The Message (MSG)

1-6 If you listen obediently to the Voice ofGod, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today,God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world. All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice ofGod, your God:

God’s blessing inside the city,

God’s blessing in the country;

God’s blessing on your children,

the crops of your land,

the young of your livestock,

the calves of your herds,

the lambs of your flocks.

God’s blessing on your basket and bread bowl;

God’s blessing in your coming in,

God’s blessing in your going out.

7 Godwill defeat your enemies who attack you. They’ll come at you on one road and run away on seven roads.

8 Godwill order a blessing on your barns and workplaces; he’ll bless you in the land thatGod, your God, is giving you.

9 Godwill form you as a people holy to him, just as he promised you, if you keep the commandments ofGod, your God, and live the way he has shown you.

10 All the peoples on Earth will see you living under the Name ofGodand hold you in respectful awe.

11-14 Godwill lavish you with good things: children from your womb, offspring from your animals, and crops from your land, the land thatGodpromised your ancestors that he would give you.Godwill throw open the doors of his sky vaults and pour rain on your land on schedule and bless the work you take in hand. You will lend to many nations but you yourself won’t have to take out a loan.Godwill make you the head, not the tail; you’ll always be the top dog, never the bottom dog, as you obediently listen to and diligently keep the commands ofGod, your God, that I am commanding you today. Don’t swerve an inch to the right or left from the words that I command you today by going off following and worshiping other gods.

15-19 Here’s what will happen if you don’t obediently listen to the Voice ofGod, your God, and diligently keep all the commandments and guidelines that I’m commanding you today. All these curses will come down hard on you:

God’s curse in the city,

God’s curse in the country;

God’s curse on your basket and bread bowl;

God’s curse on your children,

the crops of your land,

the young of your livestock,

the calves of your herds,

the lambs of your flocks.

God’s curse in your coming in,

God’s curse in your going out.

20 Godwill send The Curse, The Confusion, The Contrariness down on everything you try to do until you’ve been destroyed and there’s nothing left of you—all because of your evil pursuits that led you to abandon me.

21 Godwill infect you with The Disease, wiping you right off the land that you’re going in to possess.

22 Godwill set consumption and fever and rash and seizures and dehydration and blight and jaundice on you. They’ll hunt you down until they kill you.

23-24 The sky over your head will become an iron roof, the ground under your feet, a slab of concrete. From out of the skiesGodwill rain ash and dust down on you until you suffocate.

25-26 Godwill defeat you by enemy attack. You’ll come at your enemies on one road and run away on seven roads. All the kingdoms of Earth will see you as a horror. Carrion birds and animals will boldly feast on your dead body with no one to chase them away.

27-29 Godwill hit you hard with the boils of Egypt, hemorrhoids, scabs, and an incurable itch. He’ll make you go crazy and blind and senile. You’ll grope around in the middle of the day like a blind person feeling his way through a lifetime of darkness; you’ll never get to where you’re going. Not a day will go by that you’re not abused and robbed. And no one is going to help you.

30-31 You’ll get engaged to a woman and another man will take her for his mistress; you’ll build a house and never live in it; you’ll plant a garden and never eat so much as a carrot; you’ll watch your ox get butchered and not get a single steak from it; your donkey will be stolen from in front of you and you’ll never see it again; your sheep will be sent off to your enemies and no one will lift a hand to help you.

32-34 Your sons and daughters will be shipped off to foreigners; you’ll wear your eyes out looking vainly for them, helpless to do a thing. Your crops and everything you work for will be eaten and used by foreigners; you’ll spend the rest of your lives abused and knocked around. What you see will drive you crazy.

35 Godwill hit you with painful boils on your knees and legs and no healing or relief from head to foot.

36-37 Godwill lead you and the king you set over you to a country neither you nor your ancestors have heard of; there you’ll worship other gods, no-gods of wood and stone. Among all the peoples whereGodwill take you, you’ll be treated as a lesson or a proverb—a horror!

