Moses encourageth the people, and Josue, who is appointed to succeed
him. He delivereth the law to the priests. God foretelleth that the
people will often forsake him, and that he will punish them. He
commandeth Moses to write a canticle, as a constant remembrancer of the
law.
31:1. And Moses went, and spoke all these words to all Israel,
31:2. And he said to them: I am this day a hundred and twenty years
old, I can no longer go out and come in, especially as the Lord also
hath said to me: Thou shalt not pass over this Jordan.
31:3. The Lord thy God then will pass over before thee: he will destroy
all these nations in thy sight, and thou shalt possess them: and this
Josue shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath spoken.
31:4. And the Lord shall do to them as he did to Sehon and Og the kings
of the Amorrhites, and to their land, and shall destroy them.
31:5. Therefore when the Lord shall have delivered these also to you,
you shall do in like manner to them as I have commanded you.
31:6. Do manfully and be of good heart: fear not, nor be ye dismayed at
their sight: for the Lord thy God he himself is thy leader, and will
not leave thee nor forsake thee.
31:7. And Moses called Josue, and said to him before all Israel: Take
courage, and be valiant: for thou shalt bring this people into the land
which the Lord swore he would give to their fathers, and thou shalt
divide it by lot.
31:8. And the Lord who is your leader, he himself will be with thee: he
will not leave thee, nor forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
31:9. And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the
sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to
all the ancients of Israel.
31:10. And he commanded them, saying: After seven years, in the year of
remission, in the feast of tabernacles,
31:11. When all Israel come together, to appear in the sight of the
Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou shalt read
the words of this law before all Israel, in their hearing.
31:12. And the people being all assembled together, both men and women,
children and strangers, that are within thy gates: that hearing they
may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and keep, and fulfil all the
words of this law:
31:13. That their children also, who now are ignorant, may hear, and
fear the Lord their God, all the days that they live in the land
whither you are going over the Jordan to possess it.
31:14. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold the days of thy death are
nigh: call Josue, and stand ye in the tabernacle of the testimony, that
I may give him a charge. So Moses and Josue went and stood in the
tabernacle of the testimony:
31:15. And the Lord appeared there in the pillar of a cloud, which
stood in the entry of the tabernacle.
31:16. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers, and this people rising up will go a fornicating after strange
gods in the land, to which it goeth in to dwell: there will they
forsake me, and will make void the covenant, which I have made with
them,
31:17. And my wrath shall be kindled against them in that day: and I
will forsake them, and will hide my face from them, and they shall be
devoured: all evils and afflictions shall find them, so that they shall
say in that day: In truth it is because God is not with me, that these
evils have found me.
31:18. But I will hide, and cover my face in that day, for all the
evils which they have done, because they have followed strange gods.
31:19. Now therefore write you this canticle, and teach the children of
Israel: that they may know it by heart, and sing it by mouth, and this
song may be unto me for a testimony among the children of Israel.
31:20. For I will bring them into the land, for which I swore to their
fathers, that floweth with milk and honey. And when they have eaten,
and are full and fat, they will turn away after strange gods, and will
serve them: and will despise me, and make void my covenant.
31:21. And after many evils and afflictions shall have come upon them,
this canticle shall answer them for a testimony, which no oblivion
shall take away out of the mouth of their seed. For I know their
thoughts, and what they are about to do this day, before that I bring
them into the land which I have promised them.
31:22. Moses therefore wrote the canticle, and taught it to the
children of Israel.
31:23. And the Lord commanded Josue the son of Nun, and said: Take
courage, and be valiant: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel
into the land which I have promised, and I will be with thee.
31:24. Therefore after Moses had wrote the words of this law in a
volume, and finished it:
31:25. He commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of
the Lord, saying:
31:26. Take this book, and put it in the side of the ark of the
covenant of the Lord your God: that it may be there for a testimony
against thee.
31:27. For I know thy obstinacy, and thy most stiff neck. While I am
yet living, and going in with you, you have always been rebellious
against the Lord: how much more when I shall be dead?
31:28. Gather unto me all the ancients of your tribes, and your
doctors, and I will speak these words in their hearing, and will call
heaven and earth to witness against them.
31:29. For I know that, after my death, you will do wickedly, and will
quickly turn aside from the way that I have commanded you: and evils
shall come upon you in the latter times, when you shall do evil in the
sight of the Lord, to provoke him by the works of your hands.
31:30. Moses therefore spoke, in the hearing of the whole assembly of
Israel, the words of this canticle, and finished it even to the end.