Deuteronomy 31
1 And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel.
2 And he said unto them, I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no
more go out and come in: and Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over
this Jordan.
3 Jehovah thy God, he will go over before thee; he will destroy these nations
from before thee, and thou shalt dispossess them: [and] Joshua, he shall go over
before thee, as Jehovah hath spoken.
4 And Jehovah will do unto them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the
Amorites, and unto their land; whom he destroyed.
5 And Jehovah will deliver them up before you, and ye shall do unto them
according unto all the commandment which I have commanded you.
6 Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be affrighted at them: for
Jehovah thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor
forsake thee.
7 And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be
strong and of good courage: for thou shalt go with this people into the land
which Jehovah hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause
them to inherit it.
8 And Jehovah, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will
not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi,
that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and unto all the elders of Israel.
10 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of [every] seven years, in the
set time of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,
11 when all Israel is come to appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which
he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
12 Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and thy
sojourner that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn,
and fear Jehovah your God, and observe to do all the words of this law;
13 and that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear
Jehovah your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over the Jordan
to possess it.
14 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die:
call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may give him
a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of
meeting.
15 And Jehovah appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud: and the pillar of
cloud stood over the door of the Tent.
16 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and
this people will rise up, and play the harlot after the strange gods of the
land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my
covenant which I have made with them.
17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake
them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many
evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day, Are
not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?
18 And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they shall
have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.
19 Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach thou it the children of
Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against
the children of Israel.
20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their
fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they shall have eaten and filled
themselves, and waxed fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them,
and despise me, and break my covenant.
21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are come upon them,
that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be
forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which
they frame this day, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.
22 So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.
23 And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of good
courage; for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware
unto them: and I will be with thee.
24 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this
law in a book, until they were finished,
25 that Moses commanded the Levites, that bare the ark of the covenant of
Jehovah, saying,
26 Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant
of Jehovah your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.
27 For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive
with you this day, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah; and how much more
after my death?
28 Assemble unto 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.
29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn
aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the
latter days; because ye will do that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah, to
provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.
30 And Moses spake in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this
song, until they were finished.