38-42 You’ll plant sacks and sacks of seed in the field but get almost nothing—the grasshoppers will devour it. You’ll plant and hoe and prune vineyards but won’t drink or put up any wine—the worms will devour them. You’ll have groves of olive trees everywhere, but you’ll have no oil to rub on your face or hands—the olives will have fallen off. You’ll have sons and daughters but they won’t be yours for long—they’ll go off to captivity. Locusts will take over all your trees and crops.

43-44 The foreigner who lives among you will climb the ladder, higher and higher, while you go deeper and deeper into the hole. He’ll lend to you; you won’t lend to him. He’ll be the head; you’ll be the tail.

45-46 All these curses are going to come on you. They’re going to hunt you down and get you until there’s nothing left of you because you didn’t obediently listen to the Voice ofGod, your God, and diligently keep his commandments and guidelines that I commanded you. The curses will serve as signposts, warnings to your children ever after.

47-48 Because you didn’t serveGod, your God, out of the joy and goodness of your heart in the great abundance, you’ll have to serve your enemies whomGodwill send against you. Life will be famine and drought, rags and wretchedness; then he’ll put an iron yoke on your neck until he’s destroyed you.

48-52 Yes,Godwill raise up a faraway nation against you, swooping down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you can’t understand, a mean-faced people, cruel to grandmothers and babies alike. They’ll ravage the young of your animals and the crops from your fields until you’re destroyed. They’ll leave nothing behind: no grain, no wine, no oil, no calves, no lambs—and finally, noyou. They’ll lay siege to you while you’re huddled behind your town gates. They’ll knock those high, proud walls flat, those walls behind which you felt so safe. They’ll lay siege to your fortified cities all over the country, this country thatGod, your God, has given you.

53-55 And you’ll end up cannibalizing your own sons and daughters thatGod, your God, has given you. When the suffering from the siege gets extreme, you’re going to eat your own babies. The most gentle and caring man among you will turn hard, his eye evil, against his own brother, his cherished wife, and even the rest of his children who are still alive, refusing to share with them a scrap of meat from the cannibal child-stew he is eating. He’s lost everything, even his humanity, in the suffering of the siege that your enemy mounts against your fortified towns.

56-57 And the most gentle and caring woman among you, a woman who wouldn’t step on a wildflower, will turn hard, her eye evil, against her cherished husband, against her son, against her daughter, against even the afterbirth of her newborn infants; she plans to eat them in secret—she does eat them!—because she has lost everything, even her humanity, in the suffering of the siege that your enemy mounts against your fortified towns.

58-61 If you don’t diligently keep all the words of this Revelation written in this book, living in holy awe before This Name glorious and terrible,God, your God, thenGodwill pound you with catastrophes, you and your children, huge interminable catastrophes, hideous interminable illnesses. He’ll bring back and stick you with every old Egyptian malady that once terrorized you. And yes, every disease and catastrophe imaginable—things not even written in the Book of this Revelation—Godwill bring on you until you’re destroyed.

62 Because you didn’t listen obediently to the Voice ofGod, your God, you’ll be left with a few pitiful stragglers in place of the dazzling stars-in-the-heavens multitude you had become.

63-66 And this is how things will end up: Just asGodonce enjoyed you, took pleasure in making life good for you, giving you many children, soGodwill enjoy getting rid of you, clearing you off the Earth. He’ll weed you out of the very soil that you are entering in to possess. He’ll scatter you to the four winds, from one end of the Earth to the other. You’ll worship all kinds of other gods, gods neither you nor your parents ever heard of, wood and stone no-gods. But you won’t find a home there, you’ll not be able to settle down.Godwill give you a restless heart, longing eyes, a homesick soul. You will live in constant jeopardy, terrified of every shadow, never knowing what you’ll meet around the next corner.

67 In the morning you’ll say, “I wish it were evening.” In the evening you’ll say, “I wish it were morning.” Afraid, terrorized at what’s coming next, afraid of the unknown, because of the sights you’ve witnessed.

