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Chapter 31
The Lord’s Leadership. 1 When Moses had finished speaking these words to all Israel, 2 he said to them, I am now one hundred and twenty years old(A) and am no longer able to go out and come in; besides, the Lord has said to me, Do not cross this Jordan. 3 It is the Lord, your God, who will cross before you; he will destroy these nations before you, that you may dispossess them.(B) (It is Joshua who will cross before you, as the Lord promised.) 4 (C)The Lord will deal with them just as he dealt with Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and with their country, when he destroyed them. 5 When, therefore, the Lord delivers them up to you, you shall deal with them according to the whole commandment which I have given you.(D) 6 Be strong and steadfast; have no fear or dread of them, for it is the Lord, your God, who marches with you; he will never fail you or forsake you.(E)
Call of Joshua. 7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and in the presence of all Israel said to him,(F) “Be strong and steadfast, for you shall bring this people into the land which the Lord swore to their ancestors he would give them; it is you who will give them possession of it. 8 It is the Lord who goes before you; he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed.”(G)
The Reading of the Law. 9 (H)When Moses had written down this law, he gave it to the levitical priests who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.(I) 10 Moses commanded them, saying, On the feast of Booths,(J) at the prescribed time in the year for remission[a] which comes at the end of every seven-year period, 11 when all Israel goes to appear before the Lord, your God, in the place which he will choose, you shall read this law aloud in the presence of all Israel. 12 Assemble the people—men, women and children, as well as the resident aliens who live in your communities—that they may hear and so learn to fear the Lord, your God, and to observe carefully all the words of this law. 13 Their children also, who do not know it yet, shall hear and learn to fear the Lord, your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.
Commission to Joshua. 14 (K)The Lord said to Moses, The time is now approaching for you to die. Summon Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting that I may commission him. So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting. 15 And the Lord appeared at the tent in a column of cloud; the column of cloud stood at the entrance of the tent.
A Command to Moses. 16 The Lord said to Moses, Soon you will be at rest with your ancestors, and then this people will prostitute themselves[b] by following the foreign gods among whom they will live in the land they are about to enter.(L) They will forsake me and break the covenant which I have made with them. 17 (M)At that time my anger will flare up against them; I will forsake them and hide my face from them; they will become a prey to be devoured, and much evil and distress will befall them. At that time they will indeed say, “Is it not because our God is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us?” 18 Yet I will surely hide my face at that time because of all the evil they have done in turning to other gods. 19 Now, write out this song(N) for yourselves. Teach it to the Israelites and have them recite it, so that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites. 20 For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey which I promised on oath to their ancestors, and they have eaten and are satisfied and have grown fat, if they turn to other gods and serve them, despising me and breaking my covenant, 21 then, when great evil and distress befall them, this song will speak to them as a witness, for it will not be forgotten if their descendants recite it. For I know what they are inclined to do even at the present time, before I have brought them into the land which I promised on oath. 22 So Moses wrote this song that same day, and he taught it to the Israelites.
Commission of Joshua. 23 Then he commissioned Joshua, son of Nun, and said to him, Be strong and steadfast, for it is you who will bring the Israelites into the land which I promised them on oath.(O) I myself will be with you.
The Law Placed in the Ark. 24 When Moses had finished writing out on a scroll the words of this law in their entirety, 25 Moses gave the Levites(P) who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord this order: 26 Take this book of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord, your God, that there it may be a witness against you.(Q) 27 For I already know how rebellious and stiff-necked you will be. Why, even now, while I am alive among you, you have been rebels against the Lord! How much more, then, after I am dead!(R) 28 (S)Assemble all your tribal elders and your officials before me, that I may speak these words for them to hear and so may call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 (T)For I know that after my death you are sure to act corruptly and to turn aside from the way along which I commanded you, so that evil will befall you in time to come because you have done what is evil in the Lord’s sight, and provoked him by your deeds.
The Song of Moses. 30 Then Moses recited the words of this song in their entirety, for the whole assembly of Israel to hear:
Chapter 32
1 [c]Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak;
let the earth hear the words of my mouth!(U)
2 May my teaching soak in like the rain,
and my utterance drench like the dew,
Like a downpour upon the grass,
like a shower upon the crops.
3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord,
praise the greatness of our God!
4 The Rock—how faultless are his deeds,
how right all his ways!
A faithful God, without deceit,
just and upright is he!(V)
5 Yet his degenerate children have treated him basely,
a twisted and crooked generation!(W)
6 Is this how you repay the Lord,
so foolish and unwise a people?
Is he not your father who begot you,
the one who made and established you?(X)
7 Remember the days of old,
consider the years of generations past.
Ask your father, he will inform you,
your elders, they will tell you:(Y)
8 When the Most High allotted each nation its heritage,
when he separated out human beings,(Z)
He set up the boundaries of the peoples
after the number of the divine beings;[d]
9 But the Lord’s portion was his people;
his allotted share was Jacob.(AA)
10 He found them in a wilderness,
a wasteland of howling desert.
