1. Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.
2. He said to them, I am one hundred twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: and יהוה has said to me, You shall not go over this Jordan.
3. יהוה your God, he will go over before you; he will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them: and Joshua , he shall go over before you, as יהוה has spoken.
4. יהוה will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land; whom he destroyed.
5. יהוה will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you.
6. Be strong and of good courage, don’t be afraid, nor be scared of them: for יהוה your God, it is he who does go with you; he will not fail you, nor forsake you.
7. Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of good courage: for you shall go with this people into the land which יהוה has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it.
8. יהוה, he it is who does go before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you, neither forsake you: don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed.
9. Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of יהוה, and to all the elders of Israel.
10. Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tents,
11. When all Israel is come to appear before יהוה your God in the place which he shall choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
12. Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and your foreigner who is within your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear יהוה your God, and observe to do all the words of this law;
13. And that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear יהוה your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over the Jordan to possess it.
14. יהוה said to Moses , Behold, your days approach that you must die: call Joshua , and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may give him a charge. Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of meeting.
15. יהוה appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud: and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the Tent.
16. יהוה said to Moses , Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and play the prostitute after the strange 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.
17. Then 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 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?
18. I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they shall have worked, in that they are turned to other gods.
19. Now therefore write this song for you, and teach you it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
20. For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat; then will they turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant.
21. It shall happen, when many evils and troubles are come on them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they frame this day, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.
22. So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.
23. He gave Joshua , the son of Nun , a charge, and said, Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them: and I will be with you.
24. It happened, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished,
25. That Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of יהוה, saying,
26. Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of יהוה your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.
27. For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against יהוה; and how much more after my death?
28. Assemble 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.
29. For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will happen to you in the latter days; because you will do that which is evil in the sight of יהוה, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.
30. Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished.
6. Seek יהוה while he may be found. Call on him while he is near.
7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to יהוה , and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says יהוה .
9. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10. For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11. so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
12. For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills will break out before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands.
13. Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up; and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up: and it will make a name for יהוה , for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.”
Chapter 56
1. יהוה says, “Maintain justice, and do what is right; for my salvation is near, and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
2. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
3. Let no foreigner, who has joined himself to יהוה , speak, saying, “ יהוה will surely separate me from his people.” Do not let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
4. For יהוה says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant:
5. I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name, that will not be cut off.
6. Also the foreigners who join themselves to יהוה , to serve him, and to love יהוה ’s name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant;
7. I will bring these to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
8. The Lord יהוה , who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “I will yet gather others to him, besides his own who are gathered.”
ETZ CHAIM
It is a tree of life for those who cling to it, and those who uphold it are happy. Its ways are pleasant, and all of its paths peaceful.
Return us to you, Lord, so that we shall return, renew our days as of old.