68 Godwill ship you back to Egypt by a road I promised you’d never see again. There you’ll offer yourselves for sale, both men and women, as slaves to your enemies. And not a buyer to be found.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/DEU/28-e04cee432a87b8fc463346a373a09c17.mp3?version_id=97—

1 These are the terms of the Covenant thatGodcommanded Moses to make with the People of Israel in the land of Moab, renewing the Covenant he made with them at Horeb.

Moses Blesses Israel on the Plains of Moab

2-4 Moses called all Israel together and said, You’ve seen with your own eyes everything thatGoddid in Egypt to Pharaoh and his servants, and to the land itself—the massive trials to which you were eyewitnesses, the great signs and miracle-wonders. ButGoddidn’t give you an understanding heart or perceptive eyes or attentive ears until right now, this very day.

5-6 I took you through the wilderness for forty years and through all that time the clothes on your backs didn’t wear out, the sandals on your feet didn’t wear out, and you lived well without bread and wine and beer, proving to you that I am in factGod, your God.

7-8 When you arrived here in this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan met us primed for war but we beat them. We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

9 Diligently keep the words of this Covenant. Do what they say so that you will live well and wisely in every detail.

10-13 You are all standing here today in the Presence ofGod, your God—the heads of your tribes, your leaders, your officials, all Israel: your babies, your wives, the resident foreigners in your camps who fetch your firewood and water—ready to cross over into the solemnly sworn Covenant thatGod, your God, is making with you today, the Covenant that this day confirms that you are his people and he isGod, your God, just as he promised you and your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14-21 I’m not making this Covenant and its oath with you alone. Iammaking it with you who are standing here today in the Presence ofGod, our God, yes, but also with those who are not here today. You know the conditions in which we lived in Egypt and how we crisscrossed through nations in our travels. You got an eyeful of their obscenities, their wood and stone, silver and gold junk-gods. Don’t let down your guard lest even now, today, someone—man or woman, clan or tribe—gets sidetracked fromGod, our God, and gets involved with the no-gods of the nations; lest some poisonous weed sprout and spread among you, a person who hears the words of the Covenant-oath but exempts himself, thinking, “I’ll live just the way I please, thank you,” and ends up ruining life for everybody.Godwon’t let him off the hook.God’s anger and jealousy will erupt like a volcano against that person. The curses written in this book will bury him.Godwill delete his name from the records.Godwill separate him out from all the tribes of Israel for special punishment, according to all the curses of the Covenant written in this Book of Revelation.

22-23 The next generation, your children who come after you and the foreigner who comes from a far country, will be appalled when they see the widespread devastation, howGodmade the whole land sick. They’ll see a fire-blackened wasteland of brimstone and salt flats, nothing planted, nothing growing, not so much as a blade of grass anywhere—like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, whichGodoverthrew in fiery rage.

24 All the nations will ask, “Why didGoddo this to this country? What on earth could have made him this angry?”

25-28 Your children will answer, “Because they abandoned the Covenant of theGodof their ancestors that he made with them after he got them out of Egypt; they went off and worshiped other gods, submitted to gods they’d never heard of before, gods they had no business dealing with. SoGod’s anger erupted against that land and all the curses written in this book came down on it.God, furiously angry, pulled them, roots and all, out of their land and dumped them in another country, as you can see.”

29 God, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It’s up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/DEU/29-7ad558924e31f4d61ec36b1f4e486382.mp3?version_id=97—

1-5 Here’s what will happen. While you’re out among the nations whereGodhas dispersed you and the blessings and curses come in just the way I have set them before you, and you and your children take them seriously and come back toGod, your God, and obey him with your whole heart and soul according to everything that I command you today,God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he’ll have compassion on you; he’ll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered. No matter how far away you end up,God, your God, will get you out of there and bring you back to the land your ancestors once possessed. It will be yours again. He will give you a good life and make you more numerous than your ancestors.

6-7 God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children’s hearts, freeing you to loveGod, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live.God, your God, will put all these curses on your enemies who hated you and were out to get you.

8-9 And you will make a new start, listening obediently toGod, keeping all his commandments that I’m commanding you today.God, your God, will outdo himself in making things go well for you: you’ll have babies, get calves, grow crops, and enjoy an all-around good life. Yes,Godwill start enjoying you again, making things go well for you just as he enjoyed doing it for your ancestors.

