Chronological Plan

¹“So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you,

²and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your sons,

³then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.

⁴If any of your scattered countrymen are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.

⁵The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will be good to you and make you more numerous than your fathers.

⁶“Moreover, the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live.

⁷And the LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.

⁸And you will again obey the LORD, and follow all His commandments which I am commanding you today.

⁹Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in every work of your hand, in the children of your womb, the offspring of your cattle, and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers;

¹⁰if you obey the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.

¹¹“For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away.

¹²It is not in heaven, that you could say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’

¹³Nor is it beyond the sea, that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’

¹⁴On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may follow it.

¹⁵“See, I have placed before you today life and happiness, and death and adversity,

¹⁶in that I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you may live and become numerous, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it.

¹⁷But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them,

¹⁸I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and take possession of it.

¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,

²⁰by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, so that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

¹So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.

²And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today; I am no longer able to go out and come in, and the LORD has told me, ‘You shall not cross this Jordan.’

³It is the LORD your God who is going to cross ahead of you; He Himself will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who is going to cross ahead of you, just as the LORD has spoken.

⁴And the LORD will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them.

⁵The LORD will turn them over to you, and you will do to them in accordance with all the commandments which I have commanded you.

⁶Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or in dread of them, for the LORD your God is the One who is going with you. He will not desert you or abandon you.”

⁷Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance.

⁸And the LORD is the one who is going ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not desert you or abandon you. Do not fear and do not be dismayed.”

⁹So Moses wrote this Law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.

¹⁰Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of the release of debts, at the Feast of Booths,

¹¹when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this Law before all Israel so that they hear it.

¹²Assemble the people, the men, the women, the children, and the stranger who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to follow all the words of this Law.

¹³And their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the time for you to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, and I will commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

¹⁵And the LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance of the tent.

¹⁶The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the prostitute with the foreign gods of the land into the midst of which they are going, and they will abandon Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

¹⁷Then My anger will be kindled against them on that day, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will find them; so they will say on that day, ‘Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have found us?’

¹⁸But I will assuredly hide My face on that day because of all the evil that they will have done, for they will have turned away to other gods.

¹⁹“Now then, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel.

²⁰For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they eat and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.

²¹Then it will come about, when many evils and troubles find them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of their descendants); for I know their inclination which they are developing today, before I bring them into the land which I swore.”

²²So Moses wrote down this song on the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.

²³Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

²⁴It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this Law in a book until they were complete,

²⁵that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying,

²⁶“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.

²⁷For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, as long as I have been alive with you until today, you have been rebellious against the LORD; how much more, then, after my death?

²⁸Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against them.

²⁹For I know that after my death you will behave very corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will confront you in the latter days, because you will do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

³⁰Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were complete: