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Deuteronomy 31-32
Contemporary English Version
Deuteronomy 31-32
Contemporary English Version
Final Speeches and the Death of Moses
Joshua Is Appointed the Leader of Israel
31 Moses again spoke to the whole nation of Israel:
2 (A) I am 120 years old, and I am no longer able to be your leader. And besides that, the Lord your God has told me that he won't let me cross the Jordan River. 3-5 (B) But he has promised that he and Joshua will lead you across the Jordan to attack the nations that live on the other side. The Lord will destroy those nations just as he destroyed Sihon and Og, those two Amorite kings. Just remember—whenever you capture a place, kill everyone who lives there.
6 Be brave and strong! Don't be afraid of the nations on the other side of the Jordan. The Lord your God will always be at your side, and he will never abandon you.
7 Then Moses called Joshua up in front of the crowd and said:
Joshua, be brave and strong as you lead these people into their land. The Lord made a promise long ago to Israel's ancestors that this land would someday belong to Israel. That time has now come, and you must divide up the land among the people. 8 (C) The Lord will lead you into the land. He will always be with you and help you, so don't ever be afraid of your enemies.
Read These Laws
9 Moses wrote down all of these laws and teachings and gave them to the priests and the leaders of Israel. The priests were from the Levi tribe, and they carried the sacred chest that belonged to the Lord. 10-11 (D) Moses told these priests and leaders:
Each year the Israelites must come together to celebrate the Festival of Shelters at the place where the Lord chooses to be worshiped. You must read these laws and teachings to the people at the festival every seventh year, the year when loans do not need to be repaid.[a] 12-13 Everyone must come—men, women, children, and even the foreigners who live in your towns. And each new generation will listen and learn to worship the Lord their God with fear and trembling and to do exactly what is said in God's Law.
Israel Will Reject the Lord
14 The Lord told Moses, “You will soon die, so bring Joshua to the sacred tent, and I will appoint him the leader of Israel.”
Moses and Joshua went to the sacred tent, 15 and the Lord appeared in a thick cloud right over the entrance to the tent. 16 The Lord said:
Moses, you will soon die. But Israel is going into a land where other gods are worshiped, and Israel will reject me and start worshiping these gods. The people will break the agreement I made with them, 17 and I will be so furious that I will abandon them and ignore their prayers. I will send disasters and suffering that will nearly wipe them out. Finally, they will realize that the disasters happened because I abandoned them. 18 They will pray to me, but I will ignore them because they were evil and started worshiping other gods.
19 Moses and Joshua, I am going to give you the words to a new song. Write them down and teach the song to the Israelites. If they learn it, they will know what I want them to do, and so they will have no excuse for not obeying me. 20 I am bringing them into the land that I promised their ancestors. It is a land rich with milk and honey, and the Israelites will have more than enough food to eat. But they will get fat and turn their backs on me and start worshiping other gods. The Israelites will reject me and break the agreement that I made with them.
21 When I punish the Israelites and their descendants with suffering and disasters, I will remind them that they know the words to this song, so they have no excuse for not obeying me.
I will give them the land that I promised, but I know the way they are going to live later on.
22 Moses at once wrote down the words to the song,[b] and he taught it to the Israelites.
23 (E) The Lord told Joshua, “Be brave and strong! I will help you lead the people of Israel into the land that I have promised them.”
24 Moses wrote down all these laws and teachings in a book, 25 then he went to the Levites who carried the sacred chest and said:
26 This is The Book of God's Law. Keep it beside the sacred chest that holds the agreement the Lord your God made with Israel. This book is proof that you know what the Lord wants you to do. 27 I know how stubborn and rebellious you and the rest of the Israelites are. You have rebelled against the Lord while I have been alive, and it will only get worse after I am gone. 28 So call together the leaders and officials of the tribes of Israel. I will bring this book and read every word of it to you, and I will call the sky and the earth as witnesses that all of you know what you are supposed to do.
29 I am going to die soon, and I know that in the future you will stop caring about what is right and what is wrong, and so you will disobey the Lord and stop living the way I told you to live. The Lord will be angry, and terrible things will happen to you.