10 But only if you listen obediently toGod, your God, and keep the commandments and regulations written in this Book of Revelation. Nothing halfhearted here; you must return toGod, your God, totally, heart and soul, holding nothing back.

11-14 This commandment that I’m commanding you today isn’t too much for you, it’s not out of your reach. It’s not on a high mountain—you don’t have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level and explain it before you can live it. And it’s not across the ocean—you don’t have to send sailors out to get it, bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it. No. The word is right here and now—as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. Just do it!

15 Look at what I’ve done for you today: I’ve placed in front of you

Life and Good

Death and Evil.

16 And I command you today: LoveGod, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed byGod, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess.

17-18 But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won’t last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

19-20 I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And loveGod, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil thatGod, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/DEU/30-ff87f6b728f9e9f83de47044acbc9e38.mp3?version_id=97—

The Charge

1-2 Moses went on and addressed these words to all Israel. He said, “I’m 120 years old today. I can’t get about as I used to. AndGodtold me, ‘You’re not going to cross this Jordan River.’

3-5 “God, your God, will cross the river ahead of you and destroy the nations in your path so that you may dispossess them. (And Joshua will cross the river before you, asGodsaid he would.)Godwill give the nations the same treatment he gave the kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, and their land; he’ll destroy them.Godwill hand the nations over to you, and you’ll treat them exactly as I have commanded you.

6 “Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought becauseGod, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.”

7-8 Then Moses summoned Joshua. He said to him with all Israel watching, “Be strong. Take courage. You will enter the land with this people, this land thatGodpromised their ancestors that he’d give them. You will make them the proud possessors of it.Godis striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.”

9-13 Moses wrote out this Revelation and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the Chest of the Covenant ofGod, and to all the leaders of Israel. And he gave these orders: “At the end of every seven years, the Year-All-Debts-Are-Canceled, during the pilgrim Festival of Booths when everyone in Israel comes to appear in the Presence ofGod, your God, at the place he designates, read out this Revelation to all Israel, with everyone listening. Gather the people together—men, women, children, and the foreigners living among you—so they can listen well, so they may learn to live in holy awe beforeGod, your God, and diligently keep everything in this Revelation. And do this so that their children, who don’t yet know all this, will also listen and learn to live in holy awe beforeGod, your God, for as long as you live on the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.”

14-15 Godspoke to Moses: “You are about to die. So call Joshua. Meet me in the Tent of Meeting so that I can commission him.”

So Moses and Joshua went and stationed themselves in the Tent of Meeting.Godappeared in the Tent in a Pillar of Cloud. The Cloud was near the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

16-18 Godspoke to Moses: “You’re about to die and be buried with your ancestors. You’ll no sooner be in the grave than this people will be up and whoring after the foreign gods of this country that they are entering. They will abandon me and violate my Covenant that I’ve made with them. I’ll get angry, oh so angry! I’ll walk off and leave them on their own, won’t so much as look back at them. Then many calamities and disasters will devastate them because they are defenseless. They’ll say, ‘Isn’t it because our God wasn’t here that all this evil has come upon us?’ But I’ll stay out of their lives, keep looking the other way because of all their evil: they took up with other gods!

19-21 “But for right now, copy down this song and teach the People of Israel to sing it by heart. They’ll have it then as my witness against them. When I bring them into the land that I promised to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they eat and become full and get fat and then begin fooling around with other gods and worshiping them, and then things start falling apart, many terrible things happening, this song will be there with them as a witness to who they are and what went wrong. Their children won’t forget this song; they’ll be singing it. Don’t think I don’t know what they are already scheming to do, and they’re not even in the land yet, this land I promised them.”

22 So Moses wrote down this song that very day and taught it to the People of Israel.

23 ThenGodcommanded Joshua son of Nun saying, “Be strong. Take courage. You will lead the People of Israel into the land I promised to give them. And I’ll be right there with you.”

