Deuteronomy 31 · Parashat Vayelech

And Moshe went and spoke these words to all Yisra᾽el.

And he said to them, I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the Lord has said to me, Thou shalt not go over this Yarden.

The Lord thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt dispossess them: and Yehoshua, he shall go over before thee, as the Lord has said.

And the Lord will do to them as he did to Siĥon and to ῾Og, the kings of the Emori, and to their land; whom he destroyed,

and the Lord shall deliver them up before your face, that you may do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you.

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that goes with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

And Moshe called to Yehoshua, and said to him in the sight of all Yisra᾽el, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.

And the Lord, he it is that goes before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee: fear not, nor be dismayed.

And Moshe wrote this Tora, 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 Yisra᾽el.

And Moshe commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the time of the year of release, in the feast of booths,

when all Yisra᾽el is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this Tora before all Yisra᾽el in their hearing.

Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy 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 Tora:

and that their children, who have not known anything, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land whither you go over the Yarden to possess it.

And the Lord said to Moshe, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Yehoshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may give him a charge. And Moshe and Yehoshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting.

And the Lord appeared in the Tent in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the Tent.

And the Lord said to Moshe, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go astray after the gods of the strangers of the land, into which they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

Then my anger will burn against them on 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 befall them; so that they will say on that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?

And I will surely hide my face on that day for all the evils which they shall have perpetrated, in that they have turned to other gods.

Now therefore write this poem for yourselves, and teach it the children of Yisra᾽el: put it in their mouths, that this poem may be a witness for me against the children of Yisra᾽el.

For when I shall have brought them into the land of which I swore to their fathers, one 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 provoke me, and break my covenant.

And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles have befallen them, that this poem shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their inclination, and what they do, even now, before I have brought them into the land of which I swore.

Moshe therefore wrote this poem the same day, and taught it the children of Yisra᾽el.

And he gave Yehoshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Yisra᾽el into the land of which I swore to them: and I will be with thee.

And it came to pass, when Moshe had made an end of writing the words of this Tora in a book, until they were finished,

that Moshe commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,

Take this book of the Tora, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.

For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death?

Gather 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.

For I know that after my death you will surely become corrupted, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

And Moshe spoke in the ears of all the congregation of Yisra᾽el, the words of this poem, until they were ended.