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D EU T ERO N O MY 3 2
Israel’s Disobedience Predicted
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The time has
come for you to die. Call Joshua and present
yourselves at the Tabernacle,* so that I may
commission him there.” So Moses and Joshua
went and presented themselves at the Tabernacle. 15 And the Lord appeared to them in a
pillar of cloud that stood at the entrance to the
sacred tent.
16 The Lord said to Moses, “You are about to
die and join your ancestors. After you are gone,
these people will begin to worship foreign gods,
the gods of the land where they are going. They
will abandon me and break my covenant that
I have made with them. 17 Then my anger will
blaze forth against them. I will abandon them,
hiding my face from them, and they will be
devoured. Terrible trouble will come down on
them, and on that day they will say, ‘These disasters have come down on us because God is
no longer among us!’ 18 At that time I will hide
my face from them on account of all the evil
they commit by worshiping other gods.
19 “So write down the words of this song, and
teach it to the people of Israel. Help them learn
it, so it may serve as a witness for me against
them. 20 For I will bring them into the land I
swore to give their ancestors—a land flowing
with milk and honey. There they will become
prosperous, eat all the food they want, and become fat. But they will begin to worship other
gods; they will despise me and break my covenant. 21 And when great disasters come down
on them, this song will stand as evidence
against them, for it will never be forgotten by
their descendants. I know the intentions of
these people, even now before they have entered the land I swore to give them.”
22 So that very day Moses wrote down the
words of the song and taught it to the Israelites.
23 Then the Lord commissioned Joshua son
of Nun with these words: “Be strong and courageous, for you must bring the people of Israel
into the land I swore to give them. I will be
with you.”
24 When Moses had finished writing this entire
body of instruction in a book, 25 he gave this command to the Levites who carried the Ark of the
Lord’s Covenant: 26 “Take this Book of Instruction and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant
of the Lord your God, so it may remain there as a
witness against the people of Israel. 27 For I know
how rebellious and stubborn you are. Even now,
while I am still alive and am here with you, you
have rebelled against the Lord. How much more
rebellious will you be after my death!
28 “Now summon all the elders and officials
of your tribes, so that I can speak to them directly and call heaven and earth to witness
against them. 29 I know that after my death you
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will become utterly corrupt and will turn from
the way I have commanded you to follow. In the
days to come, disaster will come down on you,
for you will do what is evil in the Lord’s sight,
making him very angry with your actions.”
The Song of Moses
30 So Moses recited this entire song publicly to
the assembly of Israel:
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“Listen, O heavens, and I will speak!
Hear, O earth, the words that I say!
Let my teaching fall on you like rain;
let my speech settle like dew.
Let my words fall like rain on tender grass,
like gentle showers on young plants.
I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
how glorious is our God!
He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect.
Everything he does is just and fair.
He is a faithful God who does no wrong;
how just and upright he is!
1
“But they have acted corruptly toward him;
when they act so perversely,
are they really his children?*
They are a deceitful and twisted
generation.
Is this the way you repay the Lord,
you foolish and senseless people?
Isn’t he your Father who created you?
Has he not made you and established you?
Remember the days of long ago;
think about the generations past.
Ask your father, and he will inform you.
Inquire of your elders, and they will
tell you.
When the Most High assigned lands to the
nations,
when he divided up the human race,
he established the boundaries of the
peoples
according to the number in his heavenly
court.*
“For the people of Israel belong to the Lord;
Jacob is his special possession.
He found them in a desert land,
in an empty, howling wasteland.
He surrounded them and watched
over them;
he guarded them as he would guard
his own eyes.*
Like an eagle that rouses her chicks
and hovers over her young,
so he spread his wings to take them up
and carried them safely on his pinions.
31:14 Hebrew Tent of Meeting; also in 31:14b. 32:5 The
meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. 32:8 As in Dead Sea
Scrolls, which read the number of the sons of God, and Greek
version, which reads the number of the angels of God; Masoretic
Text reads the number of the sons of Israel. 32:10 Hebrew as
the pupil of his eye.