The Song of Moses
30 Moses called a meeting of all the people of Israel, so he could teach them the words to the song that the Lord had given him. And here are the words:
32 Earth and Sky,
listen to what I say!
2 Israel, I will teach you.
My words will be like gentle rain
on tender young plants,
or like dew on the grass.
3 Join with me in praising
the wonderful name
of the Lord our God.
4 The Lord is a mighty rock,[c]
and he never does wrong.
God can always be trusted
to bring justice.
5 But you lie and cheat
and are unfaithful to him.
You have disgraced yourselves
and are no longer worthy
to be his children.[d]
6 Israel, the Lord is your Father,
the one who created you,
but you repaid him
by being foolish.
7 Think about past generations.
Ask your parents
or any of your elders.
They will tell you
8 (F) that God Most High
gave land to every nation.
He assigned a guardian angel
to each of them,[e]
9 but the Lord himself
takes care of Israel.[f]
10 Israel, the Lord discovered you
in a barren desert
filled with howling winds.
God became your fortress,
protecting you as though
you were his own eyes.
11 The Lord was like an eagle
teaching its young to fly,
always ready to swoop down
and catch them on its back.
12 Israel, the Lord led you,
and without the aid
of a foreign god,
13 he helped you
capture the land.
Your fields were rich
with grain.
Olive trees grew
in your stony soil,
and honey was found
among the rocks.
14 Your flocks and herds
produced milk and yogurt,
and you got choice meat
from your sheep and goats
that grazed in Bashan.
Your wheat was the finest,
and you drank the best wine.
15 Israel,[g] you grew fat and rebelled
against God, your Creator
you rejected the Mighty Rock,[h]
your only place of safety.
16 You made God jealous and angry
by worshiping disgusting idols
and foreign gods.
17 (G) You offered sacrifices
to demons, those useless gods[i]
that never helped you,
new gods that your ancestors
never worshiped.
18 You turned away
from God, your Creator;
you forgot the Mighty Rock,[j]
the source of your life.
19 You were the Lord's children,
but you made him angry.
Then he rejected you 20 and said,
“You are unfaithful
and can't be trusted.
So I won't answer your prayers;
I'll just watch and see
what happens to you.
21 (H) You worshiped worthless idols,
and made me jealous
and angry!
Now I will send a cruel[k]
and worthless nation
to make you jealous and angry.
22 “My people, I will breathe out fire
that sends you down
to the world of the dead.
It will scorch your farmlands
and burn deep down
under the mountains.
23 I'll send disaster after disaster
to strike you like arrows.
24 You'll be struck by starvation
and deadly diseases,
by the fangs of wild animals
and poisonous snakes.
25 Young and old alike
will be killed in the streets
and terrified at home.
26 “I wanted to scatter you,
so no one would remember
that you had ever lived.
27 But I dreaded the sound
of your enemies saying,
‘We defeated Israel with no help
from the Lord.’ ”
28 People of Israel,
that's what the Lord
has said to you.
But you don't have good sense,
and you never listen
to advice.
29 If you did, you could see
where you are headed.
30 How could one enemy soldier
chase a thousand
of Israel's troops?
Or how could two of theirs
pursue ten thousand of ours?
It can only happen if the Lord
stops protecting Israel
and lets the enemy win.
31 Even our enemies know
that only our God
is a Mighty Rock.[l]
32 Our enemies are grapevines
rooted in the fields
of Sodom and Gomorrah.[m]
The grapes they produce
are full of bitter poison;
33 their wine is more deadly
than cobra venom.
34 But the Lord has written
a list of their sins
and locked it in his vault.
35 (I) Soon our enemies will get
what they deserve[n]—
suddenly they will slip,
and total disaster
will quickly follow.
36 (J) When only a few
of the Lord's people remain,
when their strength is gone,
and some of them are slaves,
the Lord will feel sorry for them
and give them justice.
37 But first the Lord will say,
“You ran for safety to other gods—
couldn't they help you?
38 You offered them wine
and your best sacrifices.
Can't those gods help you now
or give you protection?
39 Don't you understand?
I am the only God;
there are no others.
I am the one who takes life
and gives it again.
I punished you with suffering.
