Revised
Standard Version of the Holy Bible
Deuteronomy
Chapter 31 (Revised Standard Version)
Deuteronomy 31
1 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel.
2 And he said to them, "I am a hundred and twenty years old this
day; I am no longer able to go out and come in. The LORD has said to me,
'You shall not go over this Jordan.'
3 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.
4 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.
5 And the LORD will give them over to you, and you shall do to them
according to all the commandment which I have commanded you.
6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be in dread of them for
it is the LORD your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake
you."
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all
Israel, "Be strong and of good courage; for you shall go with this
people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give
them; and you shall put them in possession of it.
8 It is the LORD who goes before you; he will be with you, he will
not fail you or forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed."
9 And 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.
10 And Moses commanded them, "At the end of every seven years,
at the set time of the year of release, at the feast of booths,
11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the
place which he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in
their hearing.
12 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,
13 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 which you are
going over the Jordan to possess."
14 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.
15 And the LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud; and the
pillar of cloud stood by the door of the tent.
16 And the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, you are about to sleep
with your fathers; then this people will rise and play the harlot after
the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and they
will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them.
17 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?'
18 And I will surely hide my face in that day on account of all the
evil which they have done, because they have turned to other gods.
19 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.
20 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.
21 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 descendants); for I know the purposes which they are
already forming, 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 And the LORD commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, "Be
strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel
into the land which I swore to give them I will be with you."
24 When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book,
to the very end,
25 Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of
the LORD,
26 "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.
27 For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are; behold, while I am
yet alive with you, today you 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 these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to
witness against them.
29 For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly, and
turn aside from the way which 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."
30 Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished,
in the ears of all the assembly of Israel:
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