So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. And he
said to them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go
out and come in. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not go over
this Jordan.’ The LORD your God himself 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, as the LORD has spoken.
And the LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and 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 according
to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. Be strong and
courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD
your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all
Israel, “Be 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 who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave
you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of
Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all
the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, “At the end of
every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the
Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD
your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law
before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble 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, and that their children, who have
not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long
as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to
possess.”
And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the days approach when you
must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of
meeting, that I may commission him.” And Moses and Joshua went and
presented themselves in the tent of meeting. And the LORD appeared
in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood
over the entrance of the tent.
And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down
with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the
foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and
they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with
them. Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I
will forsake them and hide 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, ‘Have not these evils come upon us
because our God is not among us?’ And I will surely hide my face in
that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they
have turned to other gods.
“Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of
Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for
me against the people of Israel. For when I have brought them into
the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to
their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they
will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my
covenant. And when many evils and troubles have come upon them,
this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live
unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For I know what they
are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the
land that I swore to give.” So Moses wrote this song the same day
and taught it to the people of Israel.
And the LORD commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, “Be
strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel
into the land that I swore to give them. I will be with you.”
When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book
to the very end, Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of
the covenant of the LORD, “Take this Book of the Law and put it by
the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it
may be there for a witness against you. For I know how rebellious
and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with
you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after
my death! Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your
officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call
heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my
death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way
that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall
you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD,
provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”
Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished,
in the ears of all the assembly of Israel:
