Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 31:9-26 
Context31:9 Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and to all Israel’s elders. 31:10 He 1 commanded them: “At the end of seven years, at the appointed time of the cancellation of debts, 2 at the Feast of Temporary Shelters, 3 31:11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, you must read this law before them 4 within their hearing. 31:12 Gather the people – men, women, and children, as well as the resident foreigners in your villages – so they may hear and thus learn about and fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the words of this law. 31:13 Then their children, who have not known this law, 5 will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
31:14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The day of your death is near. Summon Joshua and present yourselves in the tent 6 of meeting 7 so that I can commission him.” 8 So Moses and Joshua presented themselves in the tent of meeting. 31:15 The Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud that 9 stood above the door of the tent. 31:16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “You are about to die, 10 and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they 11 are going. They 12 will reject 13 me and break my covenant that I have made with them. 14 31:17 At that time 15 my anger will erupt against them 16 and I will abandon them and hide my face from them until they are devoured. Many disasters and distresses will overcome 17 them 18 so that they 19 will say at that time, ‘Have not these disasters 20 overcome us 21 because our 22 God is not among us 23 ?’ 31:18 But I will certainly 24 hide myself at that time because of all the wickedness they 25 will have done by turning to other gods. 31:19 Now write down for yourselves the following song and teach it to the Israelites. Put it into their very mouths so that this song may serve as my witness against the Israelites! 31:20 For after I have brought them 26 to the land I promised to their 27 ancestors – one flowing with milk and honey – and they 28 eat their fill 29 and become fat, then they 30 will turn to other gods and worship them; they will reject me and break my covenant. 31:21 Then when 31 many disasters and distresses overcome them 32 this song will testify against them, 33 for their 34 descendants will not forget it. 35 I know the 36 intentions they have in mind 37 today, even before I bring them 38 to the land I have promised.” 31:22 So on that day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites, 31:23 and the Lord 39 commissioned Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous, for you will take the Israelites to the land I have promised them, and I will be with you.” 40
31:24 When Moses finished writing on a scroll the words of this law in their entirety, 31:25 he 41 commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant, 31:26 “Take this scroll of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. It will remain there as a witness against you,
1 tn Heb “Moses.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn The Hebrew term שְׁמִטָּה (shÿmittah), a derivative of the verb שָׁמַט (shamat, “to release; to relinquish”), refers to the procedure whereby debts of all fellow Israelites were to be canceled. Since the Feast of Tabernacles celebrated God’s own deliverance of and provision for his people, this was an appropriate time for Israelites to release one another. See note on this word at Deut 15:1.
3 tn The Hebrew phrase הַסֻּכּוֹת[חַג] ([khag] hassukot, “[festival of] huts” [or “shelters”]) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. See note on the name of the festival in Deut 16:13.
sn For the regulations on this annual festival see Deut 16:13-15.
4 tn Heb “before all Israel.”
5 tn The phrase “this law” is not in the Hebrew text, but English style requires an object for the verb here. Other translations also supply the object which is otherwise implicit (cf. NIV “who do not know this law”; TEV “who have never heard the Law of the Lord your God”).
6 tc The LXX reads “by the door of the tent” in line with v. 10 but also, perhaps, as a reflection of its tendency to avoid over-familiarity with Yahweh and his transcendence.
7 tn Heb “tent of assembly” (מוֹעֵד אֹהֶל, ’ohel mo’ed); this is not always the same as the tabernacle, which is usually called מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan, “dwelling-place”), a reference to its being invested with God’s presence. The “tent of meeting” was erected earlier than the tabernacle and was the place where Yahweh occasionally appeared, especially to Moses (cf. Exod 18:7-16; 33:7-11; Num 11:16, 24, 26; 12:4).
8 tn Heb “I will command him.”
9 tn Heb “and the pillar of cloud.” This phrase was not repeated in the translation; a relative clause was used instead.
10 tn Heb “lie down with your fathers” (so NASB); NRSV “ancestors.”
11 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style. The third person singular also occurs in the Hebrew text twice more in this verse, three times in v. 17, once in v. 18, five times in v. 20, and four times in v. 21. Each time it is translated as third person plural for stylistic reasons.
12 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
13 tn Or “abandon” (TEV, NLT).
14 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
15 tn Heb “on that day.” This same expression also appears later in the verse and in v. 18.
16 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
17 tn Heb “find,” “encounter.”
18 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
19 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
20 tn Heb “evils.”
21 tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.
22 tn Heb “my.”
23 tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.
24 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “certainly.”
25 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
26 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
27 tn Heb “his.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “their.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
28 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
29 tn Heb “and are satisfied.”
30 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
31 tn Heb “Then it will come to pass that.”
32 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
33 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
34 tn Heb “his.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “their.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
35 tn Heb “it will not be forgotten from the mouth of his seed.”
36 tn Heb “his.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “their.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
37 tn Heb “which he is doing.”
38 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
39 tn Heb “he.” Since the pronoun could be taken to refer to Moses, the referent has been specified as “the
40 tc The LXX reads, “as the
41 tn Heb “Moses.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