But now I will heal you,
and nothing can stop me!
40 “I make this solemn promise:
Just as I live forever,
41 I will take revenge
on my hateful enemies.
I will sharpen my sword
and let it flash
like lightning.
42 My arrows will get drunk
on enemy blood;
my sword will taste the flesh
and the blood of the enemy.
It will kill prisoners,
and cut off the heads
of their leaders.”[o]
43 (K) Tell the heavens to celebrate
and all gods to bow down
to the Lord,[p]
because he will take revenge
on those hateful enemies
who killed his people.
He will forgive the sins of Israel
and purify their land.[q]
44-45 Moses spoke the words of the song so that all the Israelites could hear, and Joshua[r] helped him. When Moses had finished, 46 he said, “Always remember this song I have taught you today. And let it be a warning that you must teach your children to obey everything written in The Book of God's Law. 47 The Law isn't empty words. It can give you a long life in the land that you are going to take.”
Moses Will See the Land
48 (L) Later that day the Lord said to Moses:
49 Go up into the Abarim Mountain range here in Moab across the Jordan River valley from Jericho. And when you reach the top of Mount Nebo, you will be able to see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to Israel. 50 Then you will die and be buried on the mountaintop, just as your brother Aaron died and was buried on Mount Hor. 51 Both of you were unfaithful to me at Meribah Spring near Kadesh in the Zin Desert.[s] I am God, but there in front of the Israelites, you did not treat me with the honor and respect I deserve. 52 So I will give the land to the people of Israel, but you will only get to see it from a distance.
Footnotes
- 31.10,11 every seventh year … repaid: See 15.1,2 and the note there.
- 31.22 the words to the song: See 32.1-43.
- 32.4 mighty rock: The Hebrew text has “rock,” which is sometimes used in poetry to compare the Lord to a mountain where his people can run for protection from their enemies.
- 32.5 and are unfaithful … children: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 32.8 He assigned … them: The Dead Sea Scrolls and one ancient translation; the Standard Hebrew Text “So there were as many nations as Israel (that is, Jacob) had children.”
- 32.9 Israel: The Hebrew text has “Jacob,” another name for Israel's ancestor.
- 32.15 Israel: The Standard Hebrew Text has “Jeshurun,” a rare name for Israel related to a word meaning “honest.” The Samaritan Hebrew Text and one ancient translation also use “Jacob,” another name for the ancestor of the nation of Israel.
- 32.15 Mighty Rock: See the note at 32.4.
- 32.16,17 disgusting idols … foreign gods … demons … those useless gods: Different ways of referring to gods of other nations.
- 32.18 Mighty Rock: See the note at 32.4.
- 32.21 cruel: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 32.31 Mighty Rock: See the note at 32.4.
- 32.32 Sodom and Gomorrah: Two cities that the Lord destroyed because their people were so evil (see Genesis 18.16—19.28).
- 32.35 our enemies … deserve: The Samaritan Hebrew Text and one ancient translation; the Standard Hebrew Text “I will pay them back.”
- 32.42 leaders: Or “long-haired warriors,” who let their hair grow to show that they had made sacred promises to their gods.
- 32.43 Tell … Lord: The Dead Sea Scrolls and one ancient translation; the Standard Hebrew Text “Let the nations, his people, celebrate.”
- 32.43 because he will … land: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 32.44,45 Joshua: The Hebrew text has “Hoshea,” another form of Joshua's name.
- 32.51 Both of you were unfaithful … the Zin Desert: See Numbers 20.1-13.
Deuteronomy 31-32
New International Version
Deuteronomy 31-32
New International Version
Joshua to Succeed Moses
31 Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: 2 “I am now a hundred and twenty years old(A) and I am no longer able to lead you.(B) The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’(C) 3 The Lord your God himself will cross(D) over ahead of you.(E) He will destroy these nations(F) before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross(G) over ahead of you, as the Lord said. 4 And the Lord will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og,(H) the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. 5 The Lord will deliver(I) them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous.(J) Do not be afraid or terrified(K) because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you;(L) he will never leave you(M) nor forsake(N) you.”
