from the abundance of the seas

and the hidden treasures of the sand.

20 And fof Gad he said,

Blessed be he who enlarges Gad!

Gad crouches glike a lion;

he tears off arm and scalp.

21  hHe chose the best of the land for himself,

for there a commander’s portion was reserved;

and ihe came with the heads of the people,

with Israel he executed the justice of the Lord,

and his judgments for Israel.

22 And jof Dan he said,

kDan is a lion’s cub

lthat leaps from Bashan.

23 And mof Naphtali he said,

O Naphtali, sated with favor,

and full of the blessing of the Lord,

npossess the lake12 and the south.

24 And oof Asher he said,

Most blessed of sons be Asher;

let him be the favorite of his brothers,

and let him pdip his foot in oil.

25  Your bars shall be iron and bronze,

and as your days, so shall your strength be.

26  qThere is none like God, O rJeshurun,

swho rides through the heavens to your help,

through the skies in his majesty.

27  The eternal God is your tdwelling place,13

and underneath are the everlasting arms.14

And he thrust out the enemy before you

and said, Destroy.

28  So Israel lived in safety,

uJacob lived valone,15

in a land of grain and wine,

whose heavens drop down dew.

29  Happy are you, O Israel! wWho is like you,

a people xsaved by the Lord,

ythe shield of your help,

and the sword of your triumph!

Your enemies shall come fawning to you,

and you shall tread upon their backs.


Deuteronomy 34

The Death of Moses

Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab ato Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah bas far as the western sea, cthe Negeb, and dthe Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho ethe city of palm trees, as far as fZoar. And the Lord said to him, gThis is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, I will give it to your offspring. hI have let you see it with your eyes, but iyou shall not go over there. So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but jno one knows the place of his burial to this day. kMoses was 120 years old when he died. lHis eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. And the people of Israel mwept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

And Joshua the son of Nun was full of nthe spirit of wisdom, for oMoses had laid his hands on him. So pthe people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. 10 And there has not qarisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, rwhom the Lord knew face to face, 11 none like him for all sthe signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.