Deuteronomy 31:1-29

Listen to Deuteronomy 31:1-29

Joshua to Succeed Moses

1 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel.

2 And he said to them, “I am years old today. I am no longer able to ¹go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, ²‘You shall not go over this Jordan. ’

3 The Lord your God ³himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, ⁴as the Lord has spoken.

4 And the Lord will do to them ⁵as he did to Sihon ⁶and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them.

5 And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them ⁷according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you.

6 ⁸Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, ⁹for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. ¹⁰He will not leave you or forsake you. ”

7 Then ¹¹Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ¹²“Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it.

8 It is the Lord ¹³who goes before you. He will be with you; ¹⁴he will not leave you or forsake you. ¹⁵Do not fear or be dismayed. ”

The Reading of the Law

9 Then Moses ¹⁶wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, ¹⁷who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.

10 And Moses commanded them, ¹⁸“At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at ¹⁹the Feast of Booths,

11 when all Israel comes ²⁰to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, ²¹you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

12 ²²Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law,

13 and that their children, ²³who have not known it, ²⁴may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, ²⁵as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. ”

Joshua Commissioned to Lead Israel

14 And the Lord said to Moses, ²⁶“Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that ²⁷I may commission him. ” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting.

15 And ²⁸the 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, ²⁹“Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and ³⁰whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will ³¹forsake me and ³²break my covenant that I have made with them.

17 Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and ³³I will forsake them and ³⁴hide 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, ³⁵‘Have not these evils come upon us because ³⁶our 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 ³⁷they have turned to other gods.

19 “Now therefore write ³⁸this song and ³⁹teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be ⁴⁰a witness for me against the people of Israel.

20 For when I have brought them into the land ⁴¹flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and ⁴²grown fat, ⁴³they will turn to other gods and serve them, and ⁴⁴despise me and ⁴⁵break my covenant.

21 And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as ⁴⁶a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For ⁴⁷I 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 ⁴⁸And the Lord^[a] commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, ⁴⁹“Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. ⁵⁰I will be with you. ”

24 When Moses had finished ⁵¹writing the words of this law in a book to the very end,

25 Moses commanded ⁵²the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord,

26 “Take this Book of the Law ⁵³and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for ⁵⁴a witness against you.

27 For I know how rebellious and ⁵⁵stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, ⁵⁶you 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 ⁵⁷these words in their ears and ⁵⁸call heaven and earth to witness against them.

29 For I know that after my death ⁵⁹you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And ⁶⁰in the days to come ⁶¹evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, ⁶²provoking him to anger through the work of your hands. ”

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Images for Deuteronomy 31:1-29

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

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Cross References 63

1. 31:2 ch. 34:7; [Ex. 7:7]
2. 31:2 See Num. 27:17
3. 31:2 ch. 3:27; See ch. 1:37
4. 31:3 ch. 9:3
5. 31:3 ch. 1:38; 3:28; Num. 27:18, 21
6. 31:4 See ch. 2:31-35; Num. 21:21-25
7. 31:4 See ch. 3:1-7; Num. 21:33-35
8. 31:5 See ch. 7:2
9. 31:6 ver. 23; Josh. 1:6, 7; 10:25; 1 Chr. 22:13; 28:20
10. 31:6 See ch. 20:4
11. 31:6 Josh. 1:5
12. 31:7 [ch. 3:28]
13. 31:7 [See ver. 6 above]
14. 31:8 See Ex. 13:21
15. 31:8 [See ver. 6 above]
16. 31:8 ch. 1:21; 7:18; Josh. 1:9; 8:1; 10:25
17. 31:9 [ch. 17:18]
18. 31:9 Num. 4:15; Josh. 3:3; 8:33; 1 Chr. 15:15
19. 31:10 See ch. 15:1
20. 31:10 See Lev. 23:34
21. 31:11 ch. 16:16; Ex. 23:14, 17; 34:23
22. 31:11 Josh. 8:34, 35; 2 Kgs. 23:2; See Neh. 8:1-3
23. 31:12 ch. 4:10
24. 31:13 ch. 11:2
25. 31:13 Ps. 78:5, 6
26. 31:13 See ch. 4:10
27. 31:14 [ch. 34:5; Num. 27:13]
28. 31:14 [ver. 23; Num. 27:19]
29. 31:15 Ex. 33:9; Num. 12:5
30. 31:16 [See ver. 14 above]
31. 31:16 Ex. 34:15, 16; Lev. 20:5; Num. 15:39
32. 31:16 ch. 32:15; Judg. 2:12; 10:6, 13
33. 31:16 Judg. 2:20
34. 31:17 2 Chr. 12:5; 15:2; 24:20
35. 31:17 ch. 32:20; Ps. 30:7; 104:29; Isa. 8:17; 64:7; [Isa. 59:2]
36. 31:17 Judg. 6:13
37. 31:17 Num. 14:42
38. 31:18 ver. 20
39. 31:19 See ch. 32:1-43
40. 31:19 [2 Sam. 1:18]
41. 31:19 ver. 21, 26
42. 31:20 See Ex. 3:8
43. 31:20 ch. 32:15; Neh. 9:25, 26; Jer. 5:28; Hos. 13:6
44. 31:20 ver. 18
45. 31:20 Num. 14:11, 23; 16:30
46. 31:20 [See ver. 16 above]
47. 31:21 ver. 19, 26
48. 31:21 [Hos. 5:3; 13:5]
49. 31:23 [ver. 14]
50. 31:23 See ver. 6
51. 31:23 ver. 8; Josh. 1:5; 3:7
52. 31:24 ver. 9
53. 31:25 See ver. 9
54. 31:26 [2 Kgs. 22:8]
55. 31:26 ver. 19, 21
56. 31:27 See ch. 9:6
57. 31:27 See ch. 9:7
58. 31:28 See ch. 32:1-43
59. 31:28 See ch. 4:26
60. 31:29 Judg. 2:19; Hos. 9:9
61. 31:29 See Gen. 49:1
62. 31:29 [Jer. 44:23]
63. 31:29 ch. 4:25; 9:18; 32:16, 21; 1 Kgs. 16:7; 2 Kgs. 22:17

Footnotes 1

[a] 31:23 Hebrew 'he'