Deuteronomy 31:1-16

Succession of Moses by Joshua

31:1 Then Moses went ¹  and spoke these words ²  to all Israel. 31:2 He said to them, “Today I am a hundred and twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, ³  and the Lord has said to me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan.’ 31:3 As for the Lord your God, he is about to cross over before you; he will destroy these nations before you and dispossess them. As for Joshua, he is about to cross before you just as the Lord has said. 31:4 The Lord will do to them just what he did to Sihon and Og, the Amorite kings, and to their land, which he destroyed. 31:5 The Lord will deliver them over to you and you will do to them according to the whole commandment I have given you. 31:6 Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who is going with you. He will not fail you or abandon you!” 31:7 Then Moses called out to Joshua ⁴  in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will accompany these people to the land that the Lord promised to give their ancestors, ⁵  and you will enable them to inherit it. 31:8 The Lord is indeed going before you – he will be with you; he will not fail you or abandon you. Do not be afraid or discouraged!”

The Deposit of the Covenant Text

31:9 Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and to all Israel’s elders. 31:10 He ⁶  commanded them: “At the end of seven years, at the appointed time of the cancellation of debts, ⁷  at the Feast of Temporary Shelters, ⁸  31:11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, you must read this law before them ⁹  within their hearing. 31:12 Gather the people – men, women, and children, as well as the resident foreigners in your villages – so they may hear and thus learn about and fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the words of this law. 31:13 Then their children, who have not known this law, ¹⁰  will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

The Commissioning of Joshua

31:14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The day of your death is near. Summon Joshua and present yourselves in the tent ¹¹  of meeting ¹²  so that I can commission him.” ¹³  So Moses and Joshua presented themselves in the tent of meeting. 31:15 The Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud that ¹⁴  stood above the door of the tent. 31:16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “You are about to die, ¹⁵  and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they ¹⁶  are going. They ¹⁷  will reject ¹⁸  me and break my covenant that I have made with them. ¹⁹ 

[31:1]  ¹ tc For the MT reading וַיֵּלֶךְ (vayyelekh, “he went”), the LXX and Qumran have וַיְכַל (vaykhal, “he finished”): “So Moses finished speaking,” etc. The difficult reading of the MT favors its authenticity.

[31:1]  ² tn In the MT this refers to the words that follow (cf. NIV, NCV).

[31:2]  ³ tn Or “am no longer able to lead you” (NIV, NLT); Heb “am no longer able to go out and come in.”

[31:7]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text includes “and said to him.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[31:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 20).

[31:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “Moses.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[31:10]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term שְׁמִטָּה (shÿmittah), a derivative of the verb שָׁמַט (shamat, “to release; to relinquish”), refers to the procedure whereby debts of all fellow Israelites were to be canceled. Since the Feast of Tabernacles celebrated God’s own deliverance of and provision for his people, this was an appropriate time for Israelites to release one another. See note on this word at Deut 15:1.

[31:10]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew phrase הַסֻּכּוֹת[חַג] ([khag] hassukot, “[festival of] huts” [or “shelters”]) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. See note on the name of the festival in Deut 16:13.

[31:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “before all Israel.”

[31:13]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase “this law” is not in the Hebrew text, but English style requires an object for the verb here. Other translations also supply the object which is otherwise implicit (cf. NIV “who do not know this law”; TEV “who have never heard the Law of the Lord your God”).

[31:14]  ¹¹ tc The LXX reads “by the door of the tent” in line with v. 10 but also, perhaps, as a reflection of its tendency to avoid over-familiarity with Yahweh and his transcendence.

[31:14]  ¹² tn Heb “tent of assembly” (מוֹעֵד אֹהֶל, ’ohel mo’ed); this is not always the same as the tabernacle, which is usually called מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan, “dwelling-place”), a reference to its being invested with God’s presence. The “tent of meeting” was erected earlier than the tabernacle and was the place where Yahweh occasionally appeared, especially to Moses (cf. Exod 18:7-16; 33:7-11; Num 11:16, 24, 26; 12:4).

[31:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “I will command him.”

[31:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the pillar of cloud.” This phrase was not repeated in the translation; a relative clause was used instead.

[31:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “lie down with your fathers” (so NASB); NRSV “ancestors.”

[31:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style. The third person singular also occurs in the Hebrew text twice more in this verse, three times in v. 17, once in v. 18, five times in v. 20, and four times in v. 21. Each time it is translated as third person plural for stylistic reasons.

[31:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

[31:16]  ¹⁸ tn Or “abandon” (TEV, NLT).

[31:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.