24-26 After Moses had finished writing down the words of this Revelation in a book, right down to the last word, he ordered the Levites who were responsible for carrying the Chest of the Covenant ofGod, saying, “Take this Book of Revelation and place it alongside the Chest of the Covenant ofGod, your God. Keep it there as a witness.

27-29 “I know what rebels you are, how stubborn and willful you can be. Even today, while I’m still alive and present with you, you’re rebellious againstGod. How much worse when I’ve died! So gather the leaders of the tribes and the officials here. I have something I need to say directly to them with Heaven and Earth as witnesses. I know that after I die you’re going to make a mess of things, abandoning the way I commanded, inviting all kinds of evil consequences in the days ahead. You’re determined to do evil in defiance ofGod—I know you are—deliberately provoking his anger by what you do.”

30 So with everyone in Israel gathered and listening, Moses taught them the words of this song, from start to finish.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/DEU/31-8f175604c060b09a4d544ad853bdeb0a.mp3?version_id=97—

The Song

1-5 Listen, Heavens, I have something to tell you.

Attention, Earth, I’ve got a mouth full of words.

My teaching, let it fall like a gentle rain,

my words arrive like morning dew,

Like a sprinkling rain on new grass,

like spring showers on the garden.

For it’sGod’s Name I’m preaching—

respond to the greatness of our God!

The Rock: His works are perfect,

and the way he works is fair and just;

A God you can depend upon, no exceptions,

a straight-arrow God.

His messed-up, mixed-up children, his non-children,

throw mud at him but none of it sticks.

6-7 Don’t you realize it isGodyou are treating like this?

This is crazy; don’t you have any sense of reverence?

Isn’t this your father who created you,

who made you and gave you a place on Earth?

Read up on what happened before you were born;

dig into the past, understand your roots.

Ask your parents what it was like before you were born;

ask the old-ones, they’ll tell you a thing or two.

8-9 When the High God gave the nations their stake,

gave them their place on Earth,

He put each of the peoples within boundaries

under the care of divine guardians.

ButGodhimself took charge of his people,

took Jacob on as his personal concern.

10-14 He found him out in the wilderness,

in an empty, windswept wasteland.

He threw his arms around him, lavished attention on him,

guarding him as the apple of his eye.

He was like an eagle hovering over its nest,

overshadowing its young,

Then spreading its wings, lifting them into the air,

teaching them to fly.

Godalone led him;

there was not a foreign god in sight.

Godlifted him onto the hilltops,

so he could feast on the crops in the fields.

He fed him honey from the rock,

oil from granite crags,

Curds of cattle and the milk of sheep,

the choice cuts of lambs and goats,

Fine Bashan rams, high-quality wheat,

and the blood of grapes: you drank good wine!

15-18 Jeshurun put on weight and bucked;

you got fat, became obese, a tub of lard.

He abandoned the God who made him,

he mocked the Rock of his salvation.

They made him jealous with their foreign newfangled gods,

and with obscenities they vexed him no end.

They sacrificed to no-god demons,

gods they knew nothing about,

The latest in gods, fresh from the market,

gods your ancestors would never call “gods.”

You walked out on the Rock who gave you your life,

forgot the birth-God who brought you into the world.

19-25 Godsaw it and turned on his heel,

angered and hurt by his sons and daughters.

He said, “From now on I’m looking the other way.

Wait and see what happens to them.

Oh, they’re a turned-around, upside-down generation!

Who knows what they’ll do from one moment to the next?

They’ve goaded me with their no-gods,

infuriated me with their hot-air gods;

I’m going to goad them with a no-people,

with a hollow nation incense them.

My anger started a fire,

a wildfire burning deep down in Sheol,

Then shooting up and devouring the Earth and its crops,

setting all the mountains, from bottom to top, on fire.

I’ll pile catastrophes on them,

I’ll shoot my arrows at them:

Starvation, blistering heat, killing disease;

I’ll send snarling wild animals to attack from the forest

and venomous creatures to strike from the dust.

Killing in the streets,

terror in the houses,

Young men and virgins alike struck down,

and yes, breast-feeding babies and gray-haired old men.”

