11Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. 12It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” 13Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” 14No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.
15See, I set before you this day life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16Ford I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His laws, and His rules, that you may thrive and increase, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are about to enter and possess. 17But if your heart turns away and you give no heed, and are lured into the worship and service of other gods, 18I declare to you this day that you shall certainly perish; you shall not long endure on the soil that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life—if you and your offspring would live—20by loving the LORD your God, heeding His commands, and holding fast to Him. For thereby you shall have life and shall long endure upon the soil that the LORD swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.
31a-Moses went and spoke-a these things to all Israel. 2He said to them:
I am now one hundred and twenty years old, I can no longer b-be active.-b Moreover, the LORD has said to me, “You shall not go across yonder Jordan.” 3The LORD your God Himself will cross over before you; and He Himself will wipe out those nations from your path and you shall dispossess them.— Joshua is the one who shall cross before you, as the LORD has spoken.— 4The LORD will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, and to their countries, when He wiped them out. 5The LORD will deliver them up to you, and you shall deal with them in full accordance with the Instruction that I have enjoined upon you. 6Be strong and resolute, be not in fear or in dread of them; for the LORD your God Himself marches with you: He will not fail you or forsake you.
7Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel: “Be strong and resolute, for it is you who shall go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their fathers to give them, and it is you who shall apportion it to them. 8And the LORD Himself will go before you. He will be with you; He will not fail you or forsake you. Fear not and be not dismayed!”
9Moses wrote down this Teaching and gave it to the priests, sons of Levi, who carried the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.
10And Moses instructed them as follows: Every seventh year,c the year set for remission, at the Feast of Booths, 11when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God in the place that He will choose, you shall read this Teaching aloud in the presence of all Israel. 12Gather the people—men, women, children, and the strangers in your communities—that they may hear and so learn to revere the LORD your God and to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching. 13Their children, too, who have not had the experience, shall hear and learn to revere the LORD your God as long as they live in the land that you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.
14The LORD said to Moses: The time is drawing near for you to die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may instruct him. Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting. 15The LORD appeared in the Tent, in a pillar of cloud, the pillar of cloud having come to rest at the entrance of the tent.
16The LORD said to Moses: You are soon to lie with your fathers. This people will thereupon go astray after the alien gods in their midst, in the land that they are about to enter; they will forsake Me and break My covenant that I made with them. 17Then My anger will flare up against them, and I will abandon them and hide My countenance from them. They shall be ready prey; and many evils and troubles shall befall them. And they shall say on that day, “Surely it is because our God is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us.” 18Yet I will keep My countenance hidden on that day, because of all the evil they have done in turning to other gods. 19Therefore, write down this poem and teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths, in order that this poem may be My witness against the people of Israel. 20When I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey that I promised on oath to their fathers, and they eat their fill and grow fat and turn to other gods and serve them, spurning Me and breaking My covenant, 21and the many evils and troubles befall them—then this poem shall confront them as a witness, since it will never be lost from the mouth of their offspring. For I know what plans they are devising even now, before I bring them into the land that I promised on oath.
22That day, Moses wrote down this poem and taught it to the Israelites.
23And He charged Joshua son of Nun: “Be strong and resolute: for you shall bring the Israelites into the land that I promised them on oath, and I will be with you.”
24When Moses had put down in writing the words of this Teaching to the very end, 25Moses charged the Levites who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, saying: 26Take this book of Teaching and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, and let it remain there as a witness against you. 27Well I know how defiant and stiffnecked you are: even now, while I am still alive in your midst, you have been defiant toward the LORD; how much more, then, when I am dead! 28Gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officials, that I may speak all these words to them and that I may call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29For I know that, when I am dead, you will act wickedly and turn away from the path that I enjoined upon you, and that in time to come misfortune will befall you for having done evil in the sight of the LORD and vexed Him by your deeds.
30Then Moses recited the words of this poem to the very end, in the hearing of the whole congregation of Israel:
32
Give ear, O heavens, let me speak;
Let the earth hear the words I utter!
2May my discourse come down as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
Like showers on young growth,
Like droplets on the grass.a
3For the name of the LORD I proclaim;
Give glory to our God!
4The Rock!— His deeds are perfect,
Yea, all His ways are just;
A faithful God, never false,
True and upright is He.
5 bChildren unworthy of Him—
That crooked, perverse generation—
Their baseness has played Him false.
6Do you thus requite the LORD,
O dull and witless people?
Is not He the Father who created you,
Fashioned you and made you endure!
7Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of ages past;
Ask your father, he will inform you,
Your elders, they will tell you:
8When the Most High gave nations their homes
And set the divisions of man,
He fixed the boundaries of peoples
In relation to Israel’s numbers.
9For the LORD’s portion is His people,
Jacob His own allotment.
10He found him in a desert region,
In an empty howling waste.
He engirded him, watched over him,
Guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
11Like an eagle who rouses his nestlings,
Gliding down to his young,
So did He spread His wings and take him,
Bear him along on His pinions;
12The LORD alone did guide him,
No alien god at His side.
13He set him atop the highlands,
To feast on the yield of the earth;
He fed him honey from the crag,
And oil from the flinty rock,
14Curd of kine and milk of flocks;
With the bestc of lambs,
And rams of Bashan, and he-goats;
With the d-very finest-d wheat—
And foaming grape-blood was your drink.
15So Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—
You grew fat and gross and coarsee—
He forsook the God who made him
And spurned the Rock of his support.
16They incensed Him with alien things,
Vexed Him with abominations.
17They sacrificed to demons, no-gods,
Gods they had never known,
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