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said(O) to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them,(P) and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you;(Q) he will never leave you nor forsake you.(R) Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Public Reading of the Law
9 So Moses wrote(S) down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carried(T) the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts,(U) during the Festival of Tabernacles,(V) 11 when all Israel comes to appear(W) before the Lord your God at the place he will choose,(X) you shall read this law(Y) before them in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns—so they can listen and learn(Z) to fear(AA) the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. 13 Their children,(AB) who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Israel’s Rebellion Predicted
14 The Lord said to Moses, “Now the day of your death(AC) is near. Call Joshua(AD) and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, where I will commission him.(AE)” So Moses and Joshua came and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.(AF)
15 Then the Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.(AG) 16 And the Lord said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors,(AH) and these people will soon prostitute(AI) themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake(AJ) me and break the covenant I made with them. 17 And in that day I will become angry(AK) with them and forsake(AL) them; I will hide(AM) my face(AN) from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters(AO) and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’(AP) 18 And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.
19 “Now write(AQ) down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness(AR) for me against them. 20 When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors,(AS) and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods(AT) and worship them,(AU) rejecting me and breaking my covenant.(AV) 21 And when many disasters and calamities come on them,(AW) this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do,(AX) even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath.” 22 So Moses wrote(AY) down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.
23 The Lord gave this command(AZ) to Joshua son of Nun: “Be strong and courageous,(BA) for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you.”
24 After Moses finished writing(BB) in a book the words of this law(BC) from beginning to end, 25 he gave this command to the Levites who carried(BD) the ark of the covenant of the Lord: 26 “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. There it will remain as a witness against you.(BE) 27 For I know how rebellious(BF) and stiff-necked(BG) you are. If you have been rebellious against the Lord while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die! 28 Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to testify against them.(BH) 29 For I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt(BI) and to turn from the way I have commanded you. In days to come, disaster(BJ) will fall on you because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord and arouse his anger by what your hands have made.”
The Song of Moses
30 And Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel:
32 Listen,(BK) you heavens,(BL) and I will speak;
hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.(BM)
2 Let my teaching fall like rain(BN)
and my words descend like dew,(BO)
like showers(BP) on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.
3 I will proclaim(BQ) the name of the Lord.(BR)
Oh, praise the greatness(BS) of our God!
4 He is the Rock,(BT) his works are perfect,(BU)
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God(BV) who does no wrong,
upright(BW) and just is he.(BX)
5 They are corrupt and not his children;
to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation.(BY)
6 Is this the way you repay(BZ) the Lord,
you foolish(CA) and unwise people?(CB)
Is he not your Father,(CC) your Creator,[a]
who made you and formed you?(CD)
7 Remember the days of old;(CE)
consider the generations long past.(CF)
Ask your father and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will explain to you.(CG)
8 When the Most High(CH) gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided all mankind,(CI)
he set up boundaries(CJ) for the peoples
according to the number of the sons of Israel.[b](CK)
9 For the Lord’s portion(CL) is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.(CM)
10 In a desert(CN) land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.(CO)
He shielded(CP) him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,(CQ)
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,(CR)
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them aloft.(CS)
12 The Lord alone led(CT) him;(CU)
no foreign god was with him.(CV)
13 He made him ride on the heights(CW) of the land
and fed him with the fruit of the fields.
He nourished him with honey from the rock,(CX)
and with oil(CY) from the flinty crag,
14 with curds and milk from herd and flock
and with fattened lambs and goats,
with choice rams of Bashan(CZ)
and the finest kernels of wheat.(DA)
You drank the foaming blood of the grape.(DB)
15 Jeshurun[c](DC) grew fat(DD) and kicked;
filled with food, they became heavy and sleek.
They abandoned(DE) the God who made them
and rejected the Rock(DF) their Savior.
16 They made him jealous(DG) with their foreign gods
and angered(DH) him with their detestable idols.
17 They sacrificed(DI) to false gods,(DJ) which are not God—
gods they had not known,(DK)
gods that recently appeared,(DL)
gods your ancestors did not fear.
18 You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
you forgot(DM) the God who gave you birth.