26-27 I could have said, “I’ll hack them to pieces,

wipe out all trace of them from the Earth,”

Except that I feared the enemy would grab the chance

to take credit for all of it,

Crowing, “Look what we did!

Godhad nothing to do with this.”

28-33 They are a nation of ninnies,

they don’t know enough to come in out of the rain.

If they had any sense at all, they’d know this;

they would see what’s coming down the road.

How could one soldier chase a thousand enemies off,

or two men run off two thousand,

Unless their Rock had sold them,

unlessGodhad given them away?

For their rock is nothing compared to our Rock;

even our enemies say that.

They’re a vine that comes right out of Sodom,

who they are is rooted in Gomorrah;

Their grapes are poison grapes,

their grape-clusters bitter.

Their wine is rattlesnake venom,

mixed with lethal cobra poison.

34-35 Don’t you realize that I have my shelves

well stocked, locked behind iron doors?

I’m in charge of vengeance and payback,

just waiting for them to slip up;

And the day of their doom is just around the corner,

sudden and swift and sure.

36-38 Yes,Godwill judge his people,

but oh how compassionately he’ll do it.

When he sees their weakened plight

and there is no one left, slave or free,

He’ll say, “So where are their gods,

the rock in which they sought refuge,

The gods who feasted on the fat of their sacrifices

and drank the wine of their drink-offerings?

Let them show their stuff and help you,

let them give you a hand!

39-42 “Do you see it now? Do you see that I’m the one?

Do you see that there’s no other god beside me?

I bring death and I give life, I wound and I heal—

there is no getting away from or around me!

I raise my hand in solemn oath;

I say, ‘I’m always around. By that very life I promise:

When I sharpen my lightning sword

and execute judgment,

I take vengeance on my enemies

and pay back those who hate me.

I’ll make my arrows drunk with blood,

my sword will gorge itself on flesh,

Feasting on slain and captive alike,

the proud and vain enemy corpses.’”

43 Celebrate, nations, join the praise of his people.

He avenges the deaths of his servants,

Pays back his enemies with vengeance,

and cleanses his land for his people.

44-47 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua son of Nun. When Moses had finished saying all these words to all Israel, he said, “Take to heart all these words to which I give witness today and urgently command your children to put them into practice, every single word of this Revelation. Yes. This is no small matter for you; it’s your life. In keeping this word you’ll have a good and long life in this land that you’re crossing the Jordan to possess.”

48-50 That same dayGodspoke to Moses: “Climb the Abarim Mountains to Mount Nebo in the land of Moab, overlooking Jericho, and view the land of Canaan that I’m giving the People of Israel to have and hold. Die on the mountain that you climb and join your people in the ground, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and joined his people.

51-52 “This is because you broke faith with me in the company of the People of Israel at the Waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin—you didn’t honor my Holy Presence in the company of the People of Israel. You’ll look at the land spread out before you but you won’t enter it, this land that I am giving to the People of Israel.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/DEU/32-db54d3c6758ffbc59138cbe5499afbe4.mp3?version_id=97—

The Blessing

1-5 Moses, man of God, blessed the People of Israel with this blessing before his death. He said,

Godcame down from Sinai,

he dawned from Seir upon them;

He radiated light from Mount Paran,

coming with ten thousand holy angels

And tongues of fire

streaming from his right hand.

Oh, how you love the people,

all his holy ones are palmed in your left hand.

They sit at your feet,

honoring your teaching,

The Revelation commanded by Moses,

as the assembly of Jacob’s inheritance.

ThusGodbecame king in Jeshurun

as the leaders and tribes of Israel gathered.

6 Reuben:

“Let Reuben live and not die,

but just barely, in diminishing numbers.”

7 Judah:

“Listen,God, to the Voice of Judah,

bring him to his people;

Strengthen his grip,

be his helper against his foes.”

8-11 Levi:

“Let your Thummim and Urim

belong to your loyal saint;

The one you tested at Massah,

whom you fought with at the Waters of Meribah,

Who said of his father and mother,

‘I no longer recognize them.’

