Deuteronomy 31

1 And Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel;

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

2 and he said unto them, I am a hundred and twenty years old this day, I can no more go out and come in; and Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go 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 Jehovah thy God, he will go over before thee, he will destroy these nations from before thee, that thou mayest take possession of them: Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as Jehovah hath said.

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 Jehovah will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, 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 when Jehovah giveth them up before you, ye shall do to them according to all the commandment 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, fear them not, neither be afraid of them; for Jehovah thy God, he it is that goeth with thee; he will not leave thee, nor forsake thee.

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 called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and courageous, for thou must go with this people into the land which Jehovah hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt 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 Jehovah, he it is that goeth before thee: he will be with thee; he will not leave thee, nor forsake thee; fear not, neither be dismayed.

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 wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and to all the elders 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 commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, at the set time of the year of release, at the feast of tabernacles,

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 when all Israel cometh to appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which he will choose, thou shalt read 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 Gather the people together, the men, and the women, and the children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear Jehovah your God, and take heed 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 that their children who do not know it may hear it and learn, that they may fear Jehovah your God, as long as ye live in the land, whereunto ye pass 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 Jehovah said to Moses, Lo, the days are near for thee to die; call Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at 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 Jehovah appeared at the tent in the pillar of cloud; and the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance to 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 Jehovah said to Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the strange gods of the land into which they enter, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

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 shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, and they will say in that day, Have not these evils befallen me because my God is not in my midst?

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 will entirely hide my face in that day for all the evils that they have wrought, because they turned unto 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 ye this song, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children 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 For I shall bring them into the land which I swore unto their fathers, which floweth with milk and honey; and they will eat and fill themselves, and wax fat, and will turn unto other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break 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 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles have befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed; for I know their imagination which they are forming already this day, before I bring them into the land which I have sworn [unto them].

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 wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children 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 And [Jehovah] commanded Joshua the son of Nun, and said, Be strong and courageous; for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I have sworn unto them; and I will be with thee.

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 came to pass, when Moses had ended writing the words of this law in a book, until their conclusion,

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

25 that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, saying,

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

26 Take this book of the law, and put it at the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee;

“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 know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck. Lo, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah; and how much more 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 Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and take heaven and earth to witness 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 know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and will turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and mischief will befall you at the end of days; because ye do evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger through 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 spoke in the ears of the whole congregation of Israel the words of this song, until their conclusion.

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