Deuteronomy 31-34
Living Bible
31 After Moses had said all these things to the people of Israel, 2 he told them, “I am now 120 years old! I am no longer able to lead you,[a] for the Lord has told me that I shall not cross the Jordan River. 3 But the Lord himself will lead you and will destroy the nations living there, and you shall overcome them. Joshua is your new commander, as the Lord has instructed. 4 The Lord will destroy the nations living in the land, just as he destroyed Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites. 5 The Lord will deliver over to you the people living there, and you shall destroy them as I have commanded you. 6 Be strong! Be courageous! Do not be afraid of them! For the Lord your God will be with you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you.”
7 Then Moses called for Joshua and said to him, as all Israel watched, “Be strong! Be courageous! For you shall lead these people into the land promised by the Lord to their ancestors; see to it that they conquer it. 8 Don’t be afraid, for the Lord will go before you and will be with you; he will not fail nor forsake you.”
9 Then Moses wrote out the laws he had already delivered to the people and gave them to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the Ark containing the Ten Commandments of the Lord. Moses also gave copies of the laws to the elders of Israel. 10-11 The Lord commanded that these laws be read to all the people at the end of every seventh year—the Year of Release—at the Festival of Tabernacles, when all Israel would assemble before the Lord at the sanctuary.
12 “Call them all together,” the Lord instructed, “—men, women, children, and foreigners living among you—to hear the laws of God and to learn his will, so that you will reverence the Lord your God and obey his laws. 13 Do this so that your little children who have not known these laws will hear them and learn how to revere the Lord your God as long as you live in the Promised Land.”
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The time has come when you must die. Summon Joshua and come into the Tabernacle where I can give him his instructions.” So Moses and Joshua came and stood before the Lord.
15 He appeared to them in a great cloud at the Tabernacle entrance, 16 and said to Moses, “You shall die and join your ancestors. After you are gone, these people will begin worshiping foreign gods in the Promised Land. They will forget about me and break the contract I have made with them. 17 Then my anger will flame out against them and I will abandon them, hiding my face from them, and they shall be destroyed. Terrible trouble will come upon them, so that they will say, ‘God is no longer among us!’ 18 I will turn away from them because of their sins in worshiping other gods.
19 “Now write down the words of this song, and teach it to the people of Israel as my warning to them. 20 When I have brought them into the land I promised their ancestors—a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’—and when they have become fat and prosperous, and worship other gods and despise me and break my contract, 21 and great disasters come upon them, then this song will remind them of the reason for their woes. (For this song will live from generation to generation.) I know now, even before they enter the land, what these people are like.”
22 So, on that very day, Moses wrote down the words of the song and taught it to the Israelites. 23 Then he charged Joshua (son of Nun) to be strong and courageous and said to him, “You must bring the people of Israel into the land the Lord promised them; for the Lord says, ‘I will be with you.’”
24 When Moses had finished writing down all the laws that are recorded in this book, 25 he instructed the Levites who carried the Ark containing the Ten Commandments 26 to put this book of the law beside the Ark, as a solemn warning to the people of Israel.
27 “For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are,” Moses told them. “If even today, while I am still here with you, you are defiant rebels against the Lord, how much more rebellious will you be after my death! 28 Now summon all the elders and officers of your tribes so that I can speak to them, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 I know that after my death you will utterly defile yourselves and turn away from God and his commands; and in the days to come evil will crush you for you will do what the Lord says is evil, making him very angry.”
30 So Moses recited this entire song to the whole assembly of Israel:
32 “Listen, O heavens and earth!
Listen to what I say!
2 My words shall fall upon you
Like the gentle rain and dew,
Like rain upon the tender grass,
Like showers on the hillside.
3 I will proclaim the greatness of the Lord.
How glorious he is!
4 He is the Rock. His work is perfect.
Everything he does is just and fair.
He is faithful, without sin.
5 But Israel has become corrupt,
Smeared with sin. They are no longer his;
They are a stubborn, twisted generation.
6 Is this the way you treat Jehovah?
O foolish people,
Is not God your Father?
Has he not created you?
Has he not established you and made you strong?
7 Remember the days of long ago!
(Ask your father and the aged men;
They will tell you all about it.)
8 When God divided up the world among the nations,
He gave each of them a supervising angel!
9 But he appointed none for Israel;
For Israel was God’s own personal possession!
10 God protected them in the howling wilderness
As though they were the apple of his eye.
11 He spreads his wings over them,
Even as an eagle overspreads her young.
She carries them upon her wings—
As does the Lord his people!