He turned his back on his brothers

and neglected his children,

Because he was guarding your sayings

and watching over your Covenant.

Let him teach your rules to Jacob

and your Revelation to Israel,

Let him keep the incense rising to your nostrils

and the Whole-Burnt-Offerings on your Altar.

Godbless his commitment,

stamp your seal of approval on what he does;

Disable the loins of those who defy him,

make sure we’ve heard the last from those who hate him.”

12 Benjamin:

“God’s beloved;

God’s permanent residence.

Encircled byGodall day long,

within whomGodis at home.”

13-17 Joseph:

“Blessed byGodbe his land:

The best fresh dew from high heaven,

and fountains springing from the depths;

The best radiance streaming from the sun

and the best the moon has to offer;

Beauty pouring off the tops of the mountains

and the best from the everlasting hills;

The best of Earth’s exuberant gifts,

the smile of the Burning-Bush Dweller.

All this on the head of Joseph,

on the brow of the consecrated one among his brothers.

In splendor he’s like a firstborn bull,

his horns the horns of a wild ox;

He’ll gore the nations with those horns,

push them all to the ends of the Earth.

Ephraim by the ten thousands will do this,

Manasseh by the thousands will do this.”

18-19 Zebulun and Issachar:

“Celebrate, Zebulun, as you go out,

and Issachar, as you stay home.

They’ll invite people to the Mountain

and offer sacrifices of right worship,

For they will have hauled riches in from the sea

and gleaned treasures from the beaches.”

20-21 Gad:

“Blessed is he who makes Gad large.

Gad roams like a lion,

tears off an arm, rips open a skull.

He took one look and grabbed the best place for himself,

the portion just made for someone in charge.

He took his place at the head,

carried outGod’s right ways

and his rules for life in Israel.”

22 Dan:

“Dan is a lion’s cub

leaping out of Bashan.”

23 Naphtali:

“Naphtali brims with blessings,

spills over withGod’s blessings

As he takes possession

of the sea and southland.”

24-25 Asher:

“Asher, best blessed of the sons!

May he be the favorite of his brothers,

his feet massaged in oil.

Safe behind iron-clad doors and gates,

your strength like iron as long as you live.”

26-28 There is none like God, Jeshurun,

riding to your rescue through the skies,

his dignity haloed by clouds.

The ancient God is home

on a foundation of everlasting arms.

He drove out the enemy before you

and commanded, “Destroy!”

Israel lived securely,

the fountain of Jacob undisturbed

In grain and wine country

and, oh yes, his heavens drip dew.

29 Lucky Israel! Who has it as good as you?

A peoplesavedbyGod!

The Shield who defends you,

the Sword who brings triumph.

Your enemies will come crawling on their bellies

and you’ll march on their backs.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/DEU/33-5eb691211aa66c6663b36ba15550bf1e.mp3?version_id=97—

The Death of Moses

1-3 Moses climbed from the Plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the peak of Pisgah facing Jericho.Godshowed him all the land from Gilead to Dan, all Naphtali, Ephraim, and Manasseh; all Judah reaching to the Mediterranean Sea; the Negev and the plains which encircle Jericho, City of Palms, as far south as Zoar.

4 Then and thereGodsaid to him, “This is the land I promised to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with the words ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I’ve let you see it with your own eyes. There it is. But you’re not going to go in.”

5-6 Moses died there in the land of Moab, Moses the servant ofGod, just asGodsaid. God buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor. No one knows his burial site to this very day.

7-8 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyesight was sharp; he still walked with a spring in his step. The People of Israel wept for Moses in the Plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

9 Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. The People of Israel listened obediently to him and did the same as whenGodhad commanded Moses.

10-12 No prophet has risen since in Israel like Moses, whomGodknew face-to-face. Never since has there been anything like the signs and miracle-wonders thatGodsent him to do in Egypt, to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land—nothing to compare with that all-powerful hand of his and all the great and terrible things Moses did as every eye in Israel watched.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/DEU/34-0fa6f22f2c522d47009d9d0a338149f8.mp3?version_id=97—