Deuteronomy 31:1-29

Moses' Last Counsel

1 So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.

2 And he said to them, "I am ¹a hundred and twenty years old today; ²I am no longer able to come and go, and the LORD has said to me, '³You shall not cross this Jordan.'

3 "⁴It is the LORD your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. ⁵Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just as the LORD has spoken.

4 "The LORD will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them.

5 "⁶The LORD will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you.

6 "⁷Be strong and courageous, ⁸do not be afraid or tremble at them, for ⁹the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. ¹⁰He will not fail you or forsake you."

7 Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "¹¹Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.

8 "¹²The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. ¹³He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."

9 So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi ¹⁴who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.

10 Then Moses commanded them, saying, "At the end of every seven years, at the time of ¹⁵the year of remission of debts, at the ¹⁶Feast of Booths,

11 when all Israel comes ¹⁷to appear before the LORD your God at ¹⁸the place which He will choose, ¹⁹you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.

12 "Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and ²⁰learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law.

13 "Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long * as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess."

Israel Will Fall Away

14 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, ²¹the time for you to die is near; call Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may commission him." ²²So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

15 ²³The LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the doorway of the tent.

16 The LORD said to Moses, "Behold, ²⁴you are about to lie down with your fathers; and ²⁵this people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and ²⁶will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

17 "²⁷Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and ²⁸I will forsake them and ²⁹hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that they will say in that day, '³⁰Is it not because * our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?'

18 "But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods.

19 "Now therefore, ³¹write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel.

20 "³²For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and ³³become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.

21 "Then it shall come about, ³⁴when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants ); for ³⁵I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore."

22 ³⁶So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.

Joshua Is Commissioned

23 ³⁷Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, "³⁸Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and ³⁹I will be with you."

24 It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete,

25 that Moses commanded the Levites ⁴⁰who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying,

26 "Take this book of the law and place it beside * the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you.

27 "For I know ⁴¹your rebellion and ⁴²your stubbornness *; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the LORD; how much * more *, then, after my death?

28 "Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and ⁴³call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.

29 "For I know that after my death you will ⁴⁴act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands."

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Deuteronomy 31:1-29 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 31

Moses being old, and knowing he should quickly die, and must not go over Jordan with the people of Israel, acquaints them with it, and encourages them and Joshua to go over notwithstanding, and not be afraid of their enemies, since the Lord would go with them, and deliver them into their hands, De 31:1-8; and having written the law, he delivered it to the priests, and ordered that it should be read at the end of every seven years before all the people, that they and theirs might learn it, and fear the Lord, De 31:9-13; and whereas the death of Moses was very near, and the Lord foreseeing the people would quickly fall into idolatry, which would bring great calamities upon them, he directed Moses to write a song, which should be a witness for him, and against them, in ages to come; which Moses accordingly did, De 31:14-22; and Moses having given a charge to Joshua, and finished the writing of the law in a book, gave it to the Levites to put it in the side of the ark, De 31:23-27; and then ordered the chief of the tribes to be gathered together, that he might deliver the song, which by the direction and under the inspiration of God he had written, De 31:28-30; which song is recorded in De 32:1-43.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 44

1. Deuteronomy 34:7
2. Numbers 27:17; 1 Kings 3:7
3. Deuteronomy 1:37; Deuteronomy 3:27
4. Deuteronomy 9:3
5. Numbers 27:18
6. Deuteronomy 7:2
7. Joshua 10:25; 1 Chronicles 22:13
8. Deuteronomy 1:29; Deuteronomy 7:18; Deuteronomy 20:1
9. Deuteronomy 20:4
10. Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5
11. Deuteronomy 1:38; Deuteronomy 3:28
12. Exodus 13:21; Exodus 33:14
13. Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5
14. Num 4:5, 6, 15; Deuteronomy 10:8; Deuteronomy 31:25, 26; Joshua 3:3
15. Deuteronomy 15:1, 2
16. Leviticus 23:34; Deuteronomy 16:13
17. Deuteronomy 16:16
18. Deuteronomy 12:5
19. Joshua 8:34; 2 Kings 23:2
20. Deuteronomy 4:10
21. Numbers 27:12, 13; Deuteronomy 4:22; Deuteronomy 32:50
22. Exodus 33:9-11
23. Exodus 33:9
24. Genesis 15:15
25. Exodus 34:15; Deuteronomy 4:25-28; Judg 2:11, 12, 17
26. Judges 10:6; 1 Kings 18:18; 1 Kings 19:10; Jeremiah 2:13
27. Judges 2:14; Judges 6:13
28. 2 Chronicles 15:2; 2 Chronicles 24:20
29. Psalms 104:29; Isaiah 8:17
30. Numbers 14:42
31. Deuteronomy 31:22
32. Deuteronomy 6:10-12; Deuteronomy 8:10, 19; Deuteronomy 11:16, 17
33. Deuteronomy 32:15-17
34. Leviticus 26:41; Deuteronomy 4:30
35. 1 Chronicles 28:9; John 2:24, 25
36. Deuteronomy 31:19
37. Numbers 27:23; Deuteronomy 31:7
38. Joshua 1:6
39. Exodus 3:12
40. Deuteronomy 31:9
41. Deuteronomy 9:7, 24
42. Exodus 32:9; Deuteronomy 9:6, 13
43. Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 30:19; Deuteronomy 32:1
44. Judges 2:19

Footnotes 11

[a]. Lit "your alien"
[b]. Lit "gates"
[c]. Lit "where"
[d]. Lit "possess it"
[e]. Lit "your days to die are"
[f]. Lit "in their mouths"
[g]. Lit "fat"
[h]. Lit "mouth of its seed"
[i]. Lit "making"
[j]. Lit "be"
[k]. Lit "stiff neck"