Deuteronomy 31

⁷Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not diminished.

¹⁷who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

⁷And now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in my father David’s place. But I am only a little child, not knowing how to go out or come in.

²⁶But the Lord was angry with me on account of you, and He would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the Lord said to me. “Do not speak to Me again about this matter.

²⁷Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west and north and south and east. See the land with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.

⁷Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

¹²But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

³But understand that today the Lord your God goes across ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will destroy them and subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them swiftly, as the Lord has promised you.

²³Then the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land that I swore to give them, and I will be with you.”

²⁸But commission Joshua, encourage him, and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit the land that you will see.”

¹⁴On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they revered him all the days of his life, just as they had revered Moses.

²“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, you and all these people, and cross over the Jordan into the land that I am giving to the children of Israel.

⁹Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

³³And the Lord our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and his whole army.

²⁸I will send the hornet before you to drive the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

²⁹I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you.

²¹And at that time I commanded Joshua: “Your own eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms you are about to enter.

²⁴And Israel put him to the sword and took possession of his land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok—but only up to the border of the Ammonites, because it was fortified.

²⁵Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its villages.

¹⁶You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

³So the Lord our God also delivered Og king of Bashan and his whole army into our hands. We struck them down until no survivor was left.

⁴At that time we captured all sixty of his cities. There was not a single city we failed to take—the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

²and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

³²You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

³³They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

¹⁶However, in the cities of the nations that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes.

¹⁷For you must devote them to complete destruction—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you,

⁵²you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.

⁵³You are to take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.

¹⁸But do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt:

²³But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.

²⁴He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.

⁹Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

¹⁴Wait patiently for the Lord; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the Lord!

²⁰David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do it. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you before all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.

¹⁰Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

³²Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

²⁸But commission Joshua, encourage him, and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit the land that you will see.”

⁶Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

³⁸Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will enable Israel to inherit the land.

⁶Be strong and courageous, for you shall give these people the inheritance of the land that I swore to their fathers I would give them.

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

²³Then the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land that I swore to give them, and I will be with you.”

¹⁴And the Lord answered, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

⁶Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

⁹Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

³¹What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

⁵No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

¹But now, this is what the Lord says—He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine!

²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

¹⁵When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all their equipment, as soon as the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites shall come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy objects, or they will die. These are the transportation duties of the Kohathites regarding the Tent of Meeting.

³and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, you are to set out from your positions and follow it.

¹⁴So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of them.

¹⁵Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,

¹³Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquities and giving attention to Your truth.

¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

¹⁹“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him.

¹At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

²This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the Lord’s time of release has been proclaimed.

³⁴“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Feast of Tabernacles to the Lord begins, and it continues for seven days.

³⁵On the first day there shall be a sacred assembly. You must not do any regular work.

²And he went up to the house of the Lord with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people small and great—and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.

³⁴Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.

³⁵There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.

¹⁶Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Lord your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed.

¹⁷Everyone must appear with a gift as he is able, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁶You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field.

¹⁷Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God.

²⁴For I will drive out the nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.

⁵Instead, you must seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.

¹⁰The day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.”

¹¹Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

¹²Who is the man who delights in life, who desires to see good days?

⁶These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts.

⁷And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

⁷The Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making wise the simple.

⁸The precepts of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart; the commandments of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

¹While Ezra prayed and made this confession, weeping and falling facedown before the house of God, a very large assembly of Israelites—men, women, and children—gathered around him, and the people wept bitterly as well.

¹⁵From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

²Know this day that it is not your children who have known and seen the discipline of the Lord your God: His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm;

⁷And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

⁴Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

⁴We will not hide them from their children but will declare to the next generation the praises of the Lord and His might and the wonders He has performed.

⁵For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children,

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

¹³After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was;

²³Then the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land that I swore to give them, and I will be with you.”

⁵For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.

¹⁹But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions, and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.”

²⁴Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—

¹I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom:

²Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction.

⁷He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept His decrees and the statutes He gave them.

⁹As Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and remain at the entrance, and the Lord would speak with Moses.

¹⁰When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they would stand up and worship, each one at the entrance to his own tent.

³⁸For the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel through all their journeys.

⁶And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him.

¹³But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.

¹²Thus they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down to them and provoked the Lord to anger,

¹⁵Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.

¹⁵But because of your fame, you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot. You lavished your favors on everyone who passed by, and your beauty was theirs for the asking.

²For His judgments are true and just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants that was poured out by her hand.”

¹³“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the Lord brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

¹⁷I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him.

⁴²Do not go up, lest you be struck down by your enemies, because the Lord is not among you.

²So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

²⁹When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.

⁷No one calls on Your name or strives to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.

¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

¹⁷On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’

⁷And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

²¹And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”

²²So that very day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites.

²⁶“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.

⁴⁸There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not receive My words: The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

³⁰Then Moses recited aloud to the whole assembly of Israel the words of this song from beginning to end:

⁹Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

¹⁰The day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.”

⁶When they had pasture, they became satisfied; when they were satisfied, their hearts became proud, and as a result they forgot Me.

²⁵They captured fortified cities and fertile land and took houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled; they grew fat and delighted in Your great goodness.

²⁶But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.

¹⁰And when the Lord your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you did not build,

¹¹with houses full of every good thing with which you did not fill them, with wells that you did not dig, and with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied,

⁸I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

²⁸They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy.

¹⁶I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’

³I know all about Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled.

²⁴But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew them all.

²⁵He did not need any testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man.

⁵Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.

²You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.

⁵I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

⁶When they had pasture, they became satisfied; when they were satisfied, their hearts became proud, and as a result they forgot Me.

²⁵Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

²⁶You have taken along Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, the idols you made for yourselves.

¹⁹Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them.

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

⁷Then Moses called for Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.

⁸The Lord Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the time of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.

⁴⁵And our fathers who received it brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations God drove out before them. It remained until the time of David,

²⁸But commission Joshua, encourage him, and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit the land that you will see.”

⁵No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

⁶Be strong and courageous, for you shall give these people the inheritance of the land that I swore to their fathers I would give them.

³The Lord your God Himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will cross ahead of you, as the Lord has said.

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

¹⁸When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

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

¹⁹Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them.

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

²⁰Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

¹⁴While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses.

¹⁵And Hilkiah said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord!” And he gave it to Shaphan.

⁹There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

⁸Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord!” And he gave it to Shaphan, who read it.

⁹And Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported, “Your servants have paid out the money that was found in the temple and have put it into the hands of the workers and supervisors of the house of the Lord.”

¹⁹For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.

²⁰He said: “I will hide My face from them; I will see what will be their end. For they are a perverse generation—children of unfaithfulness.

²⁴You have been rebelling against the Lord since the day I came to know you.

⁵¹You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.

⁴For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze.

⁶Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

⁷Remember this, and never forget how you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place, you have been rebelling against the Lord.

⁸Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

¹Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

²⁶I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.

¹⁹I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,

⁴⁰“I tell you,” He answered, “if they remain silent, the very stones will cry out.”

¹²Assemble the people—men, women, children, and the foreigners within your gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and to follow carefully all the words of this law.

¹⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Bring Me seventy of the elders of Israel known to you as leaders and officers of the people. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting and have them stand there with you.

¹⁷And I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put that Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.

¹⁹But when the judge died, the Israelites became even more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They would not give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

⁵His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the blemish on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.

³⁰When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.

⁹They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their guilt; He will punish their sins.

¹Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come:

⁴Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who act corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.

⁴⁹I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it.

²He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.

⁵See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land that you are about to enter and possess.

²⁷For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.

⁵Now Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be spoken later.