Deuteronomy 31

1 Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.

Once Moses had finished giving these instructions to all the Israelites,

2 He said to them, “I am now one hundred twenty years old; I can no more go out and come in; Yahweh has said to me, 'You will not go over this Jordan.'

he told them, I'm now a hundred and twenty years old. I can't get around like I used to, and the Lord has told me, “You are not to cross the Jordan.”

3 Yahweh your God, he will go over before you; he will destroy these nations from before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua, he will go over before you, as Yahweh has spoken.

The Lord your God himself is going to lead you across. He will destroy these nations as you advance, and you will take over their land. Joshua will cross ahead of you, as the Lord said.

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

The Lord will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and their land when he destroyed them.

5 Yahweh will give you victory over them when you meet them in battle, and you will do to them all that I commanded you.

The Lord will hand them over to you, and you will deal with them exactly as I've told you.

6 Be strong and of good courage, fear not, and do not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God, he it is who goes with you; he will not fail you nor forsake you.”

Be strong! Be brave! Don't be frightened or terrified of them, because the Lord your God will go with you. He won't ever leave you or abandon you.

7 Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you will go with this people into the land that Yahweh has sworn to their ancestors to give them; you will cause them to inherit it.

Moses called for Joshua and told him in front of all the Israelites, “Be strong! Be brave! You will accompany this people into the country that the Lord promised to give their forefathers, and you are to allocate it for them to own.

8 Yahweh, he it is who goes before you; he will be with you; he will not fail you nor abandon you; do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.”

The Lord himself goes ahead of you. He will be with you. He won't ever leave you or abandon you. Don't be afraid and don't be discouraged.”

9 Moses wrote this law and gave it out to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh; he also gave copies of it to all the elders of Israel.

Moses wrote this law down and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the Ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the Israelite elders.

10 Moses commanded them and said, “At the end of every seven years, at the time fixed for the cancellation of debts, during the Festival of Shelters,

Moses gave them these orders, At the end of every seven years, the year when debts are canceled during the Festival of Shelters,

11 when all Israel has come to appear before Yahweh your God in the place that he will choose for his sanctuary, you will read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

and when all the Israelites comes before the Lord your God at the place he will choose, you must read this law in the for everyone to hear.

12 Assemble the people, the men, the women, and the little ones, and your foreigner who is within your city gates, so that they may hear and learn, and so that they may honor Yahweh your God and keep all the words of this law.

Have the people gather together—the men, women, children, and the foreigners living with you—so that they can listen and learn to respect the Lord your God and to carefully observe all the instructions of this law.

13 Do this so that their children, who have not known, may hear and learn to honor Yahweh your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Then their children who don't know the law will listen and learn to respect the Lord your God as the whole time you live in the country that you are going to take over after you cross the Jordan.

14 Yahweh said to Moses, “Look, the day is coming when you must die; call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, so that I may give him a command.” Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting.

Then the Lord told Moses, “Listen, you are soon going to die. Tell Joshua to meet you, and then both of you are to come and stand before me at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may appoint him as leader.” Moses and Joshua went to stand before the Lord at the Tent of Meeting.

15 Yahweh appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud; the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the tent.

The Lord appeared there at the tent in a pillar of cloud. The cloud stood at the entrance to the tent.

16 Yahweh said to Moses, “Look, you will sleep with your fathers; this people will rise up and act like a prostitute going after the strange gods that are among them in the land where they are going. They will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them.

The Lord told Moses, “You will join your ancestors in death, and these people are going to prostitute themselves by worshiping the foreign gods of the country they are entering. They will abandon me and break the agreement I've made with them.

17 Then, on that day, my anger will be kindled against them and I will abandon them. I will hide my face from them and they will be devoured. Many disasters and troubles will find them so that they will say on that day, 'Have these disasters not come upon us because our God is not in our midst?'

Then I will abandon them and turn away from them, so they will be destroyed, and they will experience many disasters and problems. At that time they'll say, ‘We're suffering these disasters because our God has abandoned us!’

18 I will surely hide my face from them on that day because of all the evil that they will have done, because they has turned to other gods.

Then I will definitely ignore them because of all the evil they have done by worshiping other gods.

19 Now therefore write this song for yourselves and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, so that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel.

So write down this song and teach it to the Israelites. Help them learn to sing it, so it will provide evidence for me against them.

20 For when I will have brought them into the land that I swore to give to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey, and when they have eaten and become satisfied and fat, then they will turn to other gods and they will serve them and they will despise me and they will break my covenant.

Once I've led them into the country that I promised to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will have plenty to eat and will do well. Then they will go and worship other gods, and they will abandon me and break my agreement.

21 When many evils and troubles come upon this people, this song will testify before them as a witness (for it will not be forgotten from the mouths of their descendants). For I know the plans that they are forming today, even before I have brought them into the land that I promised them.”

Once they've experienced plenty of trouble and suffering, this song will testify against them, because their descendants won't forget the words. I know what they're like, even before I lead them into the country that I promised to give them.”

22 So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.

Right then Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites.

23 Yahweh gave Joshua son of Nun a command and said, “Be strong and of good courage; for you will bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

Then the Lord appointed Joshua son of Nun as leader, and told him, “Be strong! Be brave! For you are going to lead the Israelites into the country that I promised to give them, and I will be with you.”

24 It happened that when Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book,

After Moses had finished writing down this Law in a book from start to finish,

25 that he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and he said,

he ordered the Levites who carried the Ark of the Lord's Agreement:

26 “Take this book of the law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, so that it may be there as a witness against you.

“Place this book of the Law beside the Ark of the Lord your God's Agreement, so that it will be kept there as a evidence against you.

27 For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck; look, while I am still alive with you even today, you have been rebellious against Yahweh; how much more after my death?

I know how stubborn and rebellious you are. If you've already started rebelling against the Lord while I'm still alive, how much worse will you get after I die?

28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, so that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them.

Summon all the elders of your tribes and all your officers to gather here before me so that I can tell them this directly and call on heaven and earth as witnesses against them.

29 For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside out of the path that I have commanded you; disaster will come on you in the following days. This will happen because you will do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh, so as to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.”

I know that after my death you will become completely immoral, leaving the path I have ordered you to follow. In the future, evil things will happen to you because of the evil sins you commit in the sight of the Lord, making him angry by what you do.”

30 Moses recited in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were finished.

Then Moses recited all the words of this song as the Israelites listened.