Joshua Commissioned to Lead Israel
14 And the LORD said to Moses,
1"Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that
2I may commission him." And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting.
15
And
3the LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.
16
And the LORD said to Moses,
4"Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and
5whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will
6forsake me and
7break my covenant that I have made with them.
17
Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and
8I will forsake them and
9hide 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,
10'Have not these evils come upon us because
11our God is not among us?'
18
And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because
12they have turned to other gods.
19
"Now therefore write
13this song and
14teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be
15a witness for me against the people of Israel.
20
For when I have brought them into the land
16flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and
17grown fat,
18they will turn to other gods and serve them, and
19despise me and
20break my covenant.
21
And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as
21a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For
22I know what they are inclined to do even today, 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
23And the LORD commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said,
24"Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them.
25I will be with you."
24
When Moses had finished
26writing the words of this law in a book to the very end,
25
Moses commanded
27the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD,
26
"Take this Book of the Law
28and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for
29a witness against you.
27
For I know how rebellious and
30stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you,
31you 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
32these words in their ears and
33call heaven and earth to witness against them.
29
For I know that after my death
34you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And
35in the days to come
36evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD,
37provoking him to anger through the work of your hands."