The Israelites Will Return to Their Land

30 “All these things I have said will happen to you. You will have good things from the blessings, and you will have bad things from the curses. The Lord your God will send you away to other nations. Then you will think about these things. ²At that time, you and your descendants* will return to the Lord your God. You will follow him with all your heart and completely obey all his commands that I have given you today. ³Then the Lord your God will be kind to you. The Lord will make you free again! He will bring you back from those nations where he sent you. ⁴Even if you were sent to the farthest parts of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back from there. ⁵The Lord will bring you into the land your ancestors* had, and the land will become yours. The Lord will do good to you, and you will have more than your ancestors had. You will have more people in your nation than they ever had. ⁶The Lord your God will make you and your descendants want to obey him.* Then you will love the Lord with all your heart. And you will live! ⁷“Then the Lord your God will make all those bad things happen to your enemies. Why? Because those people hate you and give you trouble. ⁸And you will again obey the Lord. You will obey all his commands that I give you today. ⁹The Lord your God will make you successful in everything you do. He will bless you with many children. He will bless your cows—they will have many baby calves. He will bless your fields—they will grow many good crops. The Lord will be good to you. The Lord will again enjoy doing good for you, the same as he enjoyed doing good for your ancestors.* ¹⁰But you must do the things that the Lord your God tells you to do. You must obey his commands and follow the rules that are written in this Book of Teachings. You must obey the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Then these good things will happen to you.

Life or Death

¹¹“This command that I give you today is not too hard for you. It is not far off. ¹²This command is not in heaven so that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it to us, so that we can hear and do it?’ ¹³This command is not on the other side of the sea so that you should say, ‘Who will go across the sea for us and bring it to us, so that we can hear it and do it?’ ¹⁴No, the word is very near to you! It is in your mouth and in your heart. So you can obey it! ¹⁵“Today I have given you a choice between life and death, good and evil. ¹⁶I command you today to love the Lord your God. I command you to follow him and to obey his commands, laws, and rules. Then you will live, and your nation will grow larger. And the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take for your own. ¹⁷But if you turn away from the Lord and refuse to listen—if you are led away to worship and serve other gods, ¹⁸then you will be destroyed. I am warning you! If you turn away from the Lord, you will not live long in that land across the Jordan River that you are ready to enter and take for your own. ¹⁹“Today I am giving you a choice of two ways. And I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses of your choice. You can choose life or death. The first choice will bring a blessing. The other choice will bring a curse. So choose life! Then you and your children will live. ²⁰You must love the Lord your God and obey him. Never leave him! Why? Because the Lord is your life. And the Lord will give you a long life in the land that he promised to give to your ancestors* —Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

descendants A person’s children and their future families. ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents, grandparents, and all the people they are descended from. make you … obey him Literally, “circumcise the hearts of you and your seed.”

Joshua Will Be the New Leader

31 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all the people of Israel. ²Moses said to them, “I am now 120 years old. I can’t lead you any more. The Lord said to me: ‘You will not go across the Jordan River.’ ³But, the Lord your God will lead you people into that land! The Lord will destroy these nations for you. You will take their land away from them. But the Lord said that Joshua must lead you. ⁴“The Lord destroyed Sihon and Og. The Lord destroyed those Amorite kings. And the Lord will do the same thing for you again! ⁵The Lord will help you defeat these nations. But you must do to them everything I told you to do. ⁶Be strong and be brave. Don’t be afraid of those people! Why? Because the Lord your God is with you. He will not fail you or leave you.” ⁷Then Moses called Joshua. All the people of Israel watched while Moses said to Joshua, “Be strong and brave. You will lead these people into the land that the Lord promised to give to their ancestors.* You will help the people of Israel take this land to be their own. ⁸The Lord will lead you. He himself is with you. He will not fail you or leave you. Don’t worry. Don’t be afraid!”

