Deuteronomy 31–32: The Torch Passed, and the Song of Moses

Scripture: Berean Standard Bible

When Moses had finished speaking these words to all Israel, he said to them, “I am now a hundred and twenty years old; I am no longer able to come and go, and the LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’

The LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will cross ahead of you, as the LORD has said. And the LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, when he destroyed them along with their land.

The LORD will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Then Moses called for Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. The LORD himself goes before you; he will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

So Moses wrote down 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.

Then Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of remission of debt, during the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes before the LORD your God at the place he will choose, you are to read this law in the hearing of all Israel.

Assemble the people—men, women, children, and the foreigners within your gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and to follow carefully all the words of this law. Then their children who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the time of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him.”

So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting. Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.

And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I have made with them.

On that day my anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide my face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them.

On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’

And on that day I will surely hide my face because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.

Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for me against them. When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject me and break my covenant. And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”

So that very day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites.

Then the LORD commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land that I swore to give them, and I will be with you.”

When Moses had finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD: “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you. For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are already rebelling against the LORD while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after my death!

Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officers so that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. And in the days to come, disaster will befall you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger by the work of your hands.”

Then Moses recited aloud to the whole assembly of Israel the words of this song from beginning to end:

Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.Let my teaching fall like rainand my speech settle like dew,like gentle rain on new grass,like showers on tender plants.For I will proclaim the name of the LORD.Ascribe greatness to our God!He is the Rock, his work is perfect;all his ways are just.A God of faithfulness without injustice,righteous and upright is he.

His people have acted corruptly toward him;the spot on them is not that of his children,but of a perverse and crooked generation.Is this how you repay the LORD,O foolish and senseless people?Is he not your Father and Creator?Has he not made you and established you?Remember the days of old;consider the years long past.Ask your father, and he will tell you,your elders, and they will inform you.When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,when he divided the sons of man,he set the boundaries of the peoplesaccording to the number of the sons of God.But the LORD’s portion is his people,Jacob his allotted inheritance.

He found him in a desert land,in a barren, howling wilderness;he surrounded him, he instructed him,he guarded him as the apple of his eye.As an eagle stirs up its nestand hovers over its young,he spread his wings to catch themand carried them on his pinions.The LORD alone led him,and no foreign god was with him.He made him ride on the heights of the landand fed him the produce of the field.He nourished him with honey from the rockand oil from the flinty crag,with curds from the herd and milk from the flock,with the fat of lambs,with rams from Bashan, and goats,with the choicest grains of wheat.From the juice of the finest grapesyou drank the wine.

But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged.He abandoned the God who made himand scorned the Rock of his salvation.They provoked his jealousy with foreign gods;they enraged him with abominations.They sacrificed to demons, not to God,to gods they had not known,to newly arrived gods,which your fathers did not fear.You ignored the Rock who brought you forth;you forgot the God who gave you birth.

When the LORD saw this, he rejected them,provoked to anger by his sons and daughters.He said: “I will hide my face from them;I will see what will be their end.For they are a perverse generation—children of unfaithfulness.They have provoked my jealousy by that which is not God;they have enraged me with their worthless idols.So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people;I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.For a fire has been kindled by my anger,and it burns to the depths of Sheol;it consumes the earth and its produce,and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

I will heap disasters upon them;I will spend my arrows against them.They will be wasted from hungerand ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague;I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them,with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.Outside, the sword will take their children,and inside, terror will strikethe young man and the young woman,the infant and the gray-haired man.I would have said that I would cut them to piecesand blot out their memory from mankind,if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy,lest their adversaries misunderstand and say:‘Our own hand has prevailed;it was not the LORD who did all this.’ ”

Israel is a nation devoid of counsel,with no understanding among them.If only they were wise, they would understand it;they would comprehend their fate.How could one man pursue a thousand,or two put ten thousand to flight,unless their Rock had sold them,unless the LORD had given them up?For their rock is not like our Rock,even our enemies concede.But their vine is from the vine of Sodomand from the fields of Gomorrah.Their grapes are poisonous;their clusters are bitter.Their wine is the venom of serpents,the deadly poison of cobras.

“Have I not stored up these things,sealed up within my vaults?Vengeance is mine; I will repay.In due time their foot will slip;for their day of disaster is near,and their doom is coming quickly.”

For the LORD will vindicate his peopleand have compassion on his servantswhen he sees that their strength is goneand no one remains, slave or free.He will say: “Where are their gods,the rock in which they took refuge,which ate the fat of their sacrificesand drank the wine of their drink offerings?Let them rise up and help you;let them give you shelter!

See now that I am he;there is no God besides me.I bring death and I give life;I wound and I heal,and there is no onewho can deliver from my hand.For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare:As surely as I live forever,when I sharpen my flashing sword,and my hand grasps it in judgment,I will take vengeance on my adversariesand repay those who hate me.I will make my arrows drunk with blood,while my sword devours flesh—the blood of the slain and captives,the heads of the enemy leaders.”

Rejoice, O heavens, with him,and let all God’s angels worship him.Rejoice, O nations, with his people;for he will avenge the blood of his children.He will take vengeance on his adversariesand repay those who hate him;he will cleanse his landand his people.

Then Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law. For they are not idle words to you, because they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

On that same day the LORD said to Moses, “Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession.

And there on the mountain that you climb, you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.

For at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites by failing to treat me as holy in their presence. Although you shall see from a distance the land that I am giving the Israelites, you shall not enter it.”