He shielded them, cared for them,
guarded them as the apple of his eye.(AB)
11 As an eagle incites its nestlings,
hovering over its young,
So he spread his wings, took them,
bore them upon his pinions.(AC)
12 The Lord alone guided them,
no foreign god was with them.(AD)
13 (AE)He had them mount the summits of the land,[e]
fed them the produce of its fields;
He suckled them with honey from the crags
and olive oil from the flinty rock;
14 Butter from cows and milk from sheep,
with the best of lambs;
Bashan[f] bulls and goats,
with the cream of finest wheat;
and the foaming blood of grapes you drank.
15 So Jacob ate and was satisfied,
Jeshurun[g] grew fat and kicked;
you became fat and gross and gorged.
They forsook the God who made them
and scorned the Rock of their salvation.(AF)
16 With strange gods they incited him,
with abominations provoked him to anger.(AG)
17 They sacrificed to demons, to “no-gods,”
to gods they had never known,
Newcomers from afar,
before whom your ancestors had never trembled.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you,
you forgot the God who gave you birth.(AH)
19 The Lord saw and was filled with loathing,
provoked by his sons and daughters.(AI)
20 He said, I will hide my face from them,
and see what becomes of them.
For they are a fickle generation,
children with no loyalty in them!(AJ)
21 Since they have incited me with a “no-god,”
and provoked me with their empty idols,
I will incite them with a “no-people”;[h]
with a foolish nation I will provoke them.(AK)
22 For by my wrath a fire is kindled
that has raged to the depths of Sheol,
It has consumed the earth with its yield,
and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.(AL)
23 I will heap evils upon them
and exhaust all my arrows against them:(AM)
24 Emaciating hunger and consuming fever
and bitter pestilence,
And the teeth of wild beasts I will send among them,
with the venom of reptiles gliding in the dust.(AN)
25 Out in the street the sword shall bereave,
and at home the terror
For the young man and the young woman alike,
the nursing babe as well as the gray beard.(AO)
26 I said: I will make an end of them
and blot out their name from human memory,
27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,
that their foes might misunderstand,
And say, “Our own hand won the victory;
the Lord had nothing to do with any of it.”(AP)
8 I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.(A)
Sayings About the Holy Spirit.[a] 10 “Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven.(B) 11 When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities,(C) do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. 12 For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”
Saying Against Greed. 13 [b]Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” 14 He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?”(D) 15 Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”(E)
Parable of the Rich Fool. 16 Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. 17 He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ 18 And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods 19 (F)and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’(G) 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ 21 Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”[c]
Dependence on God. 22 (H)He said to [his] disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. 24 Notice the ravens: they do not sow or reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them. How much more important are you than birds!(I) 25 Can any of you by worrying add a moment to your life-span? 26 If even the smallest things are beyond your control, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them.(J) 28 If God so clothes the grass in the field that grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? 29 As for you, do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not worry anymore. 30 All the nations of the world seek for these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these other things will be given you besides. 32 Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.(K) 33 Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.(L) 34 For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
Vigilant and Faithful Servants.[d]
32 In spite of all this they went on sinning,
they did not believe in his wonders.
D
33 God ended their days abruptly,
their years in sudden death.
34 When he slew them, they began to seek him;
they again looked for God.(A)
35 They remembered[a] that God was their rock,
God Most High, their redeemer.
36 But they deceived him with their mouths,
lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their hearts were not constant toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.(B)
38 [b]But God being compassionate forgave their sin;
he did not utterly destroy them.
Time and again he turned back his anger,
unwilling to unleash all his rage.(C)
39 He remembered that they were flesh,
a breath that passes on and does not return.
III
A
40 How often they rebelled against God in the wilderness,
grieved him in the wasteland.
41 Again and again they tested God,
provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power,
the day he redeemed them from the foe,(D)
43 [c]When he performed his signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the plain of Zoan.(E)
44 God turned their rivers to blood;
their streams they could not drink.
45 He sent swarms of insects that devoured them,(F)
frogs that destroyed them.
46 He gave their harvest to the caterpillar,
the fruits of their labor to the locust.
47 He killed their vines with hail,(G)
their sycamores with frost.
48 He exposed their cattle to plague,
their flocks to pestilence.(H)
49 He let loose against them the heat of his anger,
wrath, fury, and distress,
a band of deadly messengers.
50 He cleared a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but delivered their animals to the plague.
51 He struck all the firstborn of Egypt,(I)
the first fruits of their vigor in the tents of Ham.
52 Then God led forth his people like sheep,
guided them like a flock through the wilderness.(J)
53 He led them on secure and unafraid,
while the sea enveloped their enemies.(K)
54 And he brought them to his holy mountain,
the hill his right hand had won.(L)
55 He drove out the nations before them,
allotted them as their inherited portion,
and settled in their tents the tribes of Israel.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.