Moses Writes the Teachings

⁹Then Moses wrote the Teachings and gave them to the priests. The priests are from the family group of Levi. They have the work of carrying the Lord’s Box of the Agreement.* Moses also gave the Teachings to all the elders (leaders) of Israel. ¹⁰Then Moses spoke to the leaders. He said, “At the end of every seven years, in the Year of Freedom, read these Teachings at the Festival of Shelters. ¹¹At that time, all the people of Israel must come to meet with the Lord your God at the special place he will choose. Then you must read the Teachings to the people so that they can hear them. ¹²Bring together all the people—the men, the women, the little children, and the foreigners living in your cities. They will hear the Teachings, and they will learn to respect the Lord your God. Then they will be able to do all the things in the Teachings. ¹³If their descendants* don’t know the Teachings, then they will hear them. And they will learn to respect the Lord your God. They will respect him as long as you live in your country. You will soon go across the Jordan River and take that land to be your own.”

The Lord Calls Moses and Joshua

¹⁴The Lord said to Moses, “Now the time is near for you to die. Get Joshua and come to the Meeting Tent.* I will tell Joshua the things he must do.” So Moses and Joshua went to the Meeting Tent. ¹⁵The Lord appeared at the Tent in a tall cloud. The tall cloud stood over the entrance of the Tent. ¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, “You will die soon. And after you have gone to be with your ancestors,* these people will not continue to be faithful to me. They will break the Agreement I made with them. They will leave me and begin worshiping other gods—the false gods of the land where they are going. ¹⁷At that time, I will become very angry at them, and I will leave them. I will refuse to help them, and they will be destroyed. Terrible things will happen to them, and they will have many troubles. Then they will say, ‘These bad things happened to us because our God is not with us.’ ¹⁸And I will refuse to help them, because they have done evil and worshiped other gods. ¹⁹“So write down this song, and teach it to the people of Israel. Teach them to sing this song. Then this song will be a witness for me against the people of Israel. ²⁰I will take them into the land that I promised to give to their ancestors* —a land filled with many good things.* And they will have all they want to eat. They will have a rich life. But then they will turn to other gods and serve them. They will turn away from me and break my Agreement. ²¹Then many terrible things will happen to them. They will have many troubles. At that time, their people will still know this song, and it will show them how wrong they are. I have not yet taken them into the land I promised to give them. But I already know what they are planning to do there.” ²²So that same day Moses wrote down the song. And he taught the song to the people of Israel. ²³Then the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun. The Lord said, “Be strong and brave. You will lead the people of Israel into the land I promised them. And I will be with you.”

Moses Warns the People of Israel

²⁴Moses carefully wrote all these teachings in a book. When he finished, ²⁵he gave a command to the Levites.* (These men carry the Lord’s Box of the Agreement.*) Moses said, ²⁶“Take this Book of Teachings and put it by the side of the Box of the Agreement of the Lord your God. Then it will be a witness against you. ²⁷I know you are very stubborn. I know you want to live your own way. Look, you refused to obey the Lord while I was with you. So I know you will refuse to obey him after I die. ²⁸Bring together all the officers and leaders of your family groups. I will tell them these things. And I will call heaven and earth to be witnesses against them. ²⁹I know that after my death you will become evil. You will turn from the way I commanded you to follow. Bad things will happen to you in the future. Why? Because you want to do the things that the Lord says are evil. You will make him angry because of the bad things you do.”

The Song of Moses

30All the people of Israel were gathered together. And Moses sang this song for them. Moses sang the whole song:

ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents, grandparents, and all the people they are descended from. Box of the Agreement Or, “ark of the Covenant,” the box containing the flat stones with the Ten Commandments written on them and other things that proved God was with the people of Israel during their time in the Sinai desert. descendants A person’s children and their future families. Meeting Tent The Holy Tent (tabernacle) where the people of Israel went to meet with God. filled with many good things Literally, “flowing with milk and honey.” Levites People from the tribe of Levi. They helped the priests in the temple and worked for the civil government.