Deuteronomy 31

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The Covenant Renewed in Moab

29 1 These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel cin the land of Moab, besides dthe covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.

2 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: eYou have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great ftrials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. But to this day gthe Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. hI have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. iYou have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. And when you came to this place, jSihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. We took their land and kgave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. lTherefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper3 in all that you do.

10 You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes,4 your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the msojourner who is in your camp, from nthe one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the osworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 that he may pestablish you today as his people, and that qhe may be your God, as he promised you, and ras he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 It is not with you alone sthat I am making this sworn covenant, 15 but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, tand with whoever is not here with us today.

16 You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. 17 And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. 18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you ua root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart. This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather vthe anger of the Lord and whis jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord xwill blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. 22 And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, ywill say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick 23 the whole land burned out with brimstone and zsalt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, aan overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, bAdmah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath 24 all the nations cwill say, dWhy has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger? 25 Then people will say, It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, 26 and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. 27 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, ebringing upon it all the curses written in this book, 28 and the Lord fuprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and gcast them into another land, as they are this day.

29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Repentance and Forgiveness

30 hAnd iwhen all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and jyou call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and kreturn to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God lwill restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will mgather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. nIf your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. oAnd he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And pthe Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, qso that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. rThe Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. sFor the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Choice of Life and Death

11 For this commandment that I command you today tis not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 uIt is not in heaven, that you should say, Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

15 See, vI have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God1 that I command you today, wby loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,2 then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if xyour heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 yI declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, zblessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice aand holding fast to him, for bhe is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in cthe land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Joshua to Succeed Moses

31 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. And he said to them, I am d120 years old today. I am no longer able to ego out and come in. The Lord has said to me, fYou shall not go over this Jordan. The Lord your God ghimself 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, has the Lord has spoken. And the Lord will do to them ias he did to Sihon jand Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them kaccording to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. lBe strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, mfor it is the Lord your God who goes with you. nHe will not leave you or forsake you.

Then oMoses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, lBe 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. It is the Lord pwho goes before you. He will be with you; nhe will not leave you or forsake you. qDo not fear or be dismayed.

The Reading of the Law

Then Moses rwrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, swho carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, tAt the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at uthe Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes vto appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, wyou shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 xAssemble 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, ywho have not known it, zmay hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, aas long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.

Joshua Commissioned to Lead Israel

14 And the Lord said to Moses, bBehold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that cI may commission him. And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. 15 And dthe Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.

16 And the Lord said to Moses, bBehold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and ewhore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will fforsake me and gbreak my covenant that I have made with them. 17 Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and hI will forsake them and ihide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, jHave not these evils come upon us because kour God is not among us? 18 And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because lthey have turned to other gods.

19 Now therefore write mthis song and nteach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be oa witness for me against the people of Israel. 20 For when I have brought them into the land pflowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and qgrown fat, rthey will turn to other gods and serve them, and sdespise me and gbreak my covenant. 21 And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as ta witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For uI know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give. 22 So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.

23 vAnd the Lord1 commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, wBe strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. xI will be with you.

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:

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.

Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel

33 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.