Deuteronomy 31:2-8

2 And he said to them, "I am [a] hundred and twenty years old {today}; I am not able to go out and to come [in] [any] longer, and Yahweh said to me, 'You may not cross this Jordan.'

3 Yahweh your God [is about to] cross {before you}; he will destroy these nations {before you}, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua [will be] crossing {before you}, [just] as Yahweh {promised}.

4 And Yahweh will do to them [just] as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and to their land, which he destroyed with them.

5 And Yahweh {will deliver them to you before you}, and you shall do to them according to every commandment that I have commanded you.

6 Be strong and be courageous; you should not be afraid, and you {should not be in dread from their presence}, for Yahweh your God [is] the [one] going with you; he will not leave you alone and he will not forsake you."

7 Then Moses summoned Joshua, and he said to him {in the presence of all Israel}, "Be strong and be courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that Yahweh swore to their ancestors to give to them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance.

8 Yahweh [is] the [one] going {before you}; he will be with you, and he will not leave you alone, and he will not forsake you; you shall not be afraid, and you shall not be discouraged."

Deuteronomy 31:2-8 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "the day"
• [b]. Literally "to the face of you"
• [c]. Literally "to the face of you"
• [d]. Literally "to the face of you"
• [e]. Literally "spoke"
• [f]. Literally "will give them Yahweh to the face of you"
• [g]. Literally "not you should dread from their face"
• [h]. Literally "before the eyes of all Israel"
• [i]. Or "their fathers"
• [j]. Literally "to the face of you"