12 When the Lord alone was leading them,
And they lived without foreign gods,
13 God gave them fertile hilltops,
Rolling, fertile fields,
Honey from the rock,
And olive oil from stony ground![b]
14 He gave them milk and meat—
Choice Bashan rams, and goats—
And the finest of the wheat;
They drank the sparkling wine.
15 But Israel[c] was soon overfed;
Yes, fat and bloated;
Then, in plenty, they forsook their God.
They shrugged away the Rock of their salvation.
16 Israel began to follow foreign gods,
And Jehovah was very angry;
He was jealous of his people.
17 They sacrificed to heathen gods,
To new gods never before worshiped.
18 They spurned the Rock who had made them,
Forgetting it was God who had given them birth.
19 God saw what they were doing,
And detested them!
His sons and daughters were insulting him.
20 He said, ‘I will abandon them;
See what happens to them then!
For they are a stubborn, faithless generation.
21 They have made me very jealous of their idols,
Which are not gods at all.
Now I, in turn, will make them jealous
By giving my affections
To the foolish Gentile nations of the world.
22 For my anger has kindled a fire
That burns to the depths of the underworld,
Consuming the earth and all of its crops,
And setting its mountains on fire.
23 I will heap evils upon them
And shoot them down with my arrows.
24 I will waste them with hunger,
Burning fever, and fatal disease.
I will devour them! I will set wild beasts upon them,
To rip them apart with their teeth;
And deadly serpents
Crawling in the dust.
25 Outside, the enemies’ sword—
Inside, the plague[d]—
Shall terrorize young men and girls alike;
The baby nursing at the breast,
And aged men.
26 I had decided to scatter them to distant lands,
So that even the memory of them
Would disappear.
27 But then I thought,
“My enemies will boast,
‘Israel is destroyed by our own might;
It was not the Lord
Who did it!’”
28 Israel is a stupid nation;
Foolish, without understanding.
29 Oh, that they were wise!
Oh, that they could understand!
Oh, that they would know what they are getting into!
30 How could one single enemy chase a thousand of them,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their Rock had abandoned them,
Unless the Lord had destroyed them?
31 But the rock of other nations
Is not like our Rock;
Prayers to their gods are valueless.
32 They act like men of Sodom and Gomorrah:
Their deeds[e] are bitter with poison;
33 They drink the wine of serpent venom.
34 But Israel[f] is my special people,
Sealed as jewels within my treasury.
35 Vengeance is mine,
And I decree the punishment of all her enemies:
Their doom is sealed.
36 The Lord will see his people righted,
And will have compassion on them when they slip.
He will watch their power ebb away,
Both slave and free.
37 Then God will ask,
‘Where are their gods—
The rocks they claimed to be their refuge?
38 Where are these gods now,
To whom they sacrificed their fat and wine?
Let those gods arise,
And help them!
39 Don’t you see that I alone am God?
I kill and make live.
I wound and heal—
No one delivers from my power.
40-41 I raise my hand to heaven
And vow by my existence,
That I will whet the lightning of my sword!
And hurl my punishments upon my enemies!
42 My arrows shall be drunk with blood!
My sword devours the flesh and blood
Of all the slain and captives.
The heads of the enemy
Are gory with blood.’
43 Praise his people,
Gentile nations,
For he will avenge his people,
Taking vengeance on his enemies,
Purifying his land
And his people.”
44-45 When Moses and Joshua had recited all the words of this song to the people, 46 Moses made these comments:
“Meditate upon all the laws I have given you today, and pass them on to your children. 47 These laws are not mere words—they are your life! Through obeying them you will live long, plentiful lives in the land you are going to possess across the Jordan River.”
48 That same day, the Lord said to Moses, 49 “Go to Mount Nebo in the mountains of Abarim, in the land of Moab across from Jericho. Climb to its heights and look out across the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the people of Israel. 50 After you see the land, you must die and join your ancestors, just as Aaron, your brother, died in Mount Hor and joined them. 51 For you dishonored me among the people of Israel at the springs of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin. 52 You will see spread out before you the land I am giving the people of Israel, but you will not enter it.”
33 This is the blessing Moses, the man of God, gave to the people of Israel before his death:
2 “The Lord came to us at Mount Sinai,
And dawned upon us from Mount Seir;
He shone from Mount Paran,
Surrounded by ten thousands of holy angels,[g]
And with flaming fire at his right hand.
3 How he loves his people—
His holy ones are in his hands.
They followed in your steps, O Lord.
They have received their directions from you.
4 The laws I have given
Are your precious possession.
5 The Lord became king in Jerusalem,
Elected by a convocation of the leaders of the tribes!
6 Let Reuben live forever
And may his tribe increase!”
7 And Moses said of Judah:
“O Lord, hear the cry of Judah
And unite him with Israel;
Fight for him against his enemies.”
