Deuteronomy 31 · WEB
Moses' Final Charge, Joshua Commissioned, the Law Deposited
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Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.
2He said to them, "I am one hundred twenty years old today. I can no more go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, 'You shall not go over this Jordan.'
3The LORD your God, he will go over before you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua will go over before you, as the LORD has spoken.
4The LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land; whom he destroyed.
5The LORD will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you.
6Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid or scared of them; for the LORD your God, he it is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you."
7Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous; for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it.
8The LORD, he it is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don't be afraid, neither be dismayed."
9Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.
10Moses commanded them, saying, "At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of booths,
11when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God in the place which he shall choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
12Assemble the people—the men and the women and the little ones, and the foreigner who is within your gates—that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law;
13and that their children, who have not known, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over the Jordan to possess it."
14The LORD said to Moses, "Behold, your days approach when you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him." Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting.
15The LORD appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud; and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the Tent.
16The LORD said to Moses, "Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land where they go to be among them, and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them.
17Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. Many evils and troubles will come on them, so that they will say in that day, 'Haven't these evils come on us because our God is not among us?'
18I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.
19"Now therefore write this song for yourselves, 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.
20For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and are full and become fat, and have turned to other gods and served them and despised me and broken my covenant,
21then it will happen, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their offspring; for I know their imagination which they are working out today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore."
22So Moses wrote this song that day and taught it to the children of Israel.
23He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, "Be strong and courageous; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them. I will be with you."
24When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were finished,
25Moses commanded the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying,
26"Take this book of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.
27For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death?
28Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them.
29For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. Evil will happen to you in the latter days, because you will do that which is evil in the LORD's sight, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands."
30Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished.
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Summary
Moses, at 120 years old, gives his final public address: he will not cross the Jordan, but God himself will go before Israel with Joshua as leader. He delivers the written law to the priests and commands a public reading every seven years at the Feast of Booths. God personally commissions Joshua in the Tent of Meeting and gives Moses a sobering prophecy: after his death, Israel will apostatize. Moses is therefore to write a song (chapter 32) as a witness against Israel's future unfaithfulness. The written law is placed beside the Ark as another witness. The chapter ends in a tone of realistic, sorrowful wisdom: Moses knows what is coming.
Themes
- Leadership transition: courage and faithfulness as the qualities needed for the next chapter
- The public reading of the law every seven years — spiritual renewal through regular encounter with Scripture
- God's foreknowledge of Israel's future apostasy — and his provision of a witness against it
- The written Word as covenant witness — placed beside the Ark for perpetual testimony
- Moses' clear-eyed love: telling hard truth to those he loves deeply
Key verses
- Deut 31:21 — “...this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their offspring; for I know their imagination which they are working out today.”
- Deut 31:6 — “Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid or scared of them; for the LORD your God, he it is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you.”
- Deut 31:8 — “The LORD, he it is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don't be afraid, neither be dismayed.”
Context & background
The Tent of Meeting (Tabernacle) was the portable worship center Israel had used since the Sinai Peninsula construction (Exodus 25-40). God's appearance there in a pillar of cloud was a theophany — a visible manifestation of his presence — particularly significant as a divine commissioning of Joshua. The command to read the law every seven years at the Feast of Booths (Sukkot) was a fundamental mechanism for intergenerational covenant transmission — every seven years, the whole community, including children who had never heard it, would hear the entire law read aloud. Deuteronomy 31:6 and 31:8 are quoted verbatim in Hebrews 13:5 as the basis for Christian confidence that God will never abandon his people.
Cross-references
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17 — Scripture as witness and teacher — the principle of Deut 31:19-21
- Hebrews 13:5 — The author quotes Deut 31:6: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you"
- Joshua 1:6-9 — God repeats the "be strong and courageous" charge to Joshua directly
- Nehemiah 8 — Ezra reads the law to the returned exiles — fulfilling the spirit of Deut 31:10-13
- Romans 7:11-12 — Paul reflects on the law as bearing witness to sin — the Deut 31:26 theme