ESV - Deuteronomy Chapter 33 to 34

33 Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel

33:1 This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. ²He said,

“The Lord came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us;^[1]he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire[2] at his right hand. ³Yes, he loved his people,^[3]all his holy ones were in his[4] hand; so they followed[5] in your steps, receiving direction from you, ⁴when Moses commanded us a law, as a possession for the assembly of Jacob. ⁵Thus the Lord became king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together.

⁶“Let Reuben live, and not die, but let his men be few.” ⁷And this he said of Judah:

“Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him in to his people. With your hands contend[6] for him, and be a help against his adversaries.” ⁸And of Levi he said,

“Give to Levi[7] your Thummim, and your Urim to your godly one, whom you tested at Massah, with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah; ⁹who said of his father and mother, ‘I regard them not’; he disowned his brothers and ignored his children. For they observed your word and kept your covenant. ¹⁰They shall teach Jacob your rules and Israel your law; they shall put incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar. ¹¹Bless, O Lord, his substance, and accept the work of his hands; crush the loins of his adversaries, of those who hate him, that they rise not again.” ¹²Of Benjamin he said,

“The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety. The High God[8] surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders.” ¹³And of Joseph he said,

“Blessed by the Lord be his land, with the choicest gifts of heaven above,^[9]and of the deep that crouches beneath, ¹⁴with the choicest fruits of the sun and the rich yield of the months, ¹⁵with the finest produce of the ancient mountains and the abundance of the everlasting hills, ¹⁶with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness and the favor of him who dwells in the bush. May these rest on the head of Joseph, on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers. ¹⁷A firstborn bull[10]—he has majesty, and his horns are the horns of a wild ox; with them he shall gore the peoples, all of them, to the ends of the earth; they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.” ¹⁸And of Zebulun he said,

“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and Issachar, in your tents. ¹⁹They shall call peoples to their mountain; there they offer right sacrifices; for they draw from the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.” ²⁰And of Gad he said,

“Blessed be he who enlarges Gad! Gad crouches like a lion; he tears off arm and scalp. ²¹He chose the best of the land for himself, for there a commander’s portion was reserved; and he came with the heads of the people, with Israel he executed the justice of the Lord, and his judgments for Israel.” ²²And of Dan he said,

“Dan is a lion’s cub that leaps from Bashan.” ²³And of Naphtali he said,

“O Naphtali, sated with favor, and full of the blessing of the Lord, possess the lake[11] and the south.” ²⁴And of Asher he said,

“Most blessed of sons be Asher; let him be the favorite of his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil. ²⁵Your bars shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength be.

²⁶“There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty. ²⁷The eternal God is your dwelling place,^[12] and underneath are the everlasting arms.^[13]And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, Destroy. ²⁸So Israel lived in safety, Jacob lived alone,^[14]in a land of grain and wine, whose heavens drop down dew. ²⁹Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph! Your enemies shall come fawning to you, and you shall tread upon their backs.”

[1] Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew them [2] The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain [3] Septuagint; Hebrew peoples [4] Hebrew your [5] The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain [6] Probable reading; Hebrew With his hands he contended [7] Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint; Masoretic Text lacks Give to Levi [8] Septuagint; Hebrew dwells in safety by him. He [9] Two Hebrew manuscripts and Targum; Hebrew with the dew [10] Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Samaritan; Masoretic Text His firstborn bull [11] Or west [12] Or a dwelling place [13] Revocalization of verse 27 yields He subdues the ancient gods, and shatters the forces of old [14] Hebrew the abode of Jacob was alone

34 The Death of Moses

34:1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, ²all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, ³the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. ⁴And the Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” ⁵So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, ⁶and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. ⁷Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. ⁸And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

⁹And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹⁰And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, ¹¹none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ¹²and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.