8 Then Moses said concerning the tribe of Levi:
“Give to godly Levi
Your Urim and your Thummim.
You tested Levi at Massah and at Meribah;
9 He obeyed your instructions
and destroyed many sinners,[h]
Even his own children, brothers, fathers, and mothers.
10 The Levites shall teach God’s laws to Israel
And shall work before you at the incense altar
And the altar of burnt offering.
11 O Lord, prosper the Levites
And accept the work they do for you.
Crush those who are their enemies;
Don’t let them rise again.”
12 Concerning the tribe of Benjamin, Moses said:
“He is beloved of God
And lives in safety beside him.
God surrounds him with his loving care,
And preserves him from every harm.”
13 Concerning the tribe of Joseph, he said:
“May his land be blessed by God
With the choicest gifts of heaven
And of the earth that lies below.
14 May he be blessed
With the best of what the sun makes grow;
Growing richly month by month,
15 With the finest of mountain crops
And of the everlasting hills.
16 May he be blessed with the best gifts
Of the earth and its fullness,
And with the favor of God who appeared
In the burning bush.
Let all these blessings come upon Joseph,
The prince among his brothers.
17 He is a young bull in strength and splendor,
With the strong horns of a wild ox
To push against the nations everywhere;
This is my blessing on the multitudes of Ephraim
And the thousands of Manasseh.”
18 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Moses said:
“Rejoice, O Zebulun, you outdoorsmen,
And Issachar, you lovers of your tents;
19 They shall summon the people
To celebrate their sacrifices with them.
Lo, they taste the riches of the sea
And the treasures of the sand.”
20 Concerning the tribe of Gad, Moses said:
“A blessing upon those who help Gad.
He crouches like a lion,
With savage arm and face and head.
21 He chose the best of the land for himself
Because it is reserved for a leader.
He led the people
Because he carried out God’s penalties for Israel.”
22 Of the tribe of Dan, Moses said:
“Dan is like a lion’s cub
Leaping out from Bashan.”
23 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Moses said:
“O Naphtali, you are satisfied
With all the blessings of the Lord;
The Mediterranean coast and the Negeb
Are your home.”
24 Of the tribe of Asher:
“Asher is a favorite son,
Esteemed above his brothers;
He bathes his feet in oil.
25 May you be protected with strong bolts
Of iron and bronze,
And may your strength match the length of your days!
26 There is none like the God of Jerusalem—
He descends from the heavens
In majestic splendor to help you.
27 The eternal God is your refuge,
And underneath are the everlasting arms.
He thrusts out your enemies before you;
It is he who cries, ‘Destroy them!’
28 So Israel dwells safely,
Prospering in a land of corn and wine,
While the gentle rains descend from heaven.
29 What blessings are yours, O Israel!
Who else has been saved by the Lord?
He is your shield and your helper!
He is your excellent sword!
Your enemies shall bow low before you,
And you shall trample on their backs!”
34 Then Moses climbed from the plains of Moab to Pisgah Peak in Mount Nebo, across from Jericho. And the Lord pointed out to him the Promised Land, as they gazed out across Gilead as far as Dan:
2 “There is Naphtali; and there is Ephraim and Manasseh; and across there, Judah, extending to the Mediterranean Sea; 3 there is the Negeb; and the Jordan Valley; and Jericho, the city of palm trees; and Zoar,” the Lord told him.
4 “It is the Promised Land,” the Lord told Moses. “I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that I would give it to their descendants. Now you have seen it, but you will not enter it.”
5 So Moses, the disciple of the Lord, died in the land of Moab as the Lord had said. 6 The Lord buried him in a valley near Beth-peor in Moab, but no one knows the exact place.
7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was perfect and he was as strong as a young man. 8 The people of Israel mourned for him for thirty days on the plains of Moab.
9 Joshua (son of Nun) was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; so the people of Israel obeyed him and followed the commandments the Lord had given to Moses.
10 There has never been another prophet like Moses, for the Lord talked to him face to face. 11-12 And at God’s command he performed amazing miracles that have never been equaled.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 31:2 I am no longer able to lead you, literally, “I am no longer able to go out and come in.”
- Deuteronomy 32:13 oil from stony ground, or “oil from flinty rocks.”
- Deuteronomy 32:15 Israel, literally, “Jeshurun.”
- Deuteronomy 32:25 the plague, implied.
- Deuteronomy 32:32 deeds, literally, “grapes.”
- Deuteronomy 32:34 Israel, implied.
- Deuteronomy 33:2 holy angels, literally, “holy ones.”
- Deuteronomy 33:9 and destroyed many sinners, implied.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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