Deuteronomy 31:1-30 - Succession, Deposition, And Recitation Of Text
1 And Moses went, and spake these words unto all Israel; 2 and said unto them - A hundred and twenty years old, am I to-day, I can no more go out and come in, - Yahweh indeed hath said unto me, Thou shall not pass over this Jordan. 3 Yahweh thy God, is passing over before thee, he, will destroy these nations from before thee so shalt thou dispossess them, - Joshua is passing over before thee, as Yahweh hath spoken. 4 So will Yahweh do unto them as he did unto Sihon and unto Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land of them whom he destroyed. 5 So will Yahweh deliver them up before you, - and ye shall do unto them - according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. 6 Be firm and bold, do not fear nor tremble because of them, - for Yahweh thy God, it is who is going with thee, he will not fail thee nor forsake thee.
7 And Moses called for Joshua, and said unto him, in the sight of all Israel. Be firm and bold, for, thou, shalt go with this people into the land which Yahweh sware unto their fathers to give unto them, and, thou shalt cause them to inherit it. 8 But, Yahweh, it is who is going before thee, he will be with thee, he will not fail thee nor forsake thee, - thou must not fear nor be dismayed.
9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, who were bearing the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, - and unto all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, saying, - At the end of seven years in the appointed season of the year of release, during the festival of booths; 11 when all Israel cometh in to see the face of Yahweh thy God, in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt lead this law before all Israel, in their hearing. 12 Call together the people - the men and the women and the little ones, and thy sojourner who is within thy gates, - that they may hear, and that they may learn, so shall they revere Yahweh your God, and observe to do all the words of this law; 13 and that their children who know not, may hear and learn, that they may revere Yahweh your God, - all the days that ye are living upon the soil, which ye are passing over the Jordan to possess.
14 Then said Yahweh unto Moses: Lo! thy days have drawn near that thou must die. Call Joshua and station yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may command him. So Moses went, with Joshua, and they took their station in the tent of meeting. 15 And Yahweh appeared in the tent, in a pillar of cloud, - and the pillar of cloud stood, at the entrance of the tent.
16 Then said Yahweh unto Moses, Lo! thou art about to sleep with thy fathers, - and this people will rise up, and go away unchastely after the gods of the foreigners of the land into the midst of whom they are entering, and will forsake me and break my covenant which I solemnised with them. 17 Then will mine anger kindle upon them in that day, and I will forsake them and will hide my face from them and they shall be consumed, and many calamities and misfortunes shall find them out, - and they will say, in that day, Is it not because my God is not in my midst, that these calamities have found me out? 18 But, I, will utterly, hide, my face, in that day, because of all the wickedness which they have done, in that they have turned away unto other gods. 19 Now, therefore write ye for you this Song, and teach it unto the sons of Israel put it in their mouths, - that this Song may become for me a witness against the sons of Israel. 20 When I bring them upon the soil which I sware unto their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they shall eat and be filled and wax fat, then will they turn away unto other gods and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. 21 And it shall come to pass, when many calamities and misfortunes shall find them out, then shall this Song respond to their face, as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouth of their seed, for I know their imagination, which they are forming to-day, ere yet I bring them into the land of which I sware unto their fathers. 22 Moses therefore wrote this Song on that day, - and taught it unto the sons of Israel.
23 And he commanded Joshua, son of Nun, and said - Be firm and bold, for, thou shalt bring the sons of Israel into the land which I have sworn to them, - and, I, will be with thee.
24 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law, upon a scroll, - until he had finished them, 25 then Moses commanded the Levites, who were bearing the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, saying: 26 Take this scroll of the law, and put it at the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, - so shall it be there in thy midst as a witness. 27 For, I, know thy perverseness, and thy stiff neck, - lo! while I am yet alive with you to-day, ye are, quarrelling, with Yahweh, and how much more after my death? 28 Call together unto me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, - and let me speak in their hearing these words, and let me take to witness against them the heavens and the earth. 29 For I know that after my death, ye will break faith, and turn aside out of the way which I have commanded you, - and calamity will befall you in the afterpart of the days, because ye will do the thing that is wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, to provoke him with the work of your own hands. 30 So Moses spake in the hearing of all the convocation of Israel the words of this Song, until they were ended: -