Deuteronomy 31
He Will Not Leave You nor Forsake You
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Moses’ Final Encouragement
31:1Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel’s sons.
31:2He said: Today I am one hundred and twenty years old. I can no longer come in and go out, and the Lord told me, You shall not cross this Jordan.
31:3The Lord your God, who goes ahead of you, will Himself destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of them. Joshua goes ahead of you, as the Lord said.
31:4The Lord will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan, and their land, when He destroyed them.
31:5The Lord handed them over to you, and you shall deal with them as I commanded you.
31:6Be courageous and strong. Do not fear, be timid, or be terrified of them, for the Lord your God goes ahead with you, among you. He will certainly not let you go or abandon you.
Commissioning of Joshua
31:7Moses summoned Joshua and said before all Israel: Be courageous and strong, for you will enter ahead of this people into the land the Lord swore to our fathers to give them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance.
31:8The Lord goes with you. He will not let you go or abandon you. Do not fear or be timid.
The Writing and Reading of the Law
31:9Moses wrote the words of this law in a book and gave it to the priests, Levi’s sons, who carry the Lord’s covenant ark, and to the elders of Israel’s sons.
31:10That day Moses commanded them: After seven years, at the time of the year of release, at the Feast of Booths,
31:11when all Israel comes together to appear before the Lord your God at the place the Lord chooses, read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
31:12Assemble the people—men, women, offspring, and the resident foreigner within your cities—so that they hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and they will heed and perform all the words of this law.
31:13Their children who do not know shall hear and learn to fear the Lord your God all the days they live on the land you are crossing the Jordan to inherit.
The Song as a Witness and Final Charge
31:14The Lord said to Moses: Your time to die has drawn near. Summon Joshua and stand beside the doors of the Tent of Testimony, and I will commission him. Moses and Joshua went to the Tent of Testimony and stood beside the doors of the Tent of Testimony.
31:15The Lord descended in a cloud and stood beside the doors of the Tent of Testimony, and the pillar of cloud stood beside the tent’s doors.
31:16The Lord said to Moses: You are about to sleep with your fathers. This people will rise and prostitute itself after the foreign gods of the land it is entering. They will abandon Me and dissolve the covenant I made with them.
31:17I will burn with anger against them that day. I will abandon them and turn My face from them. It will be devoured, and many calamities and afflictions will find it. That day it will say: These calamities found me because the Lord my God is not within me.
31:18I will surely turn My face away from them that day because of all the evils they have done by turning to foreign gods.
31:19Now write the words of this song and teach it to Israel’s sons. Put it in their mouth, so that this song may be My witness among Israel’s sons.
31:20I will bring them into the good land I swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. They will eat, be filled, and become sated, then turn to foreign gods and worship them. They will provoke Me and dissolve My covenant.
31:21This song will stand opposed as a witness before them, for it will not be forgotten from their mouth or their offspring’s mouth. I know their wickedness, what they do here today, before I bring them into the good land I swore to their fathers.
31:22Moses wrote this song that day and taught it to Israel’s sons.
31:23Moses commissioned Joshua: Be courageous and strong, for you will bring Israel’s sons into the land the Lord swore to them, and He will be with you.
31:24When Moses finished writing all the words of this law in a book, to their very end,
31:25he commanded the Levites who carry the Lord’s covenant ark:
31:26Take this book of the law and place it beside the Lord your God’s covenant ark, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.
31:27I know your provocation and stiff neck. While I am still alive with you today, you have provoked God; how much more after my death!
31:28Assemble your tribal leaders, elders, judges, and court scribes before me, so that I may speak all these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth as witnesses against them.
31:29I know that after my death you will act utterly lawlessly and turn from the way I commanded you.
Calamities will meet you in the last days, because you will do evil before the Lord, provoking Him through your handiwork.
31:30Moses spoke the words of this song to their end in the hearing of Israel’s entire assembly.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.