19 The Lord saw this and rejected them(DN)
because he was angered by his sons and daughters.(DO)
20 “I will hide my face(DP) from them,” he said,
“and see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,(DQ)
children who are unfaithful.(DR)
21 They made me jealous(DS) by what is no god
and angered me with their worthless idols.(DT)
I will make them envious by those who are not a people;
I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.(DU)
22 For a fire will be kindled by my wrath,(DV)
one that burns down to the realm of the dead below.(DW)
It will devour(DX) the earth and its harvests(DY)
and set afire the foundations of the mountains.(DZ)
23 “I will heap calamities(EA) on them
and spend my arrows(EB) against them.
24 I will send wasting famine(EC) against them,
consuming pestilence(ED) and deadly plague;(EE)
I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts,(EF)
the venom of vipers(EG) that glide in the dust.(EH)
25 In the street the sword will make them childless;
in their homes terror(EI) will reign.(EJ)
The young men and young women will perish,
the infants and those with gray hair.(EK)
26 I said I would scatter(EL) them
and erase their name from human memory,(EM)
27 but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy,
lest the adversary misunderstand(EN)
and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed;
the Lord has not done all this.’”(EO)
28 They are a nation without sense,
there is no discernment(EP) in them.
29 If only they were wise and would understand this(EQ)
and discern what their end will be!(ER)
30 How could one man chase a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,(ES)
unless their Rock had sold them,(ET)
unless the Lord had given them up?(EU)
31 For their rock is not like our Rock,(EV)
as even our enemies concede.(EW)
32 Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom(EX)
and from the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are filled with poison,(EY)
and their clusters with bitterness.(EZ)
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
the deadly poison of cobras.(FA)
34 “Have I not kept this in reserve
and sealed it in my vaults?(FB)
35 It is mine to avenge;(FC) I will repay.(FD)
In due time their foot will slip;(FE)
their day of disaster is near
and their doom rushes upon them.(FF)”
36 The Lord will vindicate his people(FG)
and relent(FH) concerning his servants(FI)
when he sees their strength is gone
and no one is left, slave(FJ) or free.[d]
37 He will say: “Now where are their gods,
the rock they took refuge in,(FK)
38 the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?(FL)
Let them rise up to help you!
Let them give you shelter!
39 “See now that I myself am he!(FM)
There is no god besides me.(FN)
I put to death(FO) and I bring to life,(FP)
I have wounded and I will heal,(FQ)
and no one can deliver out of my hand.(FR)
40 I lift my hand(FS) to heaven and solemnly swear:
As surely as I live forever,(FT)
41 when I sharpen my flashing sword(FU)
and my hand grasps it in judgment,
I will take vengeance(FV) on my adversaries
and repay those who hate me.(FW)
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,(FX)
while my sword devours flesh:(FY)
the blood of the slain and the captives,
the heads of the enemy leaders.”
43 Rejoice,(FZ) you nations, with his people,[e][f]
for he will avenge the blood of his servants;(GA)
he will take vengeance on his enemies(GB)
and make atonement for his land and people.(GC)
44 Moses came with Joshua[g](GD) son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. 45 When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day,(GE) so that you may command(GF) your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. 47 They are not just idle words for you—they are your life.(GG) By them you will live long(GH) in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Moses to Die on Mount Nebo
48 On that same day the Lord told Moses,(GI) 49 “Go up into the Abarim(GJ) Range to Mount Nebo(GK) in Moab, across from Jericho,(GL) and view Canaan,(GM) the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession. 50 There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die(GN) and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died(GO) on Mount Hor(GP) and was gathered to his people. 51 This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh(GQ) in the Desert of Zin(GR) and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites.(GS) 52 Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance;(GT) you will not enter(GU) the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 32:6 Or Father, who bought you
- Deuteronomy 32:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) sons of God
- Deuteronomy 32:15 Jeshurun means the upright one, that is, Israel.
- Deuteronomy 32:36 Or and they are without a ruler or leader
- Deuteronomy 32:43 Or Make his people rejoice, you nations
- Deuteronomy 32:43 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) people, / and let all the angels worship him, /
- Deuteronomy 32:44 Hebrew Hoshea, a variant of Joshua
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