Deuteronomy 31

1 And Moses goes and speaks these words to all Israel,

When Moses/I finished saying all that to the Israeli people,

2 and he says to them, “I [am] a son of one hundred and twenty years today; I am not able to go out and to come in anymore, and YHWH has said to me, You do not pass over this Jordan.

he/I said to them, “Now I am 120 years old. I am no longer able to go everywhere [that you go] (OR, to be your leader). Furthermore, Yahweh has told me that I will not cross the Jordan [River].

3 Your God YHWH—He is passing over before you; He destroys these nations from before you, and you have possessed them; Joshua—he is passing over before you, as YHWH has spoken.

But Yahweh our God will go ahead of you. He will [enable you to] destroy the nations that are living there, in order that you can occupy their land. Joshua will be your leader, which is what Yahweh already told me.

4 And YHWH has done to them as he has done to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorite, and to their land, whom He destroyed.

Yahweh will do to those nations what he did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amor people-group when he destroyed their armies [MTY].

5 And YHWH has given them before your face, and you have done to them according to all the command which I have commanded you;

Yahweh will enable you to conquer those nations, but you must [kill all of the people of those nations, which is] what I have commanded you to do.

6 be strong and courageous, do not fear, nor be terrified because of them, for your God YHWH [is] He who is going with you; He does not fail you nor forsake you.”

Be brave and confident. Do not be afraid of those people. [Do not forget that] it is Yahweh our God who will go with you. He will always help [LIT] you and never abandon you.”

7 And Moses calls for Joshua and says to him before the eyes of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you go in with this people to the land which YHWH has sworn to their fathers to give to them, and you cause them to inherit it;

Then Moses/I summoned Joshua, and while all the Israeli people were listening, he/I said to him, “Be brave and confident. You are the one who will lead these people into the land that Yahweh promised to our ancestors that he would give to them, and you will enable them to occupy it.

8 and YHWH [is] He who is going before you, He Himself is with you; He does not fail you nor forsake you; do not fear, nor be frightened.”

It is Yahweh who will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will always help [LIT] you. He will never abandon you. So do not be afraid or dismayed.”

9 And Moses writes this law and gives it to the priests (sons of Levi, those carrying the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH), and to all [the] elderly of Israel,

Moses/I wrote down all these laws [on two scrolls] and gave [one scroll] to the priests, who carried the chest containing the Ten Commandments, and [gave the other scroll] to the Israeli elders.

10 and Moses commands them, saying, “At the end of seven years, in the appointed time, the year of release, in the Celebration of Shelters,

Moses/I told them, “At the end of every seven years, at the time that all debts are canceled, [read this to the people] during the Festival of [Living in Temporary] Shelters.

11 in the coming in of all Israel to see the face of YHWH in the place which He chooses, you proclaim this law before all Israel in their ears.

Read it to all the Israeli people when they gather at the place that Yahweh chooses for them to worship him.

12 Assemble the people, the men, and the women, and the infants, and your sojourner who [is] within your gates, so that they hear, and so that they learn, and have feared your God YHWH, and observed to do all the words of this law;

Gather together everyone—men, women, children, even the foreigners [who are living] in your towns—in order that they may hear [these laws] and learn to revere Yahweh our God, and to faithfully obey everything that is written in these laws.

13 and their sons, who have not known, hear and have learned to fear your God YHWH [for] all the days which you are living on the ground to where you are passing over the Jordan to possess it.”

[If they do that], your descendants who have never known these laws will hear them and will also learn to revere Yahweh our God, during all the years that they live in the land that you are about to cross the Jordan [River] to occupy.”

14 And YHWH says to Moses, “Behold, your days have drawn near to die; call Joshua, and station yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, and I charge him”; and Moses goes—Joshua also—and they station themselves in the Tent of Meeting,

Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Listen carefully. You will soon die. Summon Joshua, and you go to the Sacred Tent with him, in order that I may appoint him [to be the new leader].” So Joshua and Moses/I went to the Sacred Tent.

15 and YHWH is seen in the tent in a pillar of a cloud; and the pillar of the cloud stands at the opening of the tent.

There Yahweh appeared to them/us in a pillar of cloud, and that cloud was close to the door of the tent.

16 And YHWH says to Moses, “Behold, you are lying down with your fathers, and this people has risen and gone whoring after the gods of the stranger of the land, into the midst of which it has entered, and it has forsaken Me and broken My covenant which I made with it;

Yahweh said to Moses/me, “You will soon die [EUP]. Then these people will become unfaithful [MET] to me. They will abandon me and (break/stop obeying) the agreement that I made with them. They will begin to worship the foreign/pagan gods [that are worshiped by the people] of the land that they will enter.

17 and My anger has burned against it in that day, and I have forsaken them, and hidden My face from them, and it has been for consumption, and many evils and distresses have found it, and it has said in that day, [Is] it not because my God is not in my midst that these evils have found me?

When that happens, I will become very angry with them. I will abandon them [DOU] and I will no longer help them [IDM], and I will destroy them {they will be destroyed}. Many terrible things will happen to them, with the result that they will say, ‘[We are certain that] [RHQ] these things are happening to us because our God is no longer with us.’

18 And I certainly hide My face in that day for all the evil which it has done, for it has turned to other gods.

And because of all the evil things that they will have done, and [especially because] they will have started to worship other gods, I will refuse to help [IDM] them.

19 And now, write this song for yourselves, and teach it [to] the sons of Israel; put it in their mouths, so that this song is to Me for a witness against the sons of Israel.

“So, [I am going to give you] a song. Write it [on a scroll] and teach it to the Israeli people and cause them to memorize it. It will be like a witness that accuses them.

20 When I bring them to the ground flowing with milk and honey, which I have sworn to their fathers, and they have eaten, and been satisfied, and been fat, and have turned to other gods, and they have served them, and despised Me, and broken My covenant,

I am about to take them into a very fertile [IDM] land, a land that I solemnly promised their ancestors that I would give to them. There they will have plenty to eat, with the result that their [stomachs] will [always] be full and they will become fat. But then they will turn to other gods and start to worship them, and they will despise me and (break/stop obeying) the agreement that I made with them.

21 then it has been, when many evils and distresses meet it, that this song has testified to its face for a witness; for it is not forgotten out of the mouth of its seed, for I have known its imagining which it is doing today, before I bring them into the land of which I have sworn.”

And they will experience many terrible disasters. After that happens, their descendants will never forget this song, and it will be like a witness [that says, ‘Now you know why Yahweh punished your ancestors].’ I will soon take them into the land that I vowed that I would give to them; but now, before I do that, I know what they are thinking [that they will do when they are living there].”

22 And Moses writes this song on that day, and teaches it [to] the sons of Israel.

So on the day that [Yahweh gave Moses/me this song], he/I wrote it down, and he/I taught it to the Israeli people.

23 Then He commands Joshua son of Nun, and says, “Be strong and courageous, for you bring in the sons of Israel to the land which I have sworn to them, and I am with you.”

Then Yahweh (appointed/set apart) Joshua and said to him, “Be brave and confident, because you will lead the Israeli people into the land that I vowed that I would give to them. And I will be with you.”

24 And it comes to pass, when Moses finishes to write the words of this law on a scroll, until their completion,

Then Moses/I finished writing on a scroll all the laws that Yahweh had told to him/me.

25 that Moses commands the Levites carrying the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH, saying,

Then Moses/I told the descendants of Levi, who were carrying the Sacred Chest that contained the Ten Commandments,

26 “Take this Scroll of the Law, and you have set it on the side of the Ark of the Covenant of your God YHWH, and it has been against you for a witness there;

“Take this scroll on which these laws [are written], and place it beside the Sacred Chest that contains the agreement that Yahweh our God made with you, in order that it may remain there to testify [about what Yahweh will do] to the people [if they disobey him].

27 for I have known your rebellion and your stiff neck; behold, in my being yet alive with you today, you have been rebelling against YHWH, and surely also after my death.

[I say this] because I know that these people are very stubborn [DOU]. They have rebelled against Yahweh all during the time that I have been [with them], and they will rebel much more after I die!

28 Assemble to me all the elderly of your tribes, and your authorities, and I speak these words in their ears, and cause the heavens and the earth to testify against them,

So gather all the elders of the tribes and your officials, in order that I can tell them the words [of this song], and request all those who are in heaven and on the earth to be witnesses to testify against these people.

29 for I have known that you act very corruptly after my death, and have turned aside from the way which I commanded you, and evil has met you in the latter end of the days, because you do evil in the eyes of YHWH, to make Him angry with the work of your hands.”

I say that because I know that after I die, the people will become very wicked. They will turn away from doing everything that I have commanded them to do. And in the future, because of all the evil things that they will do, they will cause Yahweh to become angry with them. And he will cause them to experience disasters.”

30 And Moses speaks the words of this song in the ears of all the assembly of Israel, until their completion:

Then, while all the Israeli people listened, Moses/I sang